Yates v. State

• Decision Date: 12 December 1996
• Docket Number: No. 92-KA-00252-SCT,92-KA-00252-SCT
• Citation: 685 So.2d 715
• Parties: Robert Allen YATES v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 715

685 So.2d 715

Robert Allen YATES v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 92-KA-00252-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Dec. 12, 1996.

Paul G. Swartzfager, Jr., Swartzfager & Swartzfager, Laurel, for Appellant.

Michael C. Moore, Attorney General, Jackson, Deirdre McCrory, Sp. Asst. Attorney General, Jackson, for Appellee.

En Banc.

MILLS, Justice, for the Court.

Robert Allen Yates (Yates) appeals to this Court his March 12, 1992 conviction in the Jones County Circuit Court for felonious child abuse (Miss.Code Ann. § 97-5-39). The lower court sentenced Yates to serve ten (10) years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections with the last three years suspended. Yates filed post-trial motions which were denied by the lower court. Yates, aggrieved by the jury's verdict and by the lower court's refusal to grant his post-trial motions, on appeal assigns as error the following:

1. THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN REFUSING TO GRANT DEFENDANT'S INSTRUCTION STATING TO THE JURY THAT THEY COULD CONVICT THE DEFENDANT OF THE LESSER-INCLUDED OFFENSE OF MISDEMEANOR CHILD ABUSE.

2. THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN NOT GRANTING A DIRECTED VERDICT FOR THE DEFENDANT WHEN THE STATE FAILED TO PROVE THAT THE DEFENDANT ACTED WITH INTENT AND CAUSED SERIOUS BODILY HARM AS IS REQUIRED FOR A CONVICTION OF FELONIOUS CHILD ABUSE AS IS REQUIRED BY SECTION 97-5-39(2) OF THE MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972 AS ANNOTATED AND AMENDED.

3. THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN NOT GRANTING THE DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR JUDGMENT NOTWITHSTANDING THE VERDICT.

4. THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN NOT GRANTING THE DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL.

5. THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN IMPOSING UPON THE DEFENDANT AN EXCESSIVE SENTENCE: TEN YEARS IN THE STATE PENITENTIARY AND THREE YEARS TO BE SUSPENDED, AND THAT THE DEFENDANT BE REQUIRED TO SERVE SEVEN YEARS IN THE STATE PENITENTIARY.

FACTS

On March 28, 1991, Melissa Williamson (Williamson), confronted with having to go to work and unable to use her usual baby-sitter, left her then two year old son Joseph Williamson ( Jo-Jo) with Robert Yates, her live-in boyfriend. Williamson worked a five-hour shift on this particular day and was picked up after work by Yates.

Yates, along with Jo-Jo and his two children (Summer and Andrew) picked Williamson up at work and went to Charlene Newell's house (Williamson's mother). While at Newell's house, Jo-Jo decided he wanted to stay with his Newell and he was allowed to do so. Subsequently Williamson, along with Yates and his children, left Newell's house and went to a nearby Hardee's to get something to eat. After finishing her meal, Williamson telephoned Newell's house from Hardee's to determine when she needed to pick-up Jo-Jo. Newell told Williamson to return to Newell's house because she (Newell) had discovered bruises on Jo-Jo and needed to know about them.

Yates and Williamson returned to Newell's home and it was there that Yates was confronted by Williamson and Newell as to whether he had put the bruises on Jo-Jo's buttocks and the upper back half of his right leg. Yates admitted that he spanked Jo-Jo three times with a belt on his buttocks because Jo-Jo would not eat his lunch. He denied that he had caused the bruises on Jo-Jo's upper leg. Yates admitted that he was the only person who had custody of Jo-Jo that day.

On Friday, March 29, 1991, Williamson called her family doctor to determine if he could see Jo-Jo. The doctor informed her that he could not see Jo-Jo until the following Monday. Meanwhile, on Sunday, March 31, 1991, Jo-Jo's father Joseph received the child for his weekend visit. Williamson showed the bruises to Joseph and thereafter, Joseph took Jo-Jo to the South Regional Medical Center.

While at the Medical Center, Dr. David Madden examined Jo-Jo and notified Social Services of the possibility that Jo-Jo may have been abused. Madden noted certain superficial bruises and contusions on Jo-Jo's buttocks and right thigh. Madden testified that the contusions on the buttocks were consistent with marks made by a belt and that the bruise on the back of the right upper leg could have been caused by a hand. Madden did not find any burns, broken bones or cuts on Jo-Jo and, other than "reassurance," Madden did not give Jo-Jo any medical treatment or assistance.

Social Services notified the Jones County Sheriff's Office of the possible child abuse and Officer Freddie Reeves investigated the incident. Reeves interviewed Yates about the March 28, 1991, incident and Reeves testified that Yates admitted to whipping Jo-Jo three times on the buttocks with a belt.

At trial, Yates testified that he spanked Jo-Jo with a belt and that before Williamson went to work, she spanked Jo-Jo with her hand. Yates admitted that he put the belt marks on Jo-Jo's buttocks, but denied bruising Jo-Jo's upper thigh. After Yates completed his testimony, the jury was instructed as to the applicable law and thereafter, the jury returned a guilty verdict for felony child abuse. Yates' post-trial motions were denied.

LAW

Yates argues that the lower court erred in failing to grant his motion for a In reviewing the question of whether a verdict is sufficiently supported by the evidence, the Supreme Court is required to look at the totality of the circumstances, and "[o]ur concern here is whether the evidence in the record is sufficient to sustain a finding adverse to [the defendant] on each element of the offense.... [W]ith respect to each element, of the offense, [we must] consider all of the evidence--not just the evidence which supports the case for the prosecution--in light most favorable to the verdict." Wetz v. State, 503 So.2d 803, 808 (Miss.1987). In these types of sufficiency questions, the Supreme Court conducts an independent review of the entire record. Holland v. State, 587 So.2d 848 (Miss.1991).

directed verdict. In considering a motion for directed verdict, the reviewing court must consider evidence introduced in light most favorable to State, accepting all evidence introduced by the State as true, together with all reasonable inferences therefrom; if there is sufficient evidence to support a guilty verdict, motion for directed verdict must be overruled. Edwards v. State, 615 So.2d 590 (Miss.1993). If the evidence presents an issue for determination by the jury, then the case must be submitted to the jury and will not be disturbed, if evidence and those inferences support the guilty verdict. Jackson v. State, 440 So.2d 307 (Miss.1983). In fact, evidence favorable to the defendant is disregarded during the consideration of whether to grant a motion for a directed verdict. Bullock v. State, 391 So.2d 601 (Miss.1980), cert. denied; Noe v. State, 616 So.2d 298 (Miss.1993). The standard of review in determining the correctness of a trial judge's ruling on a motion for directed verdict is essentially the same. Roberson v. State, 595 So.2d 1310, 1320 (Miss.1992).

It is entirely possible for the trial judge to not be in error when overruling the motion for directed verdict, yet on review, have this Court determine that in considering all of the evidence, it was not sufficient to support the verdict. When the Supreme Court reviews a trial court's denial of a motion for directed verdict, we will give the non-moving party, here the State, the benefit of all favorable inferences and then examine the evidence to be sure it supports the verdict beyond a reasonable doubt. Pierre v. State, 607 So.2d 43 (Miss.1992). The standard for determining the propriety of a motion for directed verdict is limited to only the evidence favorable for the State; however, the standard for determining the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict requires a search of the entire record, which would necessarily include the evidence favorable to the defendant. Thus, we find that there is no inconsistency in holding that the trial judge in Yates was correct when denying the motion for a directed verdict; yet, this Court considering all of the evidence in the record, and finding that the evidence was not sufficient to convict Yates of felony child abuse, instead finds the facts do support a conviction of misdemeanor child abuse.

Yates argues that misdemeanor child abuse is a lesser included offense of felonious child abuse and that the evidence adduced at trial was such that the trial judge should have granted his request for the misdemeanor child abuse instruction. The trial judge's failure to grant the lesser-included offense instruction, Yates argues, is reversible error. This Court recently decided that misdemeanor child abuse is a lesser-included offense of felony child abuse. See Payton v. State, 642 So.2d 1328 (Miss.1994).

At trial, the State requested and the jury was given Jury Instruction S-2 which reads:

The Court instructs the Jury that if you find from the evidence in this case, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Defendant, Robert Allen Yates, on or about March 28, 1991, in the Second Judicial District of Jones County, Mississippi, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously and intentionally whip, strike or otherwise abuse Joseph C. Williamson, a child of the age of two (2) years at the time in question, then you shall find the Defendant Guilty of Felonious Child Abuse.

If the State has failed to prove one or more of the above described elements of the alleged crime then you shall find the Defendant, Robert Allen Yates, not guilty.

This Jury Instruction S-2 attempted to map the definition of felonious child abuse found in Miss.Code Ann. § 97-5-39(2). Jury Instruction S-2 was an incomplete statement of the law. The elements necessary to prove felonious child abuse are whether Yates did: (1) willfully (2) cause (3) serious bodily harm (4) to a child. Payton, 642 So.2d at 1335 (Miss.). At trial the lower court refused the following Jury Instruction:

The Court instructs the jury that if you find from the evidence in this case beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Robert Allen Yates,...