State v. Thompson, 1687

Decision Date18 March 1991
Docket NumberNo. 1687,1687
Citation305 S.C. 496,409 S.E.2d 420
CourtSouth Carolina Court of Appeals
PartiesThe STATE, Respondent, v. Richard THOMPSON, Appellant. . Heard

Stephen John Henry, of Taylor, Stephenson & Henry, Greenville, for appellant.

Attorney Gen. T. Travis Medlock, Asst. Attys. Gen. Harold M. Coombs, Jr., and Amie L. Clifford, Columbia, and Sol. Joseph J. Watson, Greenville, for respondent.

BELL, Judge:

The grand jury for Greenville County indicted Richard Thompson on one count of first degree criminal sexual conduct . Thompson made pretrial motions to quash the indictment which the circuit judge denied. At trial, the jury convicted Thompson of the offense charged. The court sentenced Thompson to twenty years' imprisonment. Thompson appeals. We affirm.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the State, the evidence established the following facts.

On Wednesday, December 14, 1988, Thompson's natural daughter by his former wife told her great aunt that Thompson had forcibly engaged in sexual intercourse with her on the previous Friday, December 9th, in a motel room in Greenville County. The child was in the custody of her stepfather. Her mother was in jail. At the time of the incident she was ten years old. She had been residing with the great aunt. She was with Thompson for weekend visitation when he raped her.

Upon learning of the incident, the great aunt called a rape crisis intervention center. At the center's direction, she took the child to a local hospital emergency room where a doctor examined her. Later that day, a social worker from the Department of Social Services met with the child.

The next day, the great aunt took the child to the Greenville law enforcement center, where Detective Dorothy Butler conducted a tape recorded interview with the child. The interview was then transcribed and the child signed it. During the interview, the child identified a Budget Inn in Greenville as the scene of the December 9th incident. Some two weeks later the child informed Butler that the incident took place at an Econo Lodge motel, also in Greenville. Butler did not take an additional written statement to reflect this change in the child's story.

Based on the child's written statement and a pediatrician's physical examination, Butler obtained an arrest warrant for Richard Thompson on January 3, 1989. The warrant stated that Thompson was being arrested on a charge of committing criminal sexual conduct with a minor in violation of Section 16-3-655 of the South Carolina Code. It further stated that the offense was committed on December 9, 1988. The affidavit in support of the warrant stated the offense occurred at the Budget Inn on Pendleton Street in the City of Greenville. Thompson does not challenge the affidavit or the warrant.

Thompson was arrested and questioned on January 10, 1989. He denied the offense saying he had never been at the Budget Inn. When Butler later went to investigate the scene, she found no record of Thompson at the Budget Inn, but she did find a receipt at the Econo Lodge showing Thompson had registered there on the night of December 9, 1988.

The child gave the following account at trial. Her father picked her up on weekends for visitation. Several times prior to December 9, 1988, he took her to the Econo Lodge and had sexual intercourse with her. She did not remember the exact dates of these earlier incidents.

On Friday night, December 9th, he picked her up and took her to the Econo Lodge. He went in and registered; then they went to the room. He telephoned his girlfriend, Faye. While he was talking on the phone he undressed his daughter. She told him to stop, but he would not listen to her. After he hung up the phone, he took his clothes off, got on top of her, and put his penis in her vagina. She told him to stop, but he would not listen to her. He said if she told anyone he would kill her. He also kissed her, fondled her breasts, and performed oral sex on her. Later, Faye came to the motel room with one of her children. Thompson undressed Faye in front of the two children. He and Faye got in the bed where they spent the night together. The next day Thompson took his daughter to her grandmother's house where she spent the remainder of the weekend. The following Wednesday, her great aunt asked her if someone had been touching her. The child then related what Thompson had done the previous Friday night.

On being asked by counsel why she had not reported any of the previous acts of sexual intercourse, the child indicated she feared her father's threats and thought no one would believe her if she did tell.

The chief pediatric resident of the Greenville Hospital System also testified. He examined the child on December 22, 1988. He found that her vagina had been penetrated and had the appearance of an adult sexually active female. There was no hymen. In his opinion, she had been sexually abused. He said his physical findings were consistent with the history of sexual abuse he had obtained from the child.

I.

On appeal Thompson first maintains that the circuit court should have quashed the indictment. The argument rests on three grounds.

First, Thompson asserts the indictment did not sufficiently state the location where the alleged offense was committed. Section 17-19-20, S.C.Code Ann. (1976) states:

Every indictment shall be deemed and judged sufficient and good in law which, in addition to allegations as to time and place, as required by law, charges the crime substantially in the language of the common law or of the statute prohibiting the crime or so plainly that the nature of the offense charged may be easily understood and if the offense be a statutory offense, that the offense be alleged to be contrary to the statute in such case made and provided.

As to the place the crime was committed, the statute requires only that it be sufficiently alleged so as to lay the jurisdiction of the court and inform the accused of the county in which he is charged with a violation of the law. State v. McIntire 221 S.C. 504, 71 S.E.2d 410 (1952). The State is not required to plead its evidence in the indictment. See id.; see also State v. Fleming, 243 S.C. 265, 133 S.E.2d 800 (1963). In this case, the indictment alleged Thompson committed the offense in Greenville County. This was sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the law.

Second, Thompson claims the indictment did not sufficiently allege the time of the offense. Strict common law practice requires an indictment to allege the day of the month and year when the offense was committed. State v. Brown, 24 S.C. 224 (1885). This rule still applies in any case where the date is a material element of the offense. See State v. Rutledge, 232 S.C. 223, 101 S.E.2d 289 (1957). However, under Section 17-19-20, quoted above, if it is not a material element of the offense, the specific date need not be alleged as long as the indictment apprises the defendant of what he must be prepared to meet at trial and describes a time before the date of the indictment itself and one within the period prescribed by any applicable statute of limitations. See State v. Wingo, --- S.C. ----, 403 S.E.2d 322 (Ct.App.1991) (holding an indictment alleging commission of first degree criminal sexual assault on a child between July 4 and August 25 is sufficient as to time). The specific date and time is not an element of the offense of first degree criminal sexual conduct. Id. In this case, the indictment charged one count of first degree criminal sexual conduct. It alleged the date of the offense was "on or about December 9, 1988." This was sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the law. 1

Third, Thompson asserts the indictment should be quashed because the State withheld from the grand jury critical evidence that the child gave conflicting statements about the motel where the alleged crime took place. The short answer to this assertion is that there is no evidence in the record to support it. It rests entirely on speculation by counsel. It does not follow, as Thompson argues, that simply because the grand jury returned a true bill, simply because the indictment does not mention either of the two motels, and simply because the State's chief witness before the grand jury was Detective Butler--that simply because of these things--we must presume the State abused the grand jury process in order to obtain a finding of probable cause to prosecute. After all, this same "conflict" about the two motels was thoroughly explored at trial before a jury that found Thompson guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, a standard much higher than probable cause.

Proceedings before the grand jury are presumed to be regular unless there is clear evidence to the contrary. Cf. State v. Griffin, 277 S.C. 193, 285 S.E.2d 631 (1981) (in absence of evidence grand jurors were not sworn, C...

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    • United States
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    ...Additionally, to warrant reversal, the defendant must show the erroneous admission resulted in prejudice. State v. Thompson, 305 S.C. 496, 502, 409 S.E.2d 420, 424 (Ct.App.1991). A. Arrest Officer Parker's patrol car was equipped with a camera which records both audio and video. During his ......
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