United States v. Rios

45 M.J. 558, 1997 CCA LEXIS 45, 1997 WL 37060
CourtUnited States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedJanuary 15, 1997
DocketACM 31877
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 45 M.J. 558 (United States v. Rios) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Rios, 45 M.J. 558, 1997 CCA LEXIS 45, 1997 WL 37060 (afcca 1997).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

GAMBOA, Judge:

The appellant was convicted, contrary to his pleas, by a military judge sitting as general court-martial, of rape, forcible sodomy, assault and battery, and indecent acts and liberties with a child. Articles 120, 125, 128, and 134, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. §§ 920, 925, 928, 934 (1988). All of the offenses were committed against the appellant’s daughter, MR, a child under the age of 16 years. The appellant’s approved sentence includes a dishonorable discharge, 18 years confinement, and reduction to the grade of E-l. The appellant argues that the evidence regarding all adjudged offenses is legally and factually insufficient to establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. He also asserts that the military judge committed prejudicial error by admitting statements he made to his daughter during a “pretext” telephone call and by admitting a statement he made to a civilian social worker. We find no evidence to support a portion of the assault and battery offense, but otherwise we find no error and affirm.

[560]*560I. LEGAL AND FACTUAL SUFFICIENCY

The appellant argues that the evidence of record is not sufficient to establish his guilt of the charged offenses beyond a reasonable doubt, either factually or legally. He essentially attacks the credibility of MR; he points out that at first she denied being sexually abused when questioned by various authorities, asserts that she fabricated the story to avoid being placed in a private school, and questions her reputation for truthfulness.

The test for legal sufficiency is whether, considering the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, a reasonable factfinder could have found all the essential elements beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). Furthermore, we must “draw every reasonable inference from the evidence of record in favor of the prosecution.” United States v. Blocker, 32 M.J. 281, 284 (C.M.A.1991). The test for factual sufficiency is whether, after weighing the evidence in the record of trial and making allowances for not having personally observed the witnesses, the members of this Court are themselves convinced of appellant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Turner, 25 M.J. 324, 324-25 (C.M.A.1987).

A. Assault and Battery

The appellant was convicted of unlawfully striking MR on her waist and legs with a belt, and grabbing her on her arms and around her neck with his hands. We find no evidence that he grabbed MR’s neck, but otherwise affirm. CS, a school mate of MR, testified that he dated MR for about two weeks. On 9 January 1995, after school, MR, who had been “grounded” by her father, asked CS if she could go to his house, and told him that she had permission from her father to do so. While they were at CS’s home, CS’s grandmother telephoned to tell him that the appellant was looking for his daughter and would be going to CS’s home. MR began crying and asked if she could hide, whereupon CS let her hide in his bedroom closet.

According to CS, the appellant arrived, walked into the home, began calling for MR, and eventually went to the bedroom where he found CS. Athough CS tried to convince the appellant that MR was not there, MR slipped in the closet, and the noise alerted the appellant to her presence. The appellant pulled MR out of the closet and began hitting her. When CS tried to restrain the appellant, the appellant knocked him to the ground and dragged MR out of the room by her hair while she was lying on the ground. CS stated that the appellant also hit MR with his fist and slapped her.

MR’s testimony was consistent with that of CS. She stated that she was “grounded” for telephoning CS while she was at “Chuck E Cheese” and she violated her “grounding” by going to CS’s house after school. When she learned her father was coming to CS’s house, she panicked, began crying, and hid in the closet. MR stated that the appellant found her in the closet, grabbed her arm, and dragged her out. MR testified that the appellant slapped her and hit her in the face with his fist, and also hit her with his fist on her leg when they were in the appellant’s automobile. When they arrived home, the appellant ordered her to go to her room, take her dress off, and return downstairs. He then spanked her with a belt and kept asking “if me and [CS] had sex____” Photographs introduced at trial, as well as the testimony of Dr. (Major) Davis Anisman, a family practice physician at David Grant Medical Center, Travis Air Force Base (AFB), California, corroborate MR and CS’s testimony.

The evidence clearly establishes the appellant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt with respect to assault and battery, except the words, “... and around the neck____”. We affirm the remainder of Charge III, specification 1.

B. Sexual Offenses

The appellant was convicted of committing the various sexual offenses, noted above, against MR between 15 February 1990 and 11 January 1995. MR testified that her father first sexually abused her at his workplace, the Mission Control Office, when she was 12 years old. He put his hand down her pants, but not under her underwear, and [561]*561“french kissed” her. “A couple of months later” he came to her bedroom at night, when her stepmother was gone, placed a pillow over her face, took off her underwear, and forced his penis in her, causing her to scream. MR stated that, after that event, the appellant had sexual intercourse with her about twice a week, and later the frequency increased until they were having sex every night, except when she was “on her period” or when the appellant was absent because of temporary duty (TDY). The incidents usually occurred at night when no one else was at home; sometimes they occurred in the day.

On one occasion, MR testified, her father asked her to take off her clothes, and they watched a pornographic video (indecent liberties with a child specification). The appellant wanted to imitate the acts being performed in the video and asked her to touch his penis. He also touched and forced his finger up her vagina. MR stated that this occurred many times. She also testified that they emulated acts that she saw on a pornographic video, including oral sex. He also placed his penis in her anus on two occasions. MR testified that, on another occasion, he did not put his penis in her, but kept touching her and kissing her “all over her chest.”

MR testified that she last had sexual intercourse with her father on 10 January 1995, in his bedroom. She stated that when they finished, she wiped her vagina. The appellant wiped his penis with the same tissue and threw it in the trash can. She never told anyone except CS that her father was molesting her. She initially told the authorities that the appellant did not molest her because he told her not to tell anyone, but “when I really thought about it and I realized what I had been going through with this stuff that he had been doing to me and I couldn’t take it any more. My feelings were hurt so much I had to let it out. Then I told them the truth of what was going on.” MR testified that the appellant was the only person with whom she had ever had sexual intercourse. She was given a rape protocol and tested positive for chlamydia.

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Related

Rios v. Lansing
116 F. App'x 983 (Tenth Circuit, 2004)
Rios v. Lansing
186 F. Supp. 2d 1178 (D. Kansas, 2002)
United States v. Rios
48 M.J. 261 (Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, 1998)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
45 M.J. 558, 1997 CCA LEXIS 45, 1997 WL 37060, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-rios-afcca-1997.