Sutton v. State

1988 OK CR 158, 759 P.2d 235, 1988 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 166, 1988 WL 84543
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedAugust 12, 1988
DocketF-85-470
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1988 OK CR 158 (Sutton v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sutton v. State, 1988 OK CR 158, 759 P.2d 235, 1988 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 166, 1988 WL 84543 (Okla. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

OPINION

BUSSEY, Judge:

The appellant, Gary Dean Sutton, was convicted in the District Court of LeFlore County Case No. CRF-84-254 of the crime of Rape in the First Degree in violation of 21 O.S.1981, § 1114. He was sentenced to a term of five (5) years’ imprisonment, and appeals.

Testimony at trial concerned the gang-rape of a seventeen-year-old girl, (“L.A.”), by the twenty-nine year old appellant and one other man, Frank Baxter. Prior to the incident in question, L.A. had dated the appellant and admitted voluntarily having sexual intercourse with him on three (3) prior occasions. On October 25, 1984, L.A. accepted a ride with the appellant and his two cousins. The three men were drinking. A short time after they picked L.A. up, the appellant announced to his cousins that L.A. agreed to a “gang-bang”. She denied this, and one of the men insisted on being let out if she was reluctant.

After dropping the one cousin off at a local bar, where the appellant’s father also happened to be, 1 the trio again left on a drive through the local countryside. During the course of this drive, the appellant and Baxter continually attempted to grope at L.A.’s body; threatening to drown her in the nearby Arkansas River if she kept refusing to cooperate.

At one point, Baxter pulled his pickup off to the side of the dirt road and attempted, with appellant’s assistance, to force L.A. to have intercourse with the men in the cab of the pickup. When she resisted, appellant beat the girl with his fists, hitting her at least twice in the temple, and once in the eye. Seeing the damage done to the girl, Baxter again suggested drowning L.A. in the river because he “didn’t need no trouble.”

Baxter then drove further into the country, and turned into a field, where their pickup became stuck in a mudhole. He told appellant and L.A. to get out and push the truck, which they did. Once the pickup was safely out of the water, Baxter and appellant forced L.A. to remove her clothing on the pretext of drying it out. Baxter then forced L.A. to orally sodomize him while appellant raped her.

After this episode, Baxter drove the trio to appellant’s house, where he again forced L.A. to perform oral sodomy and appellant made an unsuccessful attempt at another rape. Then, because appellant’s younger brother and a friend had unexpectedly stopped by, L.A. was permitted to walk out of the house. She went to a nearby house where the occupant allowed her to call her mother for help.

After L.A.’s mother arrived, and they were in the neighbor’s kitchen, appellant and Baxter arrived. The men told L.A. and her mother that if they reported the incident to the police, both would be killed. Baxter and appellant then left. L.A. and her parents did report the incident, and L.A. was taken to a nearby hospital where her wounds were treated. She was given a physical examination, and a “rape kit” was collected. An expert witness testified that from his analysis of the samples collected from L.A.’s body at the hospital, he determined that the semen that was found matched the appellant’s blood grouping and could have come from the appellant.

The appellant did not testify, but several witnesses were called on his behalf. His cousin, and co-defendant, testified to a completely different account of the events of that day. According to Baxter, L.A. was a *237 willing and eager participant in the activities of October 25. He attempted to convince the jury that the entire episode was L.A.’s idea. Other witnesses who had seen the group at various times during that day testified that L.A. did not appear to be an unwilling companion to the two men. The appellant’s father testified that, when he saw the group at the bar that afternoon, L.A. did not ask him for a ride but, instead, grinned when his son invited him to join in on the anticipated “gang-bang”. Although all of the witnesses testifying for the defense generally agree with the theory that L.A. was not being held against her will, all had minor inconsistencies in their recollection of the various conversations that had taken place. Ray Sutton, the appellant’s father, is the most striking example. His account of the conversation he had with his son, the appellant, differs from the accounts of all of the witnesses who also heard the conversation.

As the appellant’s first assignment of error, he argues that prosecutorial misconduct deprived him of a fair trial. The primary thrust of the argument on this assignment is that the closing arguments were highly improper and prejudicial because the prosecutor suggested that the appellant’s defense witnesses were liars. See, e.g., Dupree v. State, 514 P.2d 425 (Okl.Cr.1973); Ray v. State, 510 P.2d 1395 (Okl.Cr.1973). We agree with the appellant’s basic premise: that this type of behavior is unacceptable, but we are unable to find evidence in this record that supports his argument.

The prosecutor correctly pointed out to the jury that all or nearly all, of the witnesses for the defense were relatives of the appellant. Those that were not related testified that they were friends with the appellant. This line of argumentation, in our opinion, merely points out the possible bias harbored by the witnesses. From our reading of the record, we are convinced that the prosecutor made no attempt to impose his personal beliefs on the jury.

The rule that liberal freedom of speech and a wide range of discussion is proper during closing arguments is elementary, and should not require repetition. See Mahorney v. State, 664 P.2d 1042 (Okl.Cr.1983); Robson v. State, 611 P.2d 1135 (Okl.Cr.1980). Rather than being personal attacks against the defense witnesses, the arguments presented were simply the prosecutor’s views of reasonable and logical inferences that the jury could make from the testimony presented. There is no error here.

Next, the appellant attempts to persuade us that the jury verdict was the product of court-imposed coercion. This argument is based on the fact that the jury deliberated for four hours, was unable to agree on a verdict, and was only able to finally reach a verdict after being called back and asked if further deliberations would be helpful. The jury was not given an Allen charge.

We disagree with the appellant’s conclusion that the verdict was coerced. This Court has refused to reverse convictions in cases where the jury had to deliberate for much longer periods. See e.g., Roubideaux v. State, 707 P.2d 35 (Okl.Cr.1985). Here, there is absolutely no evidence of jury coercion. This assignment has no merit.

The appellant’s third assignment of error is that he was denied effective assistance of counsel. 2 Here, too, the record is absolutely devoid of any hint that the appellant’s counsel was ineffective or that the appellant was prejudiced by any tactic or act of his defense counsel. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984) reh. den. 467 U.S. 1267, 104 S.Ct. 3562, 82 L.Ed.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Harris v. State
2004 OK CR 1 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 2004)
Dixon v. United States
565 A.2d 72 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1988 OK CR 158, 759 P.2d 235, 1988 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 166, 1988 WL 84543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sutton-v-state-oklacrimapp-1988.