State v Cox
| Decision Date | 20 October 2000 |
| Docket Number | 99-00351 |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MATTHEW DOUGLAS COXIN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT KNOXVILLE |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
Direct Appeal from the Criminal Court for Knox County No. 61381, 66755
The appellant, Matthew Douglas Cox, appeals his convictions by a jury in the Knox County Criminal Court of two counts of aggravated rape and one count of incest. The trial court imposed concurrent sentences of twenty years incarceration in the Tennessee Department of Correction for the aggravated rape convictions and three years incarceration for the incest conviction. On appeal, the appellant presents the following issues for our review: (1) whether the evidence adduced at trial supports his convictions of aggravated rape and incest; (2) whether the trial court erroneously admitted into evidence a tape recording of the victim's 911 telephone call; (3) whether the trial court erred in effectively limiting defense counsel's cross-examination of the State's expert witness concerning the results of a DNA analysis of semen samples obtained from the victim; (4) whether the trial court erred in admitting into evidence testimony concerning the circumstances of the appellant's arrest; (5) whether the State committed prosecutorial misconduct during closing argument; and (6) whether the cumulative effect of these errors requires the reversal of the appellant's convictions. Following a review of the record and the parties' briefs, we affirm in part and reverse in part the judgments of the trial court.
Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Criminal Court is Affirmed in Part and Reversed in Part.
Mark E. Stephens, District Public Defender, and R. Scott Carpenter, Assistant District Public Defender, for the appellant, Matthew Douglas Cox.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter, R. Stephen Jobe, Assistant Attorney General, Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General, and G. Scott Green, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Norma McGee Ogle, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which James Curwood Witt, Jr.J., joined. David G. Hayes, J. not participating.
OPINIONThe appellant's convictions of aggravated rape and incest arose from the rape of his sister, PC,1 on March 2, 1996, at the appellant's home in Knoxville, Tennessee. At the appellant's trial, PC testified that, although separated during their childhood due to their parents' divorce, she and the appellant developed a close sibling relationship during the 1990s. PC recounted that she frequently visited her brother at his home and, in January of 1996, only months before the instant offenses, she and the appellant traveled together to Gatlinburg to attend a friend's wedding and also stayed overnight together in Cherokee, North Carolina, staying in a single hotel room but sleeping on different beds. Moreover, in mid- to late-February 1996, following her brother's separation from his wife, PC and the appellant agreed that she would move from her home in Bristol, Tennessee, to the appellant's home in Knoxville. PC intended to assist her brother with his plumbing business, which he was currently conducting from his home, and also intended to launch a career with Mary Kay Cosmetics. She was particularly pleased about this arrangement because her son, Ray Pope, lived in Knoxville.
PC arrived at the appellant's home on March 2, 1996, at approximately 2:00 a.m. The appellant was asleep on the couch in the living room. However, he awoke upon his sister's arrival, and the two siblings talked for approximately one and one half hours. During this time, PC consumed two beers, and the appellant consumed a mixed alcoholic beverage. Afterwards, at approximately 3:00 a.m. or 3:30 a.m., PC went to sleep in the master bedroom.
PC was awakened at approximately 4:00 a.m. or 5:00 a.m., when the appellant began fondling her vagina. PC asked the appellant to stop, whereupon the appellant apologized for his conduct and promised that he would not touch his sister again. Extremely disturbed, PC went to the living room where she sat on the couch and waited for her brother to fall asleep. At some point, PC fell asleep on the couch, only to be awakened at approximately 7:00 a.m. by her brother, who was once again fondling her vagina. PC again asked the appellant to stop, and the appellant again apologized.
Following the second incident, PC brewed a pot of coffee and went outside to get the newspaper. As she was picking up the newspaper, she noticed the appellant's next-door neighbor and waved at him. She then took the newspaper and a cup of coffee and sat beside the appellant's swimming pool. When she returned inside the house, the appellant inquired whether she still intended to live with him. PC refused to talk with the appellant and, instead, prepared to go out for the day, intending to go to a beauty salon and also visit her son. PC recalled that, at approximately 10:30 a.m., she took a shower, cleaning herself thoroughly.
When PC emerged from the shower, the appellant was standing in the bathroom. He was naked and was holding a knife. PC asked the appellant what he was doing, and he responded, The appellant grabbed the back of PC's head and held the knife to her throat, insisting that she cooperate with him. He then threw his sister across the hallway into one of the bedrooms. PC recalled that the appellant dropped the knife in the hallway.
In the bedroom, the appellant pushed his sister down onto the bed and attempted to climb on top of her. PC struggled with the appellant, using her arms and legs. At trial, she related to the jury that
I was trying to kick his personals; because I thought, if I could kick him hard enough, I would have a chance to get out of there, but I couldn't kick him. I finally got him kicked off to the side in the bed. It sounded like he hit aluminum - - aluminum siding, aluminum windows or something. So I took off out the door. And I got to the front door, and I tried to get it open, and I remember screaming, 'Rape,' and then he come behind me and slammed the door shut and grabbed me by the hair again and took me back to the bedroom.
* * *
He said, "If you try running again, I will kill you," and then he throwed me on the bed, and he started choking me, and choking me, and choking me.
When the appellant released PC's neck, she requested something to drink. The appellant agreed but insisted that he accompany PC to the kitchen and that he hold her hand. In the kitchen, PC poured vodka and orange juice into a glass and drank the mixture. At trial, PC explained, "I figured, if I was going to die, I might as well not feel a lot of it." The appellant also made himself a drink.
Afterwards, the appellant and PC returned to the bedroom where the appellant grabbed PC by the ears and attempted to force PC to perform oral sex upon him. When his attempts proved unsuccessful, the appellant performed oral sex upon PC, penetrating her vagina with his tongue. According to PC, she had "lost the will to fight" at this point. The appellant next rubbed PC's vagina with an object, possibly a vibrator, and placed the object in PC's rectum. PC recalled that she experienced some pain and bit her own arm. Finally, the appellant attempted to engage in penile penetration of PC's vagina. Initially, the appellant had some difficulty achieving penetration because he did not have an erection. PC confirmed, however, that the appellant did ultimately penetrate her vagina with his penis. PC could not recall whether the appellant ejaculated during intercourse.
Following the rapes, the appellant informed his sister that she could leave. However, before PC departed, the appellant and PC drank coffee together. PC then collected all her belongings and carried them to her car. PC also briefly returned inside the appellant's home to retrieve her Mary Kay Cosmetics bag and a bottle of vodka. PC testified at trial that at no time did she indicate to the appellant that she intended to report the rapes to the police. She explained that she was afraid that the appellant would kill her. In parting, the appellant stated to PC that "he wasn't worth living; that he thought he would kill himself."
As PC drove out of the appellant's driveway, she heard a sound that was similar to a gunshot. She then called 911 on her cellular telephone. At trial, the State introduced into evidence a tape recording of PC's conversation with the 911 operator at approximately 1:00 p.m. on March 2, 1996. During this conversation, PC identified herself and asked that an officer be sent immediately to her brother's address because she believed that her brother had committed suicide. PC also reported that, earlier that morning, her brother had assaulted her with a knife as she was coming out of the shower and had raped her. PC stated that her brother had held her hostage for a total of approximately two hours. Finally, PC indicated that she was driving to her son's residence. PC was crying during the conversation and had difficulty recalling her son's address or telephone number.
Ray Pope, PC's son, also testified at the appellant's trial. He recounted that, on March 2, 1996, he arrived home to find his mother "curled up in a fetal position" on the couch in his living room. According to Pope,
[PC] was crying. She was shaking all over. She didn't look like she had herself put together - - you know, like hair and makeup. When I approached her, she jumped and flinched like she was afraid of me.
"[T]hrough tears and sobs," PC explained to her son that the appellant had raped her. Soon thereafter, the police arrived and, after speaking with PC, transported her and Pope to the Emergency Department at the University of Tennessee Hospital. During the trip to the hospital, PC ...
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