In the Matter of The Care And Treatment of A.B.
| Decision Date | 22 March 2011 |
| Docket Number | No. ED 93812.,ED 93812. |
| Parties | In the Matter of the Care and Treatment of A.B., Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
334 S.W.3d 746
In the Matter of the Care and Treatment of A.B., Appellant.
No. ED 93812.
Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Division Three.
March 22, 2011.
[334 S.W.3d 748]
Emmett D. Queener, Columbia, MO, for Appellant.Alana M. Barragan–Scott, Jayne T. Woods, Jefferson City, MO, for Respondent.Before SHERRI B. SULLIVAN, P.J., CLIFFORD H. AHRENS, J. and LAWRENCE E. MOONEY, J.SHERRI B. SULLIVAN, P.J.
A.B. (Appellant) appeals from the trial court's judgment entered pursuant to a jury verdict committing him to secure confinement in the custody of the Missouri Department of Mental Health (DMH) as a sexually violent predator (SVP). We affirm.
Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the following facts were adduced at trial.
Appellant has six known molestation victims: E.D., Appellant's niece, at 4–5 years old; C.B., Appellant's niece and sister to E.D., from when she was a young child until age 11–12, and again at age 16; M.D., Appellant's sister-in-law, at 15–16; M.R., Appellant's niece and M.D.'s daughter, at age 15; J.C., Appellant's granddaughter, at age 8–9; and K.R., Appellant's great-niece and M.D.'s granddaughter, at age 6.
E.D. recalled that when she was 4 or 5 years old, she was sleeping in her bed when Appellant came into her room, took her from her bed into his room, where he laid her on the bed, put her hand on his “private area,” and called her by his wife's name. E.D. never told anyone until around the time of this case because she was ashamed, and was trying to block it out.
At the time of the deposition, C.B. was 60 years old. C.B. stated that when she was a young child, her exact age she cannot recall, she and Appellant were riding in the backseat of a car which her father was driving. C.B. was sleeping in Appellant's lap when she awoke to him fondling her vaginal area while he was having a conversation with her father. C.B. said that this same sort of behavior on the part of Appellant, his fondling her vaginal area, usually waking her from sleep, went on for a period of time until she was 11 or 12. Usually no one else but the two of them were present when Appellant molested her, except for one other occasion she remembered, when she was watching television at Appellant's house, again sitting in his lap, and Appellant began fondling her. Appellant's wife was home at the time, cleaning, when she walked into the room, saw what Appellant was doing, and said, “What do you think you are doing?”
C.B. stated that when she was about 10, 11 or 12 years old, she and her three sisters had spent the night at Appellant's house when Appellant came into her room to wake her up for school while fondling her vagina. At that point she mustered the courage to confront Appellant about the touching because she became concerned that he would try to do it to her three sisters as well. She told him that if he touched her sisters, she would kill him. Appellant laughed and told her she was not going to say anything. She then told him that if he touched her sisters, she would “show” him.
After this exchange, Appellant stopped molesting C.B. until she was 15 or 16,
[334 S.W.3d 749]
when Appellant asked her if she could move into his family's house and help his wife take care of their five children at night. C.B. agreed, she said, because she loved her aunt and cousins and felt that Appellant was no longer a threat to her after she had confronted him. Appellant built a special bedroom in the garage for C.B., which surprised her because she assumed she would be sharing a room with someone, because Appellant, his wife, their five children and several other people were staying at the house. One night, recounted C.B., Appellant came into her bedroom as she pretended to be asleep. Appellant began feeling her legs and moving up to her stomach. C.B. opened her eyes and asked him what he was doing. Then C.B. heard Appellant's wife yelling, “Adrian, what are you doing?” C.B. told Appellant that he had better get out of there, and yelled, “He's not doing nothing” to Appellant's wife. Appellant then left her bedroom.
C.B. never told anyone about the molestation except at age 12 or 13, she told her uncle B.B., who is Appellant's brother. C.B. recounted that nothing happened as a result of her confiding in her uncle, and no one said anything, so she decided to keep quiet.
When Appellant's sister-in-law M.D.1 was approximately 15 1/2–16 years old, Appellant wanted to teach her how to operate a car with manual transmission. While M.D. was practicing, Appellant tried to put his hand up her skirt. M.D. told Appellant she wanted to go home, and never went driving with him again. Another time M.D. spent the night at her sister and Appellant's house. M.D. was awakened in the middle of the night when Appellant put his hands on her and tried to get on top of her. M.D. immediately left the house, and later, Appellant told M.D. that no one would believe her if she told them. Appellant also said to M.D. that if she told her mother what he had done, M.D.'s mother would die. At this time, M.D.'s father had just died. This was why M.D. did not tell anyone about what Appellant had done to her, until recently, when Appellant would not plead guilty to molesting M.D.'s granddaughter and forced M.D.'s granddaughter to have to testify at trial. M.D. testified that at the time Appellant molested her, in the 1960s, it was kept in the closet.
Appellant later admitted sodomizing M.D. on at least ten occasions by touching her breasts and rubbing his penis on her buttocks until he ejaculated.
In 1991, J.C., who was about 8 or 9 years old, and her younger sister, who was 5 or 6, went over to Appellant's house for the weekend to see their father, who is Appellant's son and lived with Appellant. That weekend, Appellant made J.C. and her younger sister watch pornographic movies. The girls' father was there but made them turn their heads when oral or sexual intercourse came onto the screen. The 1991 police reports indicate that J.C. told the police that after she had fallen asleep on the couch, she awoke in Appellant's bedroom with Appellant on top of her, touching her. She recounted that Appellant put his finger and thumb into her “private area” and pushed his “private area” against hers very hard. Appellant also put a hand down J.C.'s pants and fondled her vaginal area. J.C. stated that she screamed, and her little sister came into the bedroom and began screaming as well. Appellant took J.C.'s sister out of the room and locked the bedroom door;
[334 S.W.3d 750]
then climbed back on top of J.C., put his hands in her pants, and then pushed really hard on her “private area.” He also put his hand on her buttocks, and his hand inside her pants. He did this until he ejaculated. J.C. told her mother what happened.
Approximately 10 years later, in 2001, when K.R., who is M.R.'s daughter, M.D.'s granddaughter, and Appellant's great-niece, turned 6 years old, Appellant suggested that the family have a birthday party for her at Appellant's house. During the party, K.R.'s aunt saw Appellant and K.R. in a bedroom and heard Appellant offer K.R. five dollars. The aunt told K.R.'s mother, who investigated and discovered Appellant lying on the bed with K.R. with his hand down the front of her pants and rolling over on top of her. K.R.'s mother grabbed K.R. away from Appellant and asked her what had happened. K.R. said that Appellant had his finger on her vaginal area.
At the time that K.R. was molested by Appellant, M.D.'s daughter, M.R., also made statements that Appellant had molested her when she was 15 years old.
As a result of the 1991 incident and J.C.'s telling her mother about it, Appellant was charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse. Appellant, in a deal with the prosecutor, pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of attempted first-degree sexual abuse, was placed on two years' probation, and was required to complete outpatient sex offender treatment. Despite the fact that Appellant refused...
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