Warren v. State, 55070
| Decision Date | 05 September 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 55070,55070 |
| Citation | 456 So.2d 735 |
| Parties | John Henry WARREN v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Jerry L. Mills, Pyle, Harris, Dreher & Mills, Jackson, for appellant.
Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Atty. Gen. by Frankie Walton White, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before ROY NOBLE LEE, P.J. and ROBERTSON and SULLIVAN, JJ.
John Henry Warren, was convicted in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi, under Mississippi Code Annotated Sec. 97-3-65 (Supp.1983), of forcible rape, and the jury by its verdict prescribed and the court sentenced him to life imprisonment in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He appeals, claiming that the verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.
We affirm.
About 1:00 o'clock in the morning of June 25, 1982, the prosecutrix was awakened by a man putting a knife to her neck and demanding that she engage in sexual relations with him. Her pleas were unavailing as she attempted to convince him not to hurt her or the children in the house with her, including the child who was asleep in the bed beside her. In spite of this, and without her consent, the rape was accomplished. The prosecutrix submitted because of the presence of the knife and out of fear for her own safety and the safety of the children.
After the assault had concluded, the man took out a cigarette lighter, lit a cigarette, sat on the side of the bed smoking and conversing with the victim for about five minutes. He even asked her if he could come back again, saying that he would like to get to know her better. Then he left.
The prosecutrix described her assailant as weighing about 215 pounds, 6' 4" in height, and having hair on the chin like a goatee. She saw him by the light of the street light after he had left the porch of her home. On the night of the attack, he wore a blue flannel shirt and blue jeans.
Two months later, this same man returned. The prosecutrix was sitting on the nearby porch of her mother's home when she saw the man come to her house. The man approached her at her mother's house, and asked if she was [name omitted], claiming he knew her through a mutual friend. He said he wanted to get to know her better. The prosecutrix testified that she recognized her assailant by his physical appearance, his voice and the very words which he had spoken to her on the night he had raped her.
When the prosecutrix's mother got up and went into the house, the man immediately left. He was later apprehended by the brother of the prosecutrix and ultimately arrested by the police. The prosecutrix identified John Henry Warren in the courtroom as the man who raped her on June 25, 1982.
The brother of the victim, testified that on the night of June 25, 1982, his sister came to his house in the early morning hours and told him that she had just been raped. She described her attacker as being tall, heavy-set, with a goatee, wearing a blue flannel shirt and blue jeans. The prosecutrix's brother immediately searched the area and upon seeing a man meeting that description called out to him to stop. When the man did not stop, the prosecutrix's brother went to a nearby convenience store and called the police. He did not again on that night find the man that he thought matched the description given by his sister.
On August 21, 1982, the prosecutrix again came to her brother for help in catching the man who had raped her. On this occasion, her brother was successful and held the man until the police arrived. The prosecutrix's brother identified the defendant, John Henry Warren, as the man he stopped in August of 1982.
Tommie Giles, a neighbor of the victim, was walking home some time after midnight on the night of June 25, 1982. At the corner of Pleasant Avenue and Wood Street he encountered a black man who was about 6' 5" tall, weighing 200-225 pounds and of medium complexion. Giles got a light for his cigarette from the man, and testified that he recognized him as someone whom he had seen previously in the neighborhood.
After learning what had happened to the prosecutrix and after hearing the description of her assailant, Giles remarked that he had met someone fitting that description whom he had seen before on that very night. Two months later, in August, the same man Giles saw the night the prosecutrix was raped, was apprehended by the police and Giles identified him as the defendant, John Henry Warren.
Appellant concedes that Mississippi generally recognizes that the testimony of a person having heard a voice is competent and legitimate evidence to establish identity in both civil and criminal cases. Sparks v. State, 412 So.2d 754 (Miss.1982). However, appellant contends that in every case in Mississippi with the issue of voice identification in this state there has been substantial other evidence of guilt, and that as there is no substantial other evidence of guilt in this case the case is distinguishable and the verdict is rendered against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.
In Pickett v. State, 164 Miss. 142, 144 So. 552 (1932), the appellant points out that the time interval elapsing from the time of the crime to the voice identification was only one day as contrasted to two months in this case.
In Lee v. State, 242 Miss. 97, 134 So.2d 145 (1961), the complaining witness was approached by three men at 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon. She had the opportunity to see and hear each of the three for about thirty minutes before a pillow case was placed over her head and she was raped. Though she was unable to see who raped her, she was able to identify the defendant from having so recently seen him and heard his voice. Appellant contends that there the victim got a view of the defendants and heard their voices for some thirty minutes, while in the case sub judice the prosecuting witness heard the voice of the appellant for only about fifteen minutes and did not hear it again for some two months.
In Hurst v. State, 240 So.2d 273 (Miss.1970), the defendant was convicted of using profane and indecent language over the telephone. There too the identification of his voice was held competent. Appellant would have us distinguish Hurst on the basis that the complaining witness had received a number of indecent telephone calls made by the same voice. Also, there was other substantial evidence of guilt in that case.
In Lindsey v. State, 279 So.2d 913 (Miss.1973), the testimony of voice identification was again held admissible. The case can be distinguished factually, however, because there the evidence established that the complaining witness was familiar with the voice of the defendant. He lived near her home and over a period of two years she had heard him speak on several occasions. In the case sub judice, the prosecuting witness had never seen nor heard the appellant before the night of the rape, and did not hear him speak again until some two months later when he was arrested.
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Bevill v. State
...1358 (Miss.1988); White v. State, 532 So.2d 1207, 1215 (Miss.1988); Williams v. State, 463 So.2d 1064, 1069 (Miss.1985); Warren v. State, 456 So.2d 735, 738 (Miss.1984); Browning v. State, 450 So.2d 789, 791 (Miss.1984). Clark's interest in securing some relief from his miserable existence ......
-
State v. Yanez
...prosecution where proposed instruction not limited to reasonable mistake and no evidence of good-faith belief); Warren v. State, 456 So.2d 735 (Miss.1984) (death or life sentence fully discretionary); Nebraska: State v. Campbell, 239 Neb. 14, 473 N.W.2d 420 (1991) (even active misrepresenta......
-
Hampton v. State
...906 (Miss.1985) ; Harper v. State, 463 So.2d 1036, 1041 (Miss.1985) ; Friday v. State, 462 So.2d 336, 339 (Miss.1985) ; Warren v. State, 456 So.2d 735, 738–39 (Miss.1984) ; Ware v. State, 410 So.2d 1330, 1332 (Miss.1982) ; Hickombottom v. State, 409 So.2d 1337, 1340 (Miss.1982) ; Henderson ......
-
Carney v. State, 57395
...court may not be put in error for failing to grant a continuance of the marijuana charge since one was not requested. See Warren v. State, 456 So.2d 735 (Miss.1984); House v. State, 445 So.2d 815 (Miss.1984); Colburn v. State, 431 So.2d 1111 (Miss.1983); Read v. State, 430 So.2d 832 (Miss.1......