State v. Terrance Crowder ( 2010 )

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
AT NASHVILLE FILED
NOVEMBER 1998 SESSION
February 9, 1999
Cecil W. Crowson
Appellate Court Clerk
STATE OF TENNESSEE, )
) C.C.A. NO. 01C01-9711-CR-00544
Appellee, )
) DAVIDSON COUNTY
VS. )
) HON. SETH NORMAN,
TERRANCE CROWDER, ) JUDGE
)
Appellant. ) (Rape of a Child)
FOR THE APPELLANT: FOR THE APPELLEE:
LIONEL R. BARRETT, JR. JOHN KNOX WALKUP
Washington Square Two, Suite 418 Attorney General & Reporter
222 Second Ave., North
Nashville, TN 37201 KIM R. HELPER
Asst. Attorney General
John Sevier Bldg.
425 Fifth Ave., North
Nashville, TN 37243-0493
VICTOR S. JOHNSON, III
District Attorney General
WILLIAM R. REED
-and-
DIANE LANCE
Asst. District Attorneys General
Washington Square, Suite 500
222 Second Ave., North
Nashville, TN 37201
OPINION FILED:____________________
AFFIRMED
JOHN H. PEAY,
Judge
OPINION
The defendant was charged by indictment with rape of a child. Following
a jury trial and sentencing hearing, he was found guilty as charged and sentenced as a
Range I standard offender to fifteen years incarceration. He now appeals, arguing that
the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction because the State failed to prove
penetration, an essential element of rape. See T.C.A. § 39-13-522(a). We affirm the trial
court’s judgment.
When an accused challenges the sufficiency of the convicting evidence, we
must review the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution in determining
whether “any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime
beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979). A guilty
verdict rendered by the jury and approved by the trial judge accredits the testimony of the
State’s witnesses. State v. Grace, 493 S.W.2d 474, 476 (Tenn. 1973). Questions
concerning the credibility of witnesses, the weight and value given to the evidence, and
all factual issues raised by the evidence are resolved by the trier of fact, not this Court.
State v. Cabbage, 571 S.W.2d 832, 835 (Tenn. 1978).
At trial, the minor victim, J.S.,1 testified that during 1993, when she was five
or six years old, she would often spend weekends at her grandmother’s house, where the
defendant, her uncle, also resided. According to J.S., she and her younger sister would
sometimes sleep in the defendant’s bedroom. J.S. testified that the defendant would
occasionally crawl in bed at night with her and her sister, pull down her panties, and touch
his penis, which “felt funny and hard,” to the inside of her vagina.
1
Pursuant to this Court’s policy, the minor victim will be referred to only by her initials.
2
At trial, there was also evidence that in December 1993, J.S. was diagnosed
with chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease.2 It was J.S.’s diagnosis of chlamydia that
led to her disclosure to her mother and others that the defendant had penetrated her
genitals with his penis. The defendant and his girlfriend at the time, with whom he was
sexually active, both denied having any sexually transmitted diseases in or since 1993.
There was also extensive medical testimony---much of it conflicting---regarding the
accuracy of J.S.’s diagnosis of chlamydia, the transmission of chlamydia in general, and
whether J.S. had chlamydia prior to the incident of child rape alleged in the indictment.
Even disregarding all of this medical evidence---which certainly would have been the
jury’s prerogative, if they so chose---the record still contains sufficient evidence of
penetration. Quite simply, J.S.’s testimony that the defendant inserted his penis into her
vagina is sufficient proof of penetration. See State v. Banes, 874 S.W.2d 73, 78 (Tenn.
Crim. App. 1993). Any evidence conflicting with that testimony was within the jury’s
exclusive province to disregard. See Cabbage, 571 S.W.2d at 835.
Finding sufficient proof of penetration in the record, we conclude there is
no merit to the defendant’s argument. Accordingly, his conviction is affirmed.
_______________________________
JOHN H. PEAY, Judge
CONCUR:
______________________________
GARY R. WADE, Judge
______________________________
JERRY L. SMITH, Judge
2
According to the evidence at trial, chlamydia is transmitted primarily through sexual relations,
with th e one exc eptio n bein g wh en inf ants cont ract th e dise ase pass ing th roug h an in fecte d birth cana l.
3