Bryant v. State
| Citation | 644 N.E.2d 859 |
| Decision Date | 16 December 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 34S02-9412-CR-1222,34S02-9412-CR-1222 |
| Parties | Robert Frank BRYANT, Jr., Appellant, (Defendant below) v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Indiana |
After a bench trial in Howard Circuit Court, Robert Bryant was convicted of rape, a Class B felony. He was sentenced to a six year term of imprisonment. He was additionally sentenced to five hundred hours of community service, assessed a fine of two thousand five hundred dollars, and ordered to enroll in a counseling program relating to sexual conduct. The judge suspended the sentence of imprisonment and placed Bryant on four years probation.
Bryant appealed his conviction. In a memorandum decision, a divided panel of the Court of Appeals reversed Bryant's conviction on the ground that the evidence was insufficient. Bryant v. State (1994), Ind.App., 629 N.E.2d 285 (mem.). The State has petitioned this Court to transfer the decision of the Court of Appeals, and we now grant transfer to discuss whether the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to support Bryant's conviction for rape.
The facts supporting the trial court's judgment show that on March 27, 1992, S.W. and two other women went to the mobile home where Bryant was living with a friend. Except for one of the women, who was eight months pregnant at the time, all drank considerable amounts of alcohol in the short span of a couple of hours. S.W. drank so much that she became ill and went into the bathroom to throw up.
After S.W. had been in the bathroom throwing up for quite some time, Bryant came in. As S.W. was kneeling on the floor with her head above the toilet, Bryant began pulling her hair back to keep it out of the toilet. S.W. had taken her shirt and bra off, and Bryant also began rubbing her back, shoulders, and breasts. Bryant then pulled down S.W.'s pants and underwear and had sexual intercourse with her. S.W. did not explicitly consent to intercourse, but she also never asked Bryant to stop or indicate unwillingness in any other way.
When Stacy Corbett entered the bathroom some time later, S.W. began to tell her what had happened. Bryant promptly left the trailer.
S.W. became angry, hysterical, and inconsolable as she related the incident to the others. After S.W. had been taken to her apartment, she became so hysterical and sick that an ambulance was called to take her to the hospital.
The examining doctor observed that S.W. had sustained abrasions and contusions on her kneecaps, thighs, and face. A pelvic examination revealed two abrasions on the floor of S.W.'s vagina.
Bryant was arrested and interviewed. In his signed statement he admitted that he had had intercourse with S.W.
Indiana Code § 35-42-4-1 (1993) defines the crime of rape and provides in relevant part: "A person who knowingly or intentionally has sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex when ... the other person is compelled by force or imminent threat of force ... commits rape, a Class B felony." 1 Bryant's sole argument on appeal was that there was no evidence in the record that he used force or the threat of force to compel S.W. to have intercourse.
When we review a claim that the evidence was insufficient to support a criminal conviction, we consider only the evidence that supports the verdict and we draw all reasonable inferences from that evidence. Wear v. State (1992), Ind., 593 N.E.2d 1179, 1179. We do not reweigh the evidence and we do not attempt to judge the credibility of witnesses. Id.; Stewart v. State (1988), Ind., 521 N.E.2d 675, 677. We will uphold a conviction if the record supports it with substantial evidence of probative value from which a trier of fact could reasonably infer guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Garrett v. State (1993), Ind., 602 N.E.2d 139, 142, reh'g denied.
We have said that the force necessary to sustain a rape conviction need not be physical, but that it may be inferred from the circumstances. Jones v. State (1992), Ind., 589 N.E.2d 241, 242-43; Smith v. State (1986), Ind., 500 N.E.2d 190, 192; Jenkins v. State (1978), 267 Ind. 543, 545, 372 N.E.2d 166, 167. In Lewis v. State (1982), Ind., 440 N.E.2d 1125, cert. denied, 461 U.S. 915, 103 S.Ct. 1895, 77 L.Ed.2d 284 (1983), upon which Jones in part relied, Chief Justice Givan wrote that "[f]orce or the threat of force may be shown even without evidence of the attacker's oral statements of intent or willingness to use a weapon and cause injury if from the circumstances it is reasonable to infer the attacker was willing to do so." Lewis, 440 N.E.2d at 1127.
These cases, however, apply to instances where only a threat of force is alleged. The majority of the Court of Appeals panel may well be correct that there was "no evidence that [S.W.] was afraid because Bryant had forced her to do anything or threatened her, or that her fear was reasonable." Memorandum decision at 4. This conclusion, however, only deals with the issue of whether Bryant compelled S.W. to have intercourse by threat of force.
The information charged Bryant with rape either by force or the imminent threat of force. And indeed, at trial it was the State's theory of the case that Bryant employed the compulsion of actual force. In its findings, the trial court also found the actual use of force.
The evidence showed that Bryant took down S.W.'s pants and underwear. It also showed that before the attack S.W.'s pants were intact while afterwards they were ripped and stained. S.W. also sustained bruises to her kneecaps, thighs, and face. There were two abrasions on the floor of her vagina.
One of the women present at the "party" testified about S.W.'s condition after the intercourse:
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