Blocton v. State

• Decision Date: 31 May 2022
• Docket Number: 2021-KA-00197-COA
• Parties: CLYDE FITZGERALD BLOCTON A/K/A CLYDE F. BLOCTON APPELLANT v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI APPELLEE
• Court: Mississippi Court of Appeals

CLYDE FITZGERALD BLOCTON A/K/A CLYDE F. BLOCTON APPELLANT
v.
STATE OF MISSISSIPPI APPELLEE

No. 2021-KA-00197-COA

Court of Appeals of Mississippi

May 31, 2022

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 01/28/2021

HARRISON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT HON. CHRISTOPHER LOUIS SCHMIDT TRIAL JUDGE

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: OFFICE OF STATE PUBLIC DEFENDER BY: W. DANIEL HINCHCLIFF

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: CANDICE LEIGH RUCKER

DISTRICT ATTORNEY: W. CROSBY PARKER

BEFORE WILSON, P.J., GREENLEE AND EMFINGER, JJ.

GREENLEE, J.

¶1. Following a jury trial in the Harrison County Circuit Court, Clyde Blocton was convicted of the sexual battery of a five-year-old girl, K.L.^[1] The circuit court sentenced him to serve twenty-five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. On appeal, Blocton claims that the circuit court erred by (1) admitting testimony that was used to bolster the testimony of K.L. under the tender years exception and (2) admitting irrelevant

1

and prejudicial evidence that denied him a fair trial. After review, we find no reversible error and affirm Blocton's conviction and sentence.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶2. Initially, five-year-old K.L. lived with her mother, Emma; thirty-year-old stepfather, Blocton; two brothers; and her grandmother in a house located in Gulfport, Mississippi. While living in Gulfport, Blocton began to sexually abuse K.L. According to K.L. when she was five and six years old, her stepfather "did something very, very bad" to her. K.L. explained that on multiple occasions Blocton had put "his front private[] part in [her] mouth" and told her to "suck it." She also stated that on one occasion Blocton urinated in her mouth. The abuse occurred while everyone else was asleep. Eventually, K.L. disclosed to her grandmother that Blocton had been sexually abusing her.

¶3. After K.L.'s initial disclosure, Megan Morvant, a Gulfport Police Department Detective, was assigned to investigate K.L.'s allegations. On July 11, 2018, Detective Morvant arranged a forensic interview for K.L. with Daniel Dooley, a forensic interviewer with the Gulfport Child Advocacy Clinic. Based on his interview with K.L. and his training, Dooley determined that K.L.'s interview "was consistent with a sexual abuse disclosure."

¶4. On October 23, 2018, Blocton was arrested on a warrant charging him with sexual battery. He was released on bond on November 9, 2018, under the condition that he have no contact with K.L. or her family. Shortly after K.L.'s disclosure, her mother moved the family to Louisiana. On January 29, 2019, Ashley Meyers, a child protection investigator with the Louisiana's Department of Children and Family Services, received a report expressing

2

"concerns for a lack of supervision and inadequate shelter." There was also concern regarding the possibility that K.L. was still residing with Blocton. The following day, Investigator Meyers arrived at the house to conduct an investigation, which revealed that the family was residing in a neighbor's ten-by-ten shed. The shed was small, had no running water, two beds, and a microwave. According to Investigator Meyers, two people could not comfortably stand in the shed for a conversation. Blocton was present when Investigator Meyers arrived at the home. Investigator Meyers testified that Blocton acknowledged the bond restriction but insisted on maintaining the family unit. Meyers removed K.L. from her mother's custody and placed her in foster care.^[2] On January 31, 2019, K.L. was placed with her current foster mother, Megan Sharp. A few days into her placement, K.L. spoke with Sharp regarding the abuse. According to Sharp, K.L. stated that "her stepfather [put], and she called it a d**k, in her mouth at certain times, either in a bedroom, on a couch, or in the bathroom."

¶5. On June 10, 2019, a Harrison County grand jury indicted Blocton on one count of sexual battery under Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-95(1)(d) (Rev. 2014). When Blocton failed to appear at his arraignment on July 8, 2019, the circuit court entered a judgment nisi. Blocton was remanded into custody shortly thereafter. The State promptly filed a motion to revoke Blocton's bail, and the circuit court granted the motion on July 22, 2019. His bond was revoked on July 30, 2019. Blocton entered a plea of not guilty in August 2019, and the case proceeded to trial on January 19, 2021, after several continuances.

3

¶6. Before trial, the circuit judge held a separate hearing outside the presence of the jury to determine the admissibility of K.L.'s disclosures to Dooley (the forensic interviewer) and Sharp (her foster parent) and to determine whether K.L. was competent to testify at trial. Dooley and Sharp testified about K.L.'s disclosures. The circuit judge found K.L. competent to testify at trial but reserved ruling on the admissibility of K.L.'s disclosures to the others until K.L. testified.

¶7. At trial, the State called K.L. as its first witness. K.L. spoke about several instances of sexual abuse by Blocton that had occurred when she was five and six years old. K.L. explained how Blocton would wake her up and place his penis in her mouth. She explained how he then directed her to suck it.

¶8. Shortly after K.L.'s testimony in front of the jury, the circuit judge conducted a hearing outside the presence of the jury to rule on whether Dooley and Sharp could testify about K.L.'s disclosures to them. The circuit judge specifically addressed each reliability factor under Mississippi Rule of Evidence 803(25) on the record and ruled that K.L.'s disclosures had substantial indicia of reliability and were, therefore, admissible under the tender-years hearsay exception.

¶9. After the circuit judge's ruling, Sharp testified about K.L.'s disclosures to her and Dooley testified regarding K.L.'s forensic interview. After a video recording of the forensic interview was admitted into evidence and played for the jury, Dooley testified that K.L.'s disclosures during the forensic interview were consistent with a child that had been sexually abused.

4

¶10. Subsequently, Detective Morvant testified that in June 2018 she was assigned to investigate a sexual battery claim of five-year-old K.L. She testified about the victim, the perpetrator's identity, and the location of the incidents. Similar to Sharp, Detective Morvant explained that K.L. disclosed that her stepfather, Blocton, had put his penis in her mouth. She further stated that K.L. never alleged that anyone other than Blocton had sexually abused her.

¶11. Blocton testified and denied all of K.L.'s accusations. Blocton claimed that statements made in court regarding K.L. having no relationship with her biological father were false. He explained that he had personally taken K.L. to her father's home to play with her siblings. However, on cross-examination, Blocton acknowledged that after the family moved to Gulfport, K.L. had no contact with her biological father. Blocton denied ever waking K.L. when he returned home from work.

¶12. Blocton was convicted of sexual battery and was sentenced to serve twenty-five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Blocton then filed an unsuccessful motion for a new trial or, in the alternative, judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

¶13. Blocton now appeals and argues that the circuit court erred by (1) admitting testimony that was used to bolster the testimony of K.L.'s testimony under the tender years exception and (2) by admitting irrelevant and prejudicial evidence, which denied him a fair trial.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶14. We review the admission of hearsay evidence for abuse of discretion. Garcia-Lebron v. State, 323 So.3d 1159, 1165 (¶21) (Miss. Ct. App. 2021). "This Court will affirm the

5

[circuit] court's ruling unless it can safely say that the [circuit] abused its discretion in allowing or disallowing evidence to the prejudice of the accused." Pitts v. State, 291 So.3d 751, 755 (¶16) (Miss. 2020) (quoting Tubbs v. State, 185 So.3d 363, 367 (¶9) (Miss. 2016)).

DISCUSSION

I. Whether the State impermissibly bolstered K.L's testimony with the testimony of other witnesses.

¶15. Blocton argues that the circuit judge abused his discretion by permitting K.L.'s foster mother, Megan Sharp; the forensic interviewer, Dan Dooley; and law enforcement detective, Megan Morvant, to testify about what K.L. disclosed.

¶16. "A fundamental principle of evidentiary law provides that hearsay is 'incompetent evidence' unless it falls under one of the exceptions to the rule against hearsay." Pitts, 291 So.3d at 755 (¶20) (citing Smith v. State, 724 So.2d 280, 315 (Miss. 1998)). Mississippi Rule of Evidence 803(25) is an exception to the hearsay rule. Rule 803(25), also known as the tender years exception, provides that

[a] statement by a child of tender years describing any act of sexual contact with or by another is admissible if:

(A) the court-after a hearing outside the jury's presence-determines that the statement's time, content, and circumstances provide substantial indicia of reliability; and

(B) the child either:

(i) testifies; or

(ii) is unavailable as a witness, and other evidence corroborates the act.

M.R.E. 803(25). There is no dispute, here, that K.L. was a child of tender years. See Veasley v. State,

6

735 So.2d 432, 436 (¶16) (Miss. 1999) ("[T]here is a rebuttable presumption that a child under the age of twelve is of tender years.").

¶17. The commentary to Rule 803(25) provides a list of factors that a circuit judge should consider when determining reliability of the child's hearsay statement including:

(1) whether there is an apparent motive on declarant's part to lie; (2) the general character of the declarant; (3) whether more than one person heard the statements; (4)

...