State v. Watson

407 S.W.3d 180, 2013 WL 4715656, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 1023
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided September 3, 2013·No. No. ED 98713·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

GARY M. GAERTNER, JR., Judge.

Introduction

Terry Watson (Defendant) appeals his convictions following a jury trial of first degree statutory rape, second degree statutory rape, two counts of first degree sodomy, and incest. We affirm.

Background

The evidence at trial supporting the verdicts was as follows. The Victim (Victim) is the daughter of Defendant and Gina Watson (Mother). She grew up living with both parents in Imperial, Missouri. Sometime in 2001, when Victim was 12 years old, she came home from school to find her [182] father sitting on the couch watching pornography on television. Mother was still at work. Victim had seen the film her father was watching, and he told her that day that he knew she had watched his pornography. Defendant told Victim he was going to teach her what sex was about. Nothing further happened that day.

At some point after this, when Victim was still 12 years old, Defendant called Victim into his bedroom. He told her he was going to work her out. She was on her parents’ bed, and Defendant put a dildo inside her vagina. She cried and told him it hurt. He continued to use objects like this with Victim for about one year, at least three to four times per month.

Sometime after Defendant stopped using dildos on Victim, he called her into his bedroom, had her get on her knees, and instructed her to suck on his penis. This happened during the school year in the afternoon. Victim gagged and teared up at one point, and Defendant told her he would not do it like that again. Defendant had Victim suck on his penis multiple times until Victim was 18 or 19 years old.

At some point when Victim was around 13 years old, Defendant began having sexual intercourse with her. It would take place either in Defendant’s bedroom or the living room. In the living room it would take place either on the couch or on the floor. When it took place in the living room, Defendant would turn pornography on the television, Victim would take her clothes off, Defendant would take his clothes off, and he would be on top of her while having sex with her. Defendant had sex with Victim three to four times per month.

At some point when Victim was 18 or 14 years old, Mother found out about Defendant’s sexual activity with Victim. Victim heard her parents arguing about it, and after that, Mother became involved. Victim testified it would then be “sex between the three of [them]” sometimes. Victim also testified that Defendant wanted to make sure she had not told anyone about their sexual activity, but that learning about sex from family members was normal and would happen for kids in Germany around age 12. Victim testified that the last time any sexual activity occurred between Defendant and Victim was in January of 2009.

Victim’s half-brother and Defendant’s son, Joseph Watson (Brother), moved into Defendant’s house in 2003, when Brother was 15 years old. Brother also became aware of Defendant’s sexual activity with Victim, and he witnessed Defendant and Victim having sexual intercourse. Brother also became involved in “family sex sessions” that took place with Defendant, Mother, Brother, and Victim all present. Brother testified that Defendant also told Brother to perform sexual acts on Victim, which he did. When Brother was 17 years old, after an incident in which Defendant became angry with Brother and threw a pick axe at Brother and Victim, Brother moved out.

Victim did not tell anyone about these incidents until 2010. She was dating a man who her father did not like, and she wanted to move out of the house. She told her aunt and her boyfriend about the sexual incidents with Defendant. She was afraid she would not be able to get her things out of her house safely, because Defendant was “abusive” and had threatened violence against her boyfriend. She asked police to accompany her to her home so she could remove her things. Deputy Carden Choney went with Victim and her boyfriend to Victim’s house. Deputy Cho-ney waited outside while Victim retrieved her things, and no one else was present while they were there. Deputy Choney [183] consulted detectives about further investigation, and he decided not to investigate for physical evidence of the sexual abuse in the house. This was because, given that it had been over one year since the last sexual incident, the detectives told Deputy Choney they believed no DNA evidence would be present.

The jury returned verdicts of guilty on all counts. The trial court sentenced Defendant to a total term of 19 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. This appeal follows. Additional facts relevant to Defendant’s points on appeal will be adduced below.

Discussion

Defendant raises three points on appeal. First, he argues the trial court abused its discretion in submitting an instruction to the jury regarding the requirement of unanimity for the count of first degree statutory rape. Second, Defendant argues the trial court plainly erred in allowing the prosecutor to make certain statements in closing argument, and that those statements resulted in manifest injustice. In Defendant’s final point, he argues the trial court plainly erred in admitting Brother’s testimony regarding Defendant’s alleged violence toward Brother, in that it was prejudicial evidence of uncharged crimes, resulting in manifest injustice.

Point I

Preservation and Standard of Review

At the close of the evidence at trial, the State submitted Instruction 8, based on the applicable Missouri Approved Instruction (MAI) for the count of statutory rape in the first degree, MAI-CR 3d 320.03. The State also submitted the following as Instruction 9:

The State of Missouri, County of Jefferson alleges that [Djefendant committed acts of Statutory Rape in the First Degree, to wit: [Djefendant had sexual intercourse with [Victim], who was less than fourteen years old, on multiple occasions in Instruction No. 8. To convict [Djefendant of Statutory Rape in the First Degree, one particular act of Statutory Rape in the First Degree, to wit: having sexual intercourse with [Victim], must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, and you must unanimously agree as to which act has been proved. You need not unanimously agree that [Dje-fendant committed all the acts of Statutory Rape in the First Degree.

The State based this instruction on a recent Missouri Supreme Court opinion, State v. Celis-Garcia, 344 S.W.3d 150 (Mo. banc 2011), which, as discussed below, clarified the requirement of a unanimous verdict in cases presenting evidence of multiple criminal acts related to one count. Similarly, the State submitted applicable MAI instructions for the remaining four counts against Defendant, as well as accompanying instructions for each based on Celis-Garcia.

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State v. Watson, 407 S.W.3d 180, 2013 WL 4715656, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 1023 (Mo. Ct. App. 2013).

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