Riddle v. State, 53166
| Decision Date | 05 May 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 53166,53166 |
| Citation | 413 So.2d 737 |
| Parties | Roy Lee RIDDLE v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Louis Fondren, Pascagoula, Darnell L. Nicovich, Biloxi, for appellant.
Bill Allain, Atty. Gen. by Amy D. Whitten, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before SMITH, WALKER and DAN M. LEE, JJ.
WALKER, Justice, for the Court:
Roy Lee Riddle was indicted for the kidnap and rape of an eight year old female child, and for the burglary at night of the dwelling within which the child was sleeping. The defendant was tried in the Circuit Court of Jackson County before a jury which found Riddle guilty of all three charges. The cases were consolidated and tried together by agreement. The trial court found that the defendant was an habitual offender under Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-19-81 (Supp.1981), and sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment and held that he was ineligible for parole. From this conviction, Riddle assigns, inter alia, the following:
1. The habitual offender statute was inappropriately applied.
2. The verdict of the jury is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, and that the identification of Riddle by the prosecutrix was highly suspect.
3. The court erred in failing to permit newly obtained evidence to be presented to the jury.
I
The state has acknowledged that the habitual offender statute, Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-19-81 (Supp.1981), was inappropriately applied in the present case since there was insufficient proof that the defendant had been "convicted twice previously of any felony or federal crime upon charges separately brought and arising out of separate incidents at different times." In the present case, the only previous crimes shown to have been committed by Riddle were crimes which arose out of a single incident. Therefore, this Court must remand the present case for resentencing since the habitual offender statute was inappropriately applied.
II
The fact that the prosecutrix was abducted and raped is not seriously questioned. The testimony established that the prosecutrix was asleep in her family's trailer on the evening of September 11, 1980. She awoke to find a white male in bed with her who then put his hands over her mouth and took her from the trailer. The prosecutrix was driven in her assailant's car to an unknown location, where the assailant raped her. 1 Thereafter, the child was dropped off by the assailant, and she went to a nearby home and found someone to return her to her mother. She was then taken to the hospital where an examination showed that she had been sexually assaulted. The main contention by the defendant on this appeal is that the evidence does not establish that he perpetrated the crime against the prosecutrix.
The prosecutrix gave a description of her assailant and identified the defendant as the assailant on four occasions: from a photographic lineup immediately after the rape occurred, upon confrontation at two preliminary hearings, and in court during the trial of the defendant. Although the prosecutrix was able to identify Riddle on all these occasions, the prosecutrix did so in an equivocal manner. However, even if this Court were to discount these identifications, other evidence was sufficient to establish that the defendant was the perpetrator of the crime.
The defendant was seen by police officers in the area in which the prosecutrix lived during the evening on which the crime was committed. The defendant approached the officers at a convenience store, identified himself as Riddle, and inquired about trailer parks in the area, stating that he was trying to locate his sister. The store was immediately adjacent to the park within which the prosecutrix and her family lived, and also, the defendant had no sister living in the immediate area. Riddle was, according to officers, wearing blue gym shorts and a light blue T-shirt, which were later found in the defendant's apartment and entered into evidence. Also, officers noticed a black and white puppy in Riddle's car.
Friends of Riddle testified that Riddle was in fact wearing a light colored T-shirt and blue gym shorts on the evening in question and positively identified the gym shorts in evidence. Furthermore, Riddle and his friends had been drinking that day and had gone to a local bar. These friends stated that they were unable to account for Riddle for the entire evening and they specifically noted his absence from the barroom during the latter part of the evening.
The prosecutrix described her assailant as a large person with blonde hair and a mustache, who was wearing blue gym shorts and a T-shirt. He took off these clothes just prior to his sexual assault of her. The prosecutrix identified the gym shorts which had been placed in evidence as the shorts her assailant had worn when he abducted her and just prior to his sexual assault of her.
The prosecutrix further testified that she defecated while her assailant was attempting to sexually assault her. Fecal material was discovered on panties of the prosecutrix, and also on the gym shorts identified by all witnesses as the shorts that were worn by Riddle on the evening in question.
Furthermore, friends of the defendant, as well as police officers, saw Riddle with a small black and white puppy, which he had borrowed from a friend during the afternoon of September 11. The prosecutrix testified that a small black and white puppy was in the car of her assailant, and Riddle's landlady testified that a small black and white puppy was in Riddle's apartment the day of his arrest, September 12.
Lastly, upon arrest, Riddle stated that he was with his wife during the evening in question. In fact, it was discovered by police officers, that Riddle was divorced from his wife and that she had been living in California for some period of time. Riddle, after he was confronted with this information, stated that he had not been truthful and...
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Drummer v. State
...As for when two incidents are sufficiently separate and apart to qualify for enhanced sentencing, the law is mixed. In Riddle v. State, 413 So.2d 737 (Miss.1982), the defendant broke into a trailer home, kidnapped a young girl, took her away, and raped her. He was tried on all three charges......
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...for a new trial unless the perjured testimony was knowingly used by the prosecuting officials to obtain a conviction. Riddell v. State, 413 So.2d 737, 740 (Miss.1982); Peeples v. State, 218 So.2d 436, 437 (Miss.1969); Roberson v. Quave, 211 Miss. 398, 403, 51 So.2d 777, 779 (1951); Dolan v.......
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