State v. Holt
| Decision Date | 13 March 2012 |
| Docket Number | No. E2010-02128-CCA-R3-CD,E2010-02128-CCA-R3-CD |
| Parties | STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MARGARET L. HOLT |
| Court | Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals |
July 27, 2011 Session
Direct Appeal from the Circuit Court for Jefferson County
No. 10059 O. Duane Slone, Judge
The Defendant-Appellant, Margaret L. Holt, was convicted by a Jefferson County jury of attempted statutory rape by an authority figure, a Class D felony, and statutory rape by an authority figure, a Class C felony. The trial court sentenced her as a Range I, standard offender to concurrent sentences of three years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On appeal, Holt argues: (1) the trial court erred in admitting evidence of a note and a kiss between her and one of the victims, and (2) the evidence was insufficient to support her convictions. Upon review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.
Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Circuit Court Affirmed
Eric Lutton and Keith E. Lowe, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the Defendant-Appellant, Margaret L. Holt.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Leslie E. Price, Assistant Attorney General; James B. Dunn, District Attorney General; and Jeremy D. Ball, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.
The convictions in this case arose as a result of Holt, a teacher's assistant at Jefferson High School, engaging in or attempting to engage in sexual intercourse with two of herstudents, A.B.1 and J.M. Prior to trial, Holt moved to exclude a note and a kiss pursuant to Rule 404(b) of the Tennessee Rules of Evidence.
Rule 404(b) Hearing. A.B., age sixteen, identified a note that he received from Holt which stated, "I wish you could spend the night with me this weekend[,] but I understand that you can't." A.B. said he responded to the note by writing, "It ain't 'cause [sic] of my dad, it's because of my girlfriend, and I'm not going to cheat on her." A.B. gave the note back to Holt, and she responded by writing, "[O]kay[,]" before giving the note back to A.B. A.B. stated he provided this note to Detective Kearney during his interview regarding this case.2
On cross-examination, A.B. admitted he did not know the date that he received the note from Holt. He also acknowledged he did not remember whether he received the note before or after he allegedly had sexual intercourse with Holt; however, he did recall that he received the note from Holt close to the time that he and Holt had intercourse.
Charles Ruth, age twenty-seven, testified he had known A.B. for approximately four or five years. Ruth stated he drove A.B. to meet Holt in the fall of 2008. Once they arrived at Holt's home, Holt came outside and told A.B. that she was seeing another student and had bought that student drinks at a bar. Ruth said that Holt then walked around to the passenger side, opened the door, and "pulled [A.B.] to her and gave him a big ole [sic] kiss" on the mouth.
On cross-examination, Ruth admitted he did not remember the exact date that he took A.B. to Holt's home. Ruth said he was A.B.'s karate instructor and was friends with A.B. and A.B.'s father. Ruth stated he did not notify the police regarding the kiss between Holt and A.B. However, he said he immediately told A.B.'s father about the inappropriate nature of the kiss. Ruth did not know whether A.B.'s father called the police about the incident.
On redirect examination, Ruth confirmed that Holt kissed A.B. on the mouth. He stated, "This is the kind of kiss that I wanted to jerk his tail out and whoop him [sic] for something that he shouldn't be doing." He added that the kiss was "very [in]appropriate" because it was "like kissing your girlfriend."
Trial. At trial, A.B., Charles Ruth, Detective Mike Kearney, and J.M. testified for the State, and Officer Dana Ward, Michael Turner, Keith Turner, Melissa Crabtree, and Chris Burkett testified for the defense. Defendant-Appellant Holt elected not to testify.
A.B., age sixteen, testified he was in the ninth grade at Jefferson County High School in the fall of 2008. He stated that on October 26, 2008, he turned fifteen years old. A.B. stated that the Defendant Margaret Holt, whom he also knew as "Macey," was a teacher's aid or assistant in his first period class. A.B. said he talked to Holt in class, but their relationship became more than a teacher-student relationship after Holt put a note on his desk in class. The note from Holt stated, "I wish you could spend the night with me this weekend[,] but I understand that you can't." Before giving Holt the note back, A.B. wrote on the note, "It ain't because of my dad, it's because of my girlfriend[,] and I'm not going to cheat on her." Holt responded by writing, "Okay[,]" before passing the note back to A.B.3
A.B. stated that Charles Ruth, a family friend and his karate instructor, drove him to Holt's home sometime during the fall of 2008. A.B. said that Holt gave him directions to her apartment over the phone as they were driving. Upon their arrival, A.B. stated that Holt came outside and that Ruth rolled down his window so that Holt could talk to A.B. Holt told A.B. that she was glad he had visited her. A.B. and Holt then discussed another student, J.M. A.B. explained that he became aware of Holt's sexual relationship with J.M. when he heard Holt talking to a female student in class about J.M. When A.B. asked Holt about J.M., Holt told A.B. that J.M. was a student with whom she had sexual intercourse. Holt then held up one finger to indicate that she had sex with J.M. one time. Before A.B. and Ruth left Holt's home, Holt walked around to A.B.'s side of the car, opened his door, leaned in and hugged him, and then kissed him on the lips. A.B. said that Ruth witnessed this kiss. Ruth later told A.B. that he was "disappointed" in A.B.'s and Holt's behavior, especially since Holt was an adult.
A.B. also said that Holt picked him up as he was walking to Talbott Elementary School to catch his school bus. After A.B. got in Holt's car, she dropped off her two oldest children at Jefferson Elementary School and then dropped off her youngest child at her parents' house. A.B. said that Holt drove them to a deserted area on Quarry Road in Jefferson County and pulled her car over on the side of the road. Holt leaned over and performed oral sex on A.B. Holt then got out of the car, opened A.B.'s passenger door, and they both got in the back seat of Holt's car and had sexual intercourse. According to A.B., Holt got in the back seat and removed her pants, and A.B. unzipped his pants and got on topof Holt. They changed positions, and Holt got on top. A.B. said he was fourteen at the time that he and Holt had sexual intercourse.
A.B. told Holt that he did not want to be late for school. Holt dropped off A.B. at the front door of the high school at approximately 7:40 or 7:50 a.m., just before school started. Holt then parked in her parking spot before walking into class. A.B. said that Holt acted "normal" in class. Holt later told A.B. that if she knew they would not get caught they could go to the janitor's closet.
A.B. stated that Ruth talked to him when he found out Holt and A.B. had sexual intercourse. Ruth told A.B. that he was "highly upset" with him and that he and Holt should have known better than to get sexually involved.
At a later time, A.B. and Holt had an argument in class, and Holt called him an "A-hole[.]" A.B. got up and told Holt, "I ain't [sic] no F-ing A-hole," and the teacher sent him to the assistant principal's office.
On cross-examination, A.B. acknowledged telling the police that Holt dropped him off at school at 8:05 a.m. after they had sexual intercourse. He admitted that 8:05 a.m. was probably more accurate than 7:40 or 7:50 a.m., since he had given this time to the police shortly after the incident occurred. A.B. acknowledged telling Detective Kearney that Holt was angry at him in class because he told her "to stop when we were having sex in the backseat" of her car. A.B. said that Ruth did not call the police about the kiss between Holt and A.B. but did inform A.B.'s father about the incident when he dropped off A.B. at his father's store. A.B. said that his father did not call the police about the incident and did not report the incident to the school principal.
Although A.B. could not recall the time of the kiss and the Quarry Road incident at trial, he acknowledged telling the police that he had sexual intercourse with Holt the day after Holt kissed him in the presence of Ruth. A.B. also acknowledged telling the police in his statement that he got in Holt's backseat and lay down with his hands behind his head while she had sex with him. Holt stated he gave his statement to police approximately one month after he and Holt had sexual intercourse. He said he finally told his father that he had sexual intercourse with Holt because he was trying to explain why he and Holt had been arguing in class. He also said that this was the first time any adults became aware of the fact that he had sexual intercourse with Holt. A.B. said that the first time he told anyone about the note from Holt was when he gave it to the principal and the police at the time he gave his statement.
On redirect examination, A.B. said he did not know who J.M. was before he heard Holt talking about J.M. in class. He further stated he and J.M. did not talk and were not friends. He denied that he and J.M. decided to invent a story about Holt.
Charles Ruth, age twenty-seven, testified he met A.B. when A.B. began taking karate lessons from him approximately five years prior to the offense. Ruth said that he and A.B. developed a father-son type of relationship and that he often watched over him. Ruth said he first met Holt when A.B. asked him to drive him to meet a girl in the fall of 2008. Holt gave A.B. the directions to her...
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