Stokes v. State, 55339
Decision Date | 26 February 1986 |
Docket Number | No. 55339,55339 |
Citation | 484 So.2d 1022 |
Parties | Charles Lee STOKES v. STATE of Mississippi. |
Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Phil R. Hinton, Wilson & Hinton, Corinth, for appellant.
Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Atty. Gen., by Marvin L. White, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before PATTERSON, C.J., and HAWKINS and PRATHER, JJ.
Charles Lee Stokes appeals from his conviction of forcible rape in the circuit court of Alcorn County and sentence to life imprisonment. Because the circuit judge refused to declare a mistrial in this most unusual trial situation, we reverse.
Stokes was indicted by the Alcorn County grand jury for forcible rape of Regina Stewart on March 13, 1982. She was his stepdaughter and 13 years of age at the time.
In its voir dire examination of the jury, the state revealed the victim had undergone an abortion, and asked the jury about its effect on them:
When the jury had been selected by both sides, the state made the following motion:
BY MR. GEDDIE: May it please the Court, your Honor, comes now the State of Mississippi and moves the court in limine for an order excluding questions about any examination and or conclusion therefrom of the fetal remnants resulting from a D & C operation performed upon the victim in this cause, Regina Ann Stewart, and for grounds would show unto the Court as follows. One, the evidence thereby produced is irrelevant to the issue of forcible rape alleged in this cause. Two, the said of line of questioning would require that the State present of prior to-wit: Prior acts of forcible rape on the same victim by the same Defendant prior to the event herein charged. Three, the detailed examination in reference to the said D & C operation, otherwise referred to an abortion, is emotionally charged, is cruel to the prosecutrix and would tend to influence and inflame the passions of the jury on an issue immaterial to the facts of this case.
Following argument the court sustained the motion. The defense then moved for a mistrial, which was overruled.
BY MR. HINTON: On behalf of the defendant as attorney, I move the Court for a mistrial at this time. And as a basis for that, the jury panel has already been advised that the prosecuting witness in this case was pregnant and has had an abortion which in and of itself is sufficient to corroborate her testimony and, therefore, since the defense has now been denied the right to in any way go into the area of the reasons and date of her pregnancy and show that she's not pregnant by this particular individual, he has been prejudiced by this contamination of the jury panel. I renew my objection to the Motion in Limine for the same reason. Thank you. [Emphasis added]
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