Williams v. State, 53809
| Decision Date | 09 February 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 53809,53809 |
| Citation | 427 So.2d 100 |
| Parties | Floyd WILLIAMS v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Gary L. Bates, William E. Chapman, III, Jackson, for appellant.
Bill Allain, Atty. Gen. by Carolyn B. Mills, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
En Banc.
WALKER, Presiding Justice, for the Court on Parts I--V.
ROY NOBLE LEE, Justice, for the Court on Part VI.
This is an appeal from the Circuit Court of Copiah County wherein the appellant, Floyd Williams, was convicted of the rape of a female under the age of twelve years and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Having perfected his appeal, the appellant raises several assignments of error.
Hattie Hillard, a female child of eleven years of age, testified that Floyd Williams lived with her mother, Mable Hillard, in a trailer near Crystal Springs, Mississippi, along with Hattie's other brothers and sisters. Hattie stated that on Sunday, June 28, 1981, around 4:00 p.m., Floyd Williams came into the trailer and sent Hattie's brother on an errand and then told Hattie to go in the back room and pull her clothes off. Hattie further testified that the appellant had been drinking and that he hit her with an electrical cord. She also testified that his penis went inside her and that if she told anyone he would kill her.
After Williams left the trailer, Hattie stayed in the trailer without notifying anyone except her brother, Antonio, that she had been raped. On direct examination, Hattie stated that she did not tell her mother because her mother would not have believed her and that she was afraid of the appellant who lived with them.
The next morning, upon waking, Hattie awakened her older sister, Constance Hillard Williams (no relation to the appellant), and told her that she had been raped. Upon examining Hattie, Constance observed that her vagina was swollen and darkened, and that her panties contained a yellow discharge. Constance immediately notified the police, who in turn called Reverend J.C. Killingsworth, a local minister, to transport Hattie and her mother to a physician for treatment.
Upon referral by a local physician, Rev. Killingsworth took Hattie and Mrs. Hillard to the University Hospital in Jackson where Hattie was treated by Dr. Reeda Lyons. Dr. Lyons testified that Hattie had a two to three millimeter laceration on the perineal. Dr. Lyons estimated that due to the freshness of the scab covering the laceration, the trauma causing the laceration occurred within the last six to twelve hours.
The defense presented several witnesses who testified that the appellant was present at a party next door to the trailer all afternoon, and that he never left the party except to pick blueberries with some of the witnesses.
On appeal, the appellant raises the following assignments of error for review:
I.
The trial court erred in admitting hearsay testimony by the State's witnesses, C. Williams and Killingsworth, of the child's statements which were not made in the presence of the defendant as to who committed the alleged crime.
The appellant contends that the complaints of the alleged victim were strictly hearsay and inadmissible since they were not made as soon as a reasonable opportunity presented itself. However, the testimony of the victim indicated that she had been threatened by the appellant that he would kill her if she told anyone of the incident; and, that even if she had told her mother, her mother would not have believed her. Further, Rev. Killingsworth testified as to the attitude of Mrs. Hillard (the mother) toward her child:
BY MR. HORN:
Q. Reverend Killingsworth, again, sir, what, if anything, did Mable Hillard tell you concerning her daughter, Hattie Hillard, when you were there at the Davenport house?
A. Said she had not been raped. It was a God damn lie, and she was going to beat her God damn brains out--
Q. Now, later--
A. --for telling a lie. and i Told her: "it may be that you better not hit her under these circumstances, you might better wait." And the (sic) said that the laws had been out there messing with her, and the damn monkies and now, here you come.
Q. Later when you went to the University Hospital, what, if anything, did Mable Hillard say concerning her daughter, Hattie?
A. The girl came out and told her, "yes", that she was raped, that "Floyd raped me."
Q. What did Mable say?
A. Mable told her that she was a God damn liar. She hadn't been raped, wasn't nothing wrong with her. She just needs her damn brains beat out, that's all that was wrong with her.
Q. Did she say that to Hattie or to the person at the University Hospital.
A. To Hattie.
Q. Who was there?
A. In my presence.
It is obvious from the record that the child was intimidated by the appellant and her mother, and that she had no one to turn to at the time of the attack except her twelve-year-old brother, Antonio. The appellant and the mother returned to the trailer in the early evening. The child reported the rape the next morning to her older sister as soon as she had an opportunity without fear of reprisal or attack.
This Court stated the general rule on the admissibility of the victim's outcry after being raped in Anderson v. State, 82 Miss. 784, 788, 35 So. 202, 203 (1903):
Ordinarily any and all statements made by a party assaulted after the commission of the crime is hearsay, and not admissible. An exception is made in the case of rape alone, but even in that case no statements made by the prosecutrix are admissible except her complaint that she had been ravished. The details of the transaction, the name of the party accused, the place where it is said to have occurred, the time of the alleged offense, cannot be proven by a repetition of the words of the prosecutrix. The exception in cases of rape is made upon the idea that outraged virtue will proclaim her wrong, and therefore silence might be considered as raising a suspicion of consent.
See also Brooks v. State, 242 So.2d 865 (Miss.1971); Dickey v. State, 86 Miss. 525, 38 So. 776 (1905); Ashford v. State, 81 Miss. 414, 33 So. 174 (1902).
When faced with a similar situation concerning hearsay testimony following a sexual assault, the Michigan Court of Appeals stated:
Hearsay testimony concerning the details of a complaint of sexual assault is admissible where the complainant is of "tender years" if her statement is shown to have been spontaneous and without indication of manufacture, and if any delay in making the complaint is excusable We adopt the reasoning of the Michigan Court as sound and hold that the child's delay in reporting the incident was justified under the circumstances.
insofar as it is caused by fear or other equally effective circumstances. (Emphasis added). (People v. Mikula, 84 Mich.App. 108, 116, 269 N.W.2d 195, 199 (1978)).
The appellant also contends that the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of Rev. Killingsworth as to who committed the crime. The trial court properly sustained the defense's objection to this portion of Killingsworth's testimony and received adequate assurance from the jurors that they would disregard his remarks that the victim told him that the appellant raped her.
II.
The appellant assigns as his second error that the lower court erred in not granting the appellant's motion for a directed verdict after the State had concluded its case.
The trial court properly overruled the appellant's motion for a directed verdict. The testimony of the State's witnesses established that:
(1) The child was alone in the trailer at the time of the rape, except for her brothers and sisters.
(2) The appellant had been drinking.
(3) The child testified that the appellant had raped her which was consistent with the medical examination which revealed that the child's private parts had a two to three millimeter laceration with a fresh scab, six to twelve hours old.
(4) Medical testimony indicated that the child's vaginal wall was easily expandable as if there had been something that had expanded the vagina.
(5) The child's testimony concerning physical abuse and threats by the appellant.
III.
The appellant assigns as error that the trial court erred in overruling the appellant's motion for a mistrial after Rev. Killingsworth testified that the child said she had been raped twice by the appellant. The following occurred during the trial:
Q. Now, would you please tell the Jury what, if anything, Mable Hillard said concerning her daughter, Hattie, at the University Hospital?
A. Mable--Hattie told her that, "Mama, Floyd raped me twice."
BY MR. MAY:
You Honor, we're going--
A. You don't want to know that?
BY MR. MAY:
May it please the Court, I'm going to have to make a Motion at this time.
I'll sustain the objection and limit--as I recall, there was no foundation laid for anything that Hattie Hillard said to her mother, Mable Hillard, so I will sustain the objection. Ladies and gentlemen of the Jury, would you disregard that last remark and not consider it in arriving at your verdict? Will each of you do so? If you will disregard it, hold up you hand, please.
(All 12 Jurors held up hand).
Very well, let the record show that all 12 jurors held up their hand.
We find that the trial court's instructions to the jury to disregard the objectionable portion of Rev. Killingsworth's testimony was sufficient and it is presumed that the jury heeded the trial judge's admonition.
IV.
The appellant assigns as error that the trial court erred in granting the State's jury instruction No. S-1 which states:
The Court instructs the jury that if you believe from the evidence in this case beyond a reasonable doubt that on or about the 28th day of June 1981, the defendant, Floyd Williams, a male person over the age of eighteen years, lacerated or tore the private parts of Hattie Hillard, a female child under the age of twelve years in an attempt to have carnal Jury Instruction...
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