Hicks v. State

Cite as 2013 Ark. App. 439ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS
DIVISION III
CR-12-980
No.
Opinion Delivered AUGUST 28, 2013
CHARLES R. HICKS
APPELLANT APPEAL FROM THE PULASKI
COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT,
V. FOURTH DIVISION
[NO. CR-10-1267]
STATE OF ARKANSAS
APPELLEE HONORABLE HERBERT WRIGHT,
JUDGE
AFFIRMED
BILL H. WALMSLEY, Judge
Appellant Charles Hicks was convicted by a jury of the rape of S.H. On appeal, he
challenges the sufficiency of the evidence that supported his conviction. We affirm.
In a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we review the evidence in the light
most favorable to the State, considering only that evidence that supports the verdict. Purdie
v. State, 2010 Ark. App. 658, 379 S.W.3d 541. We determine whether the verdict is
supported by substantial evidence, which is evidence of sufficient force and character to
compel reasonable minds to reach a conclusion and pass beyond suspicion and conjecture.
Id. A person commits the crime of rape if he engages in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual
activity with another person who is less than fourteen years of age. Ark. Code Ann. §
5-14-103(a)(3)(A) (Supp. 2011). “Deviate sexual activity” includes any act of sexual
gratification involving the penetration, however slight, of the anus or mouth of a person by
Cite as 2013 Ark. App. 439the penis of another person. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-14-101(1)(A) (Supp. 2011).
Appellant challenges only the evidence that S.H. was under the age of fourteen at the
time of the alleged rape. He notes that she qualified some of her testimony with “maybe” and
“probably,” and he asserts that the jury was left to speculate as to her age at the time of the
acts.
The rape was alleged to have occurred between July 21, 2006, and March 21, 2007,
S.H.’s fourteenth birthday. Appellant had been around S.H. virtually her whole life due to
his relationship with S.H.’s mother. S.H. testified that appellant first began touching her
inappropriately when she was “maybe seven.” She said that the touching eventually
progressed to oral sex and sexual intercourse when she was “maybe thirteen” and “probably
in the eighth grade.” She then clarified that the oral sex began before the seventh grade,
when she would have been twelve years old, and it continued after she turned thirteen years
old and they began having sexual intercourse.
The uncorroborated testimony of a rape victim is sufficient to support a conviction if
the testimony satisfies the statutory elements of rape. Williams v. State, 363 Ark. 395, 214
S.W.3d 829 (2005). Our supreme court has held that the fact that the victim is not absolutely
certain of the date of the offense does not in any way lessen the proof, as that is an issue of
credibility. Id. It is well settled that this court will not weigh the credibility of the witnesses,
as that is a determination for the jury. Id.
We hold that S.H.’s testimony provided substantial evidence that appellant engaged
in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity with her when she was less than fourteen years
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Cite as 2013 Ark. App. 439old. We affirm appellant’s conviction.
Affirmed.
GLADWIN, C.J., and HARRISON, J., agree.
The Jesse Law Firm, P.L.C., by: Mark Alan Jesse, for appellant.
Dustin McDaniel, Att’y Gen., by: Rebecca B. Kane, Ass’t Att’y Gen., for appellee.
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