Charles Dewayne Seale v. State of Arkansas

ARKANSAS COURT OF APPEALS
NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

DIVISION I

CHARLES DEWAYNE SEALE

APPELLANT

V.

STATE OF ARKANSAS

APPELLEE

CACR 04-522

February 2, 2005

APPEAL FROM THE HEMPSTEAD

COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

[CR-03-77-1]

HONORABLE DUNCAN

CULPEPPER, CIRCUIT JUDGE

AFFIRMED

David M. Glover, Judge

Appellant, Charles Seale, was tried by a jury and found guilty of the offense of raping his stepson, C.B., a minor who was under the age of fourteen at the time of the offense. Appellant was sentenced to thirty years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. He raises two points of appeal: (1) that the evidence presented by the prosecutor was insufficient to convict, and (2) that the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion for directed verdict. The two points raised by appellant are essentially one and the same. They both challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction. We affirm.

A motion for a directed verdict constitutes a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Martin v. State, 354 Ark. 289, 119 S.W.3d 504 (2003). The test for determining the sufficiency of the evidence is whether the verdict is supported by substantial evidence, direct or circumstantial. Id. Evidence is substantial if it is of sufficient force and character to compel reasonable minds to reach a conclusion and pass beyond suspicion and conjecture. Id. On appeal, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, considering only that evidence that supports the verdict. Id. Moreover, the testimony of a child rape victim alone constitutes substantial evidence to support a rape conviction. Spencer v. State, 348 Ark. 230, 72 S.W.3d 461 (2002).

A person commits rape if he or she engages in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity with another person who is less than fourteen (14) years of age. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-14-103(a)(4) (Repl. 1997). Deviate sexual activity means any act of sexual gratification involving: the penetration, however, slight, of the anus or mouth of one person by the penis of another person. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-14-101(1)(A) (Repl. 1997).

Here, C.B.'s mother testified that she married appellant in 1992 and that they separated in 1999. She stated that C.B. lived with them during that period. She explained that they moved a lot during the marriage, but that they lived in Hope, Arkansas, from August 1994 until May 1995. She stated that she did not learn of C.B.'s allegations against appellant until 2002.

Jimmy Courtney, a detective with the Hope Police Department, testified that he received a report of the allegations in December 2002 and that he began an investigation that resulted in appellant's arrest in January 2003.

C.B. testified that he was born April 12, 1986, and that he was seventeen at the time of trial. He explained that during the period that he lived with his mother and appellant, appellant "had me have his penis in my mouth." He explained that it happened "several times" when they lived in a mobile home at the Caney Creek Mobile Home Park, which is "outside of Hope." He said that he was seven or eight years of age and in the third grade at that time.

C.B. further described appellant's actions toward him at Caney Creek:

He would have both of us get naked and he used bribes and conned me into doing it. He tried giving me cigarettes and would not stop until I did it. He would play games of truth and dare with me. There was no winner or loser in truth or dare, but we would just do what the other one tells until one does not do it. He would dare me to take off articles of clothing and touch him. After the game, he would try to keep talking me into giving him oral sex with cigarettes and it usually worked. He would ejaculate into my mouth. It tasted salty and it turned my stomach. It happened to me five to ten times a month in Caney Creek.

C.B. testified that he did not tell anyone because he was embarrassed, that he felt degraded, and that he was scared because of appellant's threats. He said that appellant told him he "knew of a hundred and one ways to kill people," and that he also "knew ways to torture people." C.B. said that he did not tell his mother until 2002, that he first told his father, and that his father convinced him to file a police report. He stated that he had never made allegations against appellant prior to that time. He stated that he had not been around appellant since his mother's separation from him in 1999.

The gist of appellant's argument on appeal is to challenge the victim's credibility and to note that his testimony was not corroborated by any other witness or evidence. C.B.'s testimony established that he was under the age of fourteen (seven or eight years old) and that appellant's penis penetrated C.B.'s mouth. C.B.'s testimony alone is sufficient to support the verdict, Spencer, supra, and determinations of credibility are for the jury. Arnett v. State, 353 Ark. 165, 122 S.W.3d 484 (2003).

Affirmed.

Pittman, C.J., and Baker, J., agree.