State v. Griffis
| Decision Date | 30 April 1997 |
| Citation | 964 S.W.2d 577 |
| Parties | STATE of Tennessee, Appellee, v. Phillip Ray GRIFFIS and Melissa Faith Rogers, Appellants. |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
Dana C. Holloway, Knoxville, for Griffis.
Patrick A. Flynn, Columbia, for Rogers.
Charles W. Burson, Attorney General and Reporter, Kathy Morante, Assistant Attorney General, Nashville, Michael Bottoms, District Attorney General, Lawrenceburg, Stella L. Hargrove, Assistant District Attorney General, Robert C. Sanders, Assistant District Attorney General, Columbia, for Appellee.
The appellants, Phillip Ray Griffis (Griffis) and Melissa Faith Rogers (Rogers), were convicted of raping a child, a Class A felony, and attempt to commit murder in the first degree, a Class A felony, by a jury of their peers. The trial court, finding the appellants were standard offenders, sentenced both Griffis and Rogers to Range I sentences consisting of a fine of $50,000 and confinement for twenty-five (25) years in the Department of Correction for each offense. The trial court ordered that the sentences are to be served consecutively. The effective sentence received by both Griffis and Rogers was a fine of $100,000 and confinement in the Department of Correction for fifty (50) years. 1
Griffis presents a total of thirteen issues for review. Rogers presents eleven issues for review. Both parties contend that the evidence is insufficient, as a matter of law, to support their respective convictions for rape of a child and attempt to commit murder in the first degree. They also contend that (a) they were convicted upon the uncorroborated testimony of a co-conspirator and co-defendant, (b) the child victim, P.M., 2 was not qualified to testify as a witness at the trial, (c) the trial court abused its discretion by (1) refusing to permit the appellants to have P.M. examined by an independent psychologist, (2) admitting photographs of the victim, (3) denying their motion for a bill of particulars, and (4) denying their respective motions for a severance. They also contend (d) there was prosecutorial misconduct during summation and (e) their sentences are excessive. Additionally, Griffis contends the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to continue the trial and denying his motion for change of venue. Finally, they contend the indictments returned by the grand jury failed to state a crime.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Griffis and Rogers lived in a Birmingham, Alabama apartment complex managed by Cathy Mitchell's (Mitchell) common law husband. When Mitchell's husband died, Griffis and Rogers convinced Mitchell to live with them. They, along with Mitchell's daughters, P.M. and B.M., lived in a Birmingham motel for a short period of time. Later, Griffis's sister came to Birmingham and drove Griffis, Rogers, Mitchell, and the two children to Columbia, Tennessee. They lived with Griffis's parents for a short period of time. The two children apparently annoyed Griffis's parents. Mitchell and the children moved to a motel room that was paid for by a church. Later, Mitchell and the children moved to the Family Life Mission, a family shelter, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mitchell and her children lived at the mission for approximately three weeks. On October 12, 1993, Griffis and Rogers went to the mission and convinced Mitchell and her children to leave the mission. That night they slept in Griffis's automobile. On October 13, 1993, Rogers leased a house trailer, and everyone moved into the trailer that day. Everyone lived in the trailer during the period in question. The trailer became a torture chamber for P.M., who turned four years of age on November 12, 1993.
Mitchell began having disciplinary problems with P.M. shortly after Halloween. P.M.'s conduct apparently interfered with Griffis's and Rogers's tranquility and ability to relax. Both Griffis and Rogers told Mitchell that they would like to cremate P.M. What occurred in the ensuing weeks was a concerted effort to kill her.
When P.M. accidentally wet the bed one night, Griffis took the sheets, placed them in the bathtub, and made the child sleep in the tub. For a while, Griffis and Rogers required her to sleep on the floor at the foot of their bed. Later, Griffis brought a large cardboard box home from his place of employment. He cut a door in the box. P.M. was required to sleep inside the box until the abuse was uncovered. Roughly six weeks after the group moved into the trailer, P.M. was liberated from the torture chamber.
Griffis obtained a wooden board from his place of employment, placed duct tape around one end of the board, and called it a "paddle." P.M. was continually beaten by Griffis and Rogers with their hands, a belt, and the paddle. On one occasion, Griffis placed the child on the edge of the sofa nude, spread her legs, and began striking her with the paddle. He hit her every place he could, including the vaginal area of her body. The beating lasted for approximately thirty minutes.
When the hot water heater at the trailer malfunctioned before P.M.'s bath, Rogers boiled water on the stove. She took several pans of water into the bathroom and poured the scalding water on P.M.'s body. Rogers told Mitchell that she dented one of the pans when she hit the girl on the head. On another occasion, Griffis and Rogers took turns holding the child's body against a heater in the bathroom. P.M. suffered severe burns as a result of this conduct. Her fingers, palms, and forehead were covered with cigarette burns.
On Thanksgiving Day, Griffis took Rogers, Mitchell, and B.M. to his parents' home for lunch. He took P.M. with him to the vacant factory where he worked as a security guard. When he returned that evening to eat supper, he was asked about P.M. He told those present she was in the car asleep, and "if any body woke her (P.M.) up, he'd cut the damn bitch's throat." Griffis was referring to P.M.'s throat. Neither Griffis nor Rogers wanted anyone to see P.M. due to her physical condition.
While living at the trailer, Mitchell saw Rogers penetrate P.M.'s vagina with her fingers. Shortly thereafter Griffis penetrated P.M.'s vagina with his sexual organ. On occasion Rogers took baths with the child. It was developed through the child's testimony that Rogers had placed her fingers inside P.M.'s vagina when they took a bath together.
On the morning of November 26, 1993, the day after Thanksgiving, Griffis developed chest pains. His mother took him and Rogers to a local hospital. When he was released, he and Rogers went to the trailer and then returned to his parents' residence about 8 p.m. While Griffis and Rogers were gone, Mitchell confided to a neighbor, Joyce F. Williams, about the abuse. Mrs. Williams offered to help Mitchell find a place to live. In the meantime, Mrs. Williams asked Mitchell if P.M. could spend the night with her grandchild.
Mitchell permitted P.M. to go with Mrs. Williams. While at the Williams's trailer Mrs. Williams, her husband, and her son saw the bruises and burns on the child's body. Mrs. Williams called the police to report the abuse. In the interim, Griffis and Rogers returned to the trailer around 11 p.m. They asked Mitchell where the child had gone. Mitchell told them that P.M. had gone to Mrs. Williams's trailer to spend the night. Rogers ordered Mitchell to go to the Williams's trailer and get her. Mitchell complied. Rogers also went to the Williams's trailer and told Mrs. Williams that Mitchell had inflicted the bruises and burns.
The police came in response to the call. An officer testified that P.M. was semi-conscious when he arrived. An ambulance was called and the girl was taken to the hospital immediately.
The doctor on duty at the emergency room testified the child was within twenty minutes of death. Her fingers, feet, and lips had turned blue. An oxygen line was placed inside P.M.'s lung as she was not receiving sufficient oxygen. The doctor further testified the child's back was covered with bruises. There were multiple burns to the palms of the hands, and each finger had been burned. She had burns of various ages to the lower abdomen, buttocks, legs, and genital area of her body. She had "an extensive burn" on her forehead. He said these were second-degree burns. She also had pneumonia and a collapsed lung. According to the doctor, the child's condition was above critical, and her chances of survival were slim. A pediatric specialist also opined he did not believe that the girl would survive.
If P.M. was to live, she needed to be placed in a pediatric intensive care unit. Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville is the only hospital in Middle Tennessee with such a facility. The weather prohibited transportation by helicopter. She was transported by ambulance to Vanderbilt Medical Center and was accompanied by several hospital personnel. P.M. was treated at Vanderbilt. However, the doctors had to wait until she was better before treating her for the severe burns. A pediatric surgeon at Vanderbilt testified she was "in danger of dying in the very near future if things did not improve." She did improve. Her burns were debrided. 3 Later, she received skin grafts. She survived to testify at Griffis's and Rogers's trial.
The child testified Griffis and Rogers beat and burned her. They burned her with cigarettes. She confirmed she was required to sleep in the bathtub and a cardboard box. She testified Griffis beat her with the paddle, and he hung her on a hook on the back of a door. She remembered being placed in a bed unclothed. Rogers placed her fingers in her vagina while she was on the bed and when they took baths together. While on the bed, Griffis removed his clothes. Pointing to her genitals, she confirmed Griffis penetrated her there with his sexual organ.
Griffis and Rogers contend the state failed to prove...
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