Walker v. State

• Decision Date: 26 July 2022
• Docket Number: 2021-KA-00483-COA
• Citation: 343 So.3d 1089
• Parties: Johnny R. WALKER, Jr. a/k/a Johnny Ray Walker a/k/a Johnny R. Walker, Appellant v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee
• Court: Mississippi Court of Appeals

343 So.3d 1089

Johnny R. WALKER, Jr. a/k/a Johnny Ray Walker a/k/a Johnny R. Walker, Appellant

v.STATE of Mississippi, Appellee

NO. 2021-KA-00483-COA

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

July 26, 2022

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: VANESSA J. JONES, Hattiesburg

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: CANDICE LEIGH RUCKER, ASHLEY LAUREN SULSER

BEFORE CARLTON, P.J., McDONALD AND EMFINGER, JJ.

EMFINGER, J., FOR THE COURT:

¶1. On January 31, 2020, a Jefferson Davis County grand jury indicted Johnny Ray Walker Jr. for one count of sexual battery pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-95(1)(d) (Rev. 2014). A jury found Walker guilty, and the trial court sentenced him to a term of forty-two years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). Walker challenges his conviction on appeal. We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶2. On June 28, 2019, Michael Ball dropped off his children K.H., M.N., and M.B., at his aunt's home on Hicks Lane.¹ Ball's cousin Brittany McDonald had agreed to keep his three children at their aunt's home while Ball went to work. McDonald was visiting from Texas for the summer and staying at her aunt's home along with her four children. On this particular day, their cousin Johnny Ray Walker Jr. was also at the aunt's home. Walker was twenty years old at the time. K.H., who was ten years old, later reported that Walker sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions that day (June 28, 2019) when McDonald periodically left the home with her four children. According to both McDonald and K.H., McDonald left the home at least two times that day. One time, McDonald left to go to the grocery store to get the children food for lunch, and another time, she left to go down the road to get better reception on her phone.

¶3. According to K.H., when McDonald and her kids left the home, Walker locked M.N. in a room down the hall and locked M.B. in the bathroom. K.H. claimed that Walker then took her into a different room and shut the door. Once in the room, K.H. stated that Walker took off their clothes and put her on the bed. Using an anatomical diagram at trial, K.H. testified that Walker inserted his penis into her vagina while she was lying on her back on the bed. According to K.H., he stopped when McDonald returned from the store.

¶4. K.H. further testified that McDonald and her four children left the home a second time, and while they were gone this time, Walker sexually assaulted her again. According to K.H., both M.N. and M.B. were in the living room watching TV during the second incident. K.H. testified that she was in the same room with Walker as the previous assault, with the door shut. According to K.H., Walker removed her clothes, and she was laying on the floor when Walker inserted his penis into her "behind." K.H. testified that Walker sexually assaulted her a third time on that day by again inserting his penis into her "behind" while she was laying on her stomach on the bed. According to K.H., Walker stopped when McDonald again returned to the home. K.H. testified that she was scared to tell anyone what had happened to her.

¶5. A few months later in September 2019, K.H. disclosed to a group of cousins that Walker had sexually assaulted her. Trenese Young, the mother of the cousins to whom K.H. revealed the assault, called Ball to inform him of K.H.’s disclosure. K.H. eventually confided in her father, and he testified at trial that

she started crying at first, and she said she didn't want to live with nobody else, and I eventually forced her to tell me what had happened, and she told me that Johnny Ray tried to sexually assault her, and every time she tried to get up, he pushed her down and told her he'd kill her.

M.N. also testified that Walker had told them he would kill them if they told anyone about what happened. M.N. and M.B. also corroborated that they were locked in separate rooms during the time period that K.H. claimed she was sexually assaulted.

¶6. On September 30, 2019, Ball took K.H. to the Jefferson Davis County Sheriff's Department to make a report. Investigator Tim Culpepper took a statement from both Ball and K.H. on that date and made his initial report. K.H. also revealed to Culpepper that "Johnny Ray Walker had pulled her clothes down.... She said he pulled his thing and stuck it in [her] ...." Based on K.H.’s disclosure to him, Culpepper referred K.H. to the Kids Hub Child Advocacy Center for a forensic interview.

¶7. Robin Bixler, who would testify at trial as an expert in the field of forensic interviews, interviewed K.H. at Kids Hub on October 4, 2019. During her interview with Bixler, K.H. again disclosed that she was sexually assaulted by Walker multiple times on June 28, 2019. Bixler testified that during their interview, K.H. used age-appropriate language to describe what had happened to her. Bixler also noted that K.H.’s demeanor appropriately changed when she discussed the sexual assaults, as opposed to her demeanor when they discussed other things like going to a football game.

¶8. On October 7, 2019, Investigator Culpepper interviewed Walker. According to Culpepper's testimony, "[Walker] told [him] that they sat on the couch and watched TV, while [McDonald] was gone, which would be the time when the events would have taken place." Walker did not testify at trial nor was the video of his interview played for the jury. Culpepper testified that he "signed charges on [Walker] for sexual battery" after the interview.

¶9. Walker's trial began on March 24, 2021, and ended on March 25, 2021. At the conclusion of the trial, the jury found Walker guilty of sexual battery, as charged in the indictment, for inserting his penis into K.H.’s genitals. Walker filed a motion for a new trial and a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict on that same day. The court denied his motions in separate orders, entered on April 13, 2021. The court sentenced Walker on March 26, 2021, to serve a term of forty-two years in the custody of the MDOC. Walker appealed.

ANALYSIS

¶10. Walker raises five issues on appeal, which we address separately below.

I. Walker challenges the sufficiency of the evidence.

¶11. Walker contends that he should be acquitted because the State failed to produce any physical, scientific, or corroborative evidence. While Walker is correct that the State did not provide any physical or scientific evidence at trial, that is not the appropriate test to determine whether a jury's verdict should be overturned due to insufficient evidence.

¶12. The test for the sufficiency of the evidence on appeal is set forth in Washington v. State , 298 So. 3d 430, 438 (¶27) (Miss. Ct. App. 2020) :

It is well settled that "[a] challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is reviewed in the light most favorable to the State, giving the State the benefit of all favorable inferences reasonably drawn from the evidence." Ward v. State , 285 So. 3d 136, 140 (¶14) (Miss. 2019) (internal quotation mark omitted) (quoting Henley v. State , 136 So. 3d 413, 415 (¶8) (Miss. 2014) ). "This Court must reverse and render if the facts and inferences so considered point in favor of the defendant on any element of the offense with sufficient force that reasonable men could not have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty." Id . (internal quotation mark omitted) (quoting Henley , 136 So. 3d at 415-16 (¶8) ).

The appellate courts have also addressed the absence of physical or scientific evidence. In Morgan v. State , 995 So. 2d 812, 817-18 (¶17) (Miss. Ct. App. 2008), this Court held:

"[T]he unsupported word of the victim of a sex crime is sufficient to support a guilty verdict where the testimony is not discredited or contradicted by other credible evidence...." Davis [v. State ], 878 So. 2d [1020], 1027 (¶29) [(Miss. Ct. App. 2004)] (quoting Cross v. State , 759 So. 2d 354, 356 (¶11) (Miss. 1999) ). Further, Morgan fails to realize that physical evidence of sexual penetration specifically linking him to C.E.’s abuse is not necessary to secure a conviction. See, e.g. , Williams v. State , 757 So. 2d 953, 957 (¶17) (Miss. 1999). In Williams , the defendant argued that there was no physical evidence of sexual penetration of any of the victims. Id . at 957 (¶16). The court held that, although the State did not present any physical evidence of sexual penetration, the unsupported word of the victim is sufficient, and "it is in the province of the jury to determine the credibility of witnesses." Id . at 957 (¶17) (citations omitted).

See also Smith v. State , 163 So. 3d 971, 974 (¶16) (Miss. Ct. App. 2014).

¶13. Here, K.H.’s trial testimony alone was sufficient to prove each of the elements of sexual battery as charged by the indictment.² The jury was properly instructed that each of the elements of sexual battery, as set forth in the trial court's instruction, must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Further, the jury was instructed that K.H.’s testimony alone was sufficient to support a verdict of guilty if the jury found that her testimony was not discredited or contradicted by other credible evidence. We find that the jury's verdict was properly supported by sufficient evidence. This issue is without merit.

II. Walker contends his due process rights were violated.

¶14. Walker argues on appeal that his due process rights were violated at trial because his trial was conducted "during the height of the pandemic scare around Covid 19." He contends, "Jurors naturally desired not to be exposed to the deadly virus, wished not to be in proximity to each other and distrusted all the people in the courtroom; as a result, they rushed through their sworn duties and rendered an unreasonable verdict to escape confinement." However, Walker points to absolutely no record evidence to substantiate this argument. See M.R.A.P. 28(a)(7) (requiring "citations to the ... parts of the record relied on").

¶15. The State asked the potential jurors during voir dire:

Q. Is everybody okay

...