Terry E. Break v. State of Arkansas

2022 Ark. 219, 655 S.W.3d 303
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedDecember 8, 2022
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 2022 Ark. 219 (Terry E. Break v. State of Arkansas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Terry E. Break v. State of Arkansas, 2022 Ark. 219, 655 S.W.3d 303 (Ark. 2022).

Opinion

Cite as 2022 Ark. 219 SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS No. CR-22-151

Opinion Delivered December 8, 2022

TERRY E. BREAK APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE BOONE V. COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 05CR-19-160] STATE OF ARKANSAS APPELLEE HONORABLE JOHN PUTMAN, JUDGE

AFFIRMED.

COURTNEY RAE HUDSON, Associate Justice

Appellant, Terry Break, appeals his convictions in the Boone County Circuit Court of

multiple counts of rape, second-degree sexual assault, sexual indecency with a child, engaging

a child in sexually explicit conduct for use in visual or print medium, and distributing,

possessing, or viewing matters depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. For reversal,

Break argues that (1) substantial evidence does not support any of his convictions, (2) the State

made an improper closing argument, and (3) his sentence was excessive. We affirm.

On March 29, 2019, Break was initially charged with five crimes relating to sexual

contact with a minor. The criminal information was amended several times, and Break

eventually faced seventy-four separate counts. The State charged him with seven counts of rape,

three counts of second-degree sexual assault, and three counts of sexual indecency with a child. Two counts were for intimidating a witness. The remaining counts related to Break’s possession

of photographs of minors. The crimes were alleged to have occurred between 2005 and 2019.

The jury trial was held November 8–12, 2021. According to the evidence presented at

trial, Chris Jamison served as an Omaha police officer and also a school resource officer for the

Omaha school district when a student told him that he had been touched inappropriately many

times. Jamison’s report revealed MC 1 as the student, which led to Break’s eventual arrest and

prosecution.1

The evidence at trial included testimony from three victims. MC 1 testified that he was

thirteen years old. He said that from the time he was about four years old, his family lived next

door to Break and that he went to Break’s house two or three times a week. MC 1 said that he

played video games there and slept with Break in his bed. MC 1 recalled Break watching him

bathe in the bathtub and taking showers naked with him. He also said that Break took photos

of him naked in the house. According to MC 1, “[a]t least once every time [he] went over

there,” Break put his penis into his mouth. MC 1 said Break would also take MC 1’s hand and

put it on Break’s penis while he slowly fell asleep.

MC 2 was fifteen years old at the time of the trial. He said that Break performed anal

sex on him more than once and forced him to perform anal sex on Break. MC 2 also said that

Break performed oral sex on him. Additionally, MC 2 said that Break washed him in the

1 Pursuant to Rule 6-3 of the Rules of the Supreme Court, the three juvenile victim/witnesses will be referred to as Minor Child 1 (“MC 1”), Minor Child 2 (“MC 2”), and Minor Child 3 (“MC 3”). See In re Amendments to Rule 6-3 of the Rules of the Supreme Court & Court of Appeals & Rule 6 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure—Civil, 2022 Ark. 182 (per curiam).

2 bathtub, including his back and buttocks. MC 2 further testified that Break took photographs

of him and MC 1 naked together.

MC 3 was fifteen years old at the time of the trial. He testified that he spent numerous

nights at Break’s house and slept with Break most of the time. He said that Break sometimes

slept naked. MC 3 recalled that Break would wash his hair and his body, including his back,

buttocks, and between his legs. Break would be naked when he bathed MC 3 and sometimes

showered with him. MC 3 said that on more than one occasion, Break placed MC 3’s hand on

Break’s penis and went to sleep. MC 3 said that Break once put his penis into his mouth. MC

3 said that Break took naked pictures of him.

Eric Lord, a digital-evidence analyst for the Arkansas Crime Laboratory during the

investigation, testified about internet websites that had been accessed from Break’s computer.

He also testified about finding photographs that had been saved on Break’s computer.

The circuit court granted Break’s motion for directed verdict as to one rape count and

the two counts of intimidating a witness. The circuit court also granted directed verdicts as to

thirty charges involving photographs. The remaining counts were submitted to the jury. The

jury convicted Break of six counts of rape, three counts of second-degree sexual assault, three

counts of sexual indecency with a child, twelve counts of engaging a child in sexually explicit

conduct for use in visual or print medium, and seventeen counts of distributing, possessing, or

viewing matters depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. The circuit court

sentenced Break to life imprisonment on each of the six rape counts, plus an additional 488

years for the other convictions. In addition, the circuit court assessed $425,000 in fines plus

court costs. Break filed a timely appeal.

3 I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

On appeal, Break first argues that substantial evidence does not support any of his forty-

one convictions. In reviewing a sufficiency challenge, we view the evidence in the light most

favorable to the State, considering only the evidence that supports the verdict. McCray v. State,

2020 Ark. 172, 598 S.W.3d 509. This consideration encompasses all the evidence presented at

trial, including that which may have been inadmissible. Watson v. State, 2014 Ark. 203, 444

S.W.3d 835. We will affirm a judgment of conviction if substantial evidence exists to support

it. Armstrong v. State, 2020 Ark. 309, 607 S.W.3d 491. Substantial evidence is evidence that is

of sufficient force and character that it will, with reasonable certainty, compel a conclusion one

way or the other without resorting to speculation or conjecture. Id. Direct evidence is evidence

that proves a fact without resort to inference when, for example, it is proved by witnesses who

testify to what they saw, heard, or experienced. Chatmon v. State, 2015 Ark. 28, 467 S.W.3d

731. Circumstantial evidence is evidence of circumstances from which a fact may be inferred.

Id. Circumstantial evidence may provide a basis to support a conviction, but it must be

consistent with the defendant’s guilt and inconsistent with any other reasonable conclusion.

Armstrong, 2020 Ark. 309, 607 S.W.3d 491. Whether the evidence excludes every other

hypothesis is left to the jury to decide. Id. Further, the credibility of witnesses is an issue for the

jury, not the court; the trier of fact is free to believe all or part of any witness’s testimony and

may resolve questions of conflicting testimony and inconsistent evidence. Howard v. State, 2016

Ark. 434, 506 S.W.3d 843.

To preserve a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, a defendant must move for a

directed verdict at the close of the State’s case and at the close of all the evidence and must state

4 the specific grounds for the motion. Riley v. State, 2020 Ark. 99; Ark. R. Crim. P. 33.1 (2021).

We have held that Rule 33.1 is to be strictly construed and that the failure to adhere to the rule

constitutes a waiver as to any question pertaining to the sufficiency of the evidence that supports

the verdict. Riley, 2020 Ark. 99. With these authorities in mind, we turn to Break’s specific

convictions.

We first consider Break’s challenge to his convictions for six counts of rape. A person

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