State v. Mosby, CX-89-471

• Decision Date: 23 January 1990
• Docket Number: No. CX-89-471,CX-89-471
• Citation: 450 N.W.2d 629
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. William A. MOSBY, Jr., Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Court of Appeals

Page 629

450 N.W.2d 629

STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. William A. MOSBY, Jr., Appellant.

No. CX-89-471.

Court of Appeals of Minnesota.

Jan. 23, 1990.

Review Denied March 16, 1990.

Syllabus by the Court

1. Evidence that tended to show defendant attempted to steal a car in which to flee was properly admitted as an inseparable part of the crimes for which defendant was being tried and not as Spreigl evidence.

2. The ten-year-old complainant was properly sworn before her testimony.

3. The trial court's curative instruction remedied any error made when the trial court said to the ten-year-old complainant at the start of the second day of her testimony in the presence of the jury: "We want you to tell the truth again today."

4. The evidence was sufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt defendant was guilty of criminal sexual conduct in both the first degree and the second degree.

Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Thomas L. Johnson, Hennepin County Atty., and J. Michael Richardson, Asst. County Atty., Minneapolis, for respondent.

C. Paul Jones, State Public Defender and Michael F. Cromett, Asst. State Public Defender, St. Paul, for appellant.

Considered and decided by FOLEY, P.J., and KALITOWSKI and STONE ^*, JJ., without oral argument.

OPINION

FOLEY, Judge.

Appellant William Arthur Mosby, Jr. was convicted by jury verdict of one count of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree in violation of Minn.Stat. Sec. 609.342, subd. 1(a) (1988) and one count of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree in violation of Minn.Stat. Sec. 609.343, subd. 1(a) (1988) and was sentenced by the trial court to a prison term of 101 months. We affirm.

FACTS

Mosby, age 34, had known the mother and family of the ten-year-old complainant for seven years. He had occasionally taken the complainant, N.D., and her brother to the store, the park, his mother's house and swimming.

Immediately prior to the events in question, Mosby had lived with N.D.'s family for three days. Around then, an incident occurred which Mosby alleges gave N.D. a motive to fabricate charges of molestation against him. The incident involved N.D. spitting at Mosby after he prevented N.D. from hitting her younger brother. When Mosby told N.D.'s mother about the spitting, N.D.'s mother punished N.D. by grounding her for two days.

Shortly thereafter, N.D.'s mother gave permission for N.D. to go grocery shopping with Mosby. While N.D. thought she and Mosby would shop near N.D.'s house, Mosby took her by bus to his apartment on the other side of town. Mosby and N.D. went to the cleaners and grocery and liquor stores, and then to Mosby's apartment.

N.D. testified Mosby told her to clean the apartment and she said she was supposed to go home after shopping. Mosby claimed N.D. had agreed on the bus to clean his apartment for money. When N.D. started crying, Mosby hit her with a belt. N.D. testified Mosby hit her deliberately three or four times. Mosby said he hit her once and it was accidental.

Mosby had N.D. scrub the shower and gave her a T-shirt and robe to change into, saying he would wash her clothes with his laundry. While in the laundry room, Mosby and N.D. talked to another tenant. N.D. and Mosby also went to the caretaker's apartment to talk to the caretaker about a malfunctioning dryer. While N.D. testified she was wearing the robe, the caretaker testified N.D. had the T-shirt on then. Mosby disputed N.D.'s testimony that he told her to remove her underclothing and wear just the robe. It is undisputed, however, that N.D. was wearing just the robe later when she ran for help.

N.D. testified she and Mosby returned to the apartment and Mosby, who had been drinking beer, had N.D. sit on his lap. When N.D. got up, Mosby said "I want to have a baby by you." N.D. said she was not ready for that. After another trip to the laundry, Mosby took a shower and stood naked in front of N.D. Mosby then put on some boxer shorts, sat on the bed and asked N.D. to comb his hair. Mosby then told her to lay down and asked if she had "ever had a dicky before," took his hand and put his finger in her vagina. Mosby felt her vagina and touched her chest. N.D. began crying and Mosby slapped her, telling her to shut up and tried to get the robe off. When she went to unlock the door, Mosby told her to lock the door or he was going to beat her.

While Mosby was getting money to go back to the laundry, N.D. unlocked the door and ran screaming to the caretaker's apartment. The caretaker testified Mosby, wearing only boxer shorts, came running after N.D. and asked the caretaker if he believed N.D. N.D. told the caretaker to look at her, opened the robe and said: "Look at what I've got on."

Mosby kept closing the door to the caretaker's apartment and the caretaker kept opening it. N.D. called her aunt, and the caretaker talked to the aunt and told her to come and get N.D. A next door tenant came in and said she had called the police. Mosby looked excited, jumped up and left the apartment.

The next-door tenant took N.D. to the tenant's apartment. N.D. threw up while there. Police and N.D.'s relatives then arrived. The police let N.D. go home without being given a medical examination.

During direct examination, N.D. testified Mosby "took his hand and stuck it in my private." She defined her "private" as her "middle," the part she uses "to go to the bathroom" or to urinate. She first stated Mosby stuck his hand, then changed it to his finger, in "just a little." On cross-examination, N.D. demonstrated for the jury how much she claimed Mosby's finger was inside her. This demonstration indicated 1/8th of an inch and was consistent with what she had told a police officer.

N.D.'s trial testimony was consistent in all significant details with her prior statements to the first police officer on the scene, the next door neighbor, the investigating officer and her mother. In particular, N.D. consistently said Mosby had penetrated her vagina with his finger.

Mosby testified he left the caretaker's apartment to go get dressed, and, while in his apartment, he guzzled a big drink and then things began to fade. Mosby also testified he went out of the building without his keys and was locked out. According to Mosby, he went for a walk and did not remember what happened until he was arrested.

After police officers spoke to witnesses, one of the officers parked his car two blocks away to write his report. Twenty minutes later, he heard a call over the radio of an attempted car theft in the same area. Another 20 minutes later after an intervening priority call, the officer was checking the area when information came over the air about the suspect. Near Mosby's apartment building, the officer saw a man fitting the description of the car theft suspect, which description also matched Mosby's. The officer arrested the man, who turned out to be Mosby.

ISSUES

1. Was evidence that tended to show Mosby attempted to steal a car in which to flee improperly admitted as an inseparable part of the crimes for which Mosby was being tried and not as Spreigl evidence?

2. Was there error in how the ten-year-old complainant was sworn before her testimony?

3. Did the trial court's curative instruction remedy any error made when the trial court said to the ten-year-old complainant at the start of the second day of her testimony, in the presence of the jury, "We want you to tell the truth again today?"

4. Was the evidence insufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt Mosby was guilty of criminal sexual conduct in either the first degree or the second degree?

ANALYSIS

1. Mosby challenges the admission of evidence tending to show he attempted to steal a car in which to flee. Mosby alleges it was error to admit the evidence as an integral part of the crimes charged and not as Spreigl evidence. We find no error.

As a general rule, evidence of other crimes is not admissible to prove the character of a defendant or his guilt of the offense charged. Minn.R.Evid. 404(b); State v. Titworth, 255 N.W.2d 241, 244 (Minn.1977). However, this rule

does not necessarily deprive the state of the right to make out its whole case against the accused on any evidence which is otherwise relevant upon the issue of the defendant's guilt of the crime with which he was charged.

State v. Wofford, 262 Minn. 112, 118, 114 N.W.2d 267, 271 (1962). Here, the trial court found the evidence of the attempted auto theft was properly admissible as an integral part of the charged offense. This was not an abuse of the trial court's discretion. See State v. Scruggs, 421 N.W.2d 707, 715 (Minn.1988).

We find no merit in Mosby's allegation it was error to admit evidence of the attempted car theft without adhering to Spreigl requirements. See State v. Spreigl, 272 Minn. 488, 139 N.W.2d 167 (1965); see also State v. Billstrom, 276 Minn. 174, 178-79, 149 N.W.2d 281, 284-85 (1967). Evidence incidentally necessary as an element of substantive proof of the charged offense is not Spreigl evidence even though it relates to another crime of Flight is a factor that can contribute to the sufficiency of the evidence. State v. Merrill, 428 N.W.2d 361, 368 (Minn.1988). Consciousness of guilt is also suggested by evidence of flight. State v. Bias, 419 N.W.2d 480, 485 (Minn.1988). It has been said, "The righteous standth firm while the guilty fleeth."

the defendant's doing. State v. Roy, 408 N.W.2d 168, 171 (Minn.Ct.App.1987), pet. for rev. denied (Minn. Jul. 22, 1987) (citing State v. Salas, 306 N.W.2d 832, 836-37 (Minn.1981); State v. Martin, 293 Minn. 116, 128-29, 197 N.W.2d 219, 226-27 (1972)).

Here, evidence of the attempted car theft had probative value as circumstantial evidence that showed consciousness of guilt, and the attempted theft was intimately connected with the crime. See Roy, 408 N.W.2d at 172. This evidence contradicted Mosby's testimony he was not fleeing but had inadvertently locked himself out of the...