1 It is the policy of this court not to ide ntify minor victim s of sex crimes.



### IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE

AT KNOXVILLE May 22, 2001 Ses sion
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. RHONDA GRILLS Direct Appeal from the Circuit Court for Sullivan County

No. S41,531 R. Jerry Beck, Judge

No. E2000-01031-CCA-R3-CD June 26, 2001
The defendant, Rhonda Grills, was convicted of facilitation of the felony rape of a child less

than 13 yearsof age. The trial court imposed a Rang e I sentence of 10 year s. The defendant was fined $25,000.00. In this appea l of right, the de

fendant challen

ges t he sufficiency of the evidence. Because the evi dence is adequa

te to support the fa

cilitation of the r

ape of a child, the

judgment is affirmed. Tenn. R. App. P. 3; Ju dgment of the Trial

Court Affirmed.
G ARY R. W ADE , P.J., delivered the opinion of t he cour t, in which T HOMAS T. W OODALL and R OBERT W. W EDEMEYER , JJ., joined. Keith A. Hopson, Ki

ngsport, Tenne

ssee, for the app

ellant, Rhonda Gri

lls.
Paul G. Summers, Attorne y General & Reporter; Ang

ele M. Gregory, Assistant Attorney General; andJames Goodwin, Gregory A. Newman, andMar y Kat hari ne H arve y, As sis tan t Di str ict Att orn eys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

OPINION
The male victim, BG, 1 was bo rn Ju ly 25, 1 986. In April of 1997, he lived in Kingsp ort with the defendant, who is his mother, and two siblings. The defendant's mother, sister, and a niece lived in the same residence. The defendant's boyfr iend, Darryl Elkins, often sta ye d overnight at the residence.
On one occasion, Elkins and the defendant had been dr inking. The defe ndant lost consciousness

due to the excessiveness of her drinking, and, according to the victim, Elkins entered2 Elkins w as found guilty of fe lony rap e of a child and attem pted rape of a child. -2- the victim's bedroom, jumped on top of him from behind, and began to bounce up and down on him as he lay in his bed. The victim, who was lying on his stomach, was dre

ssed only in bo

xer shorts. The victim called for

help and testified

at trial that his

first cousin, Roy Carrico, who was visiting the residence, pulled Elkins away and warned him not to touch the victim again. The victim

testified that he did

not tell his mother or anyone else of the incident "[b]ecause [he] was ashamed of what [Elkins] had don e to [him]."
About two weeks after

the initia l incident, th

e victim was in his be

droom, lying

on his stomach, andlistening to music on the radio. Elkins entered his room and shut the door. According to the victim, the defendant then entered the room and watched as Elkins removed his own pants and then those of the victim and "stuck his wiener up my butt," keeping "it there for about five minutes

. . . [before] I felt somethi ng gooey." According to the victim, Elkins then th

reatened to kill h

im if he told anyone

else about the inc

ident. During the

assault, Elkins hel d a knife to t he victim's throat. The victim testified tha

t the defendant di

d nothing, even when he resisted and told Elkins to "get off of me." After the assault, "Mom and Darryl left the re sidence." Later, the defendant's children we re removed from the home for unrelated reasons and placed into foster care.
Init ial ly, the victim told no one of the inciden t but had difficulti

es afterwards w

ith soiling his underwear. Later, afte

r moving into the f

oster home

of Georgia

Martin, the victim informed her of the assault. Ms. Martin called a social worker who then notified the police. Late r, the victim told his paternal grandmother and his aunt and uncle. At the direction of the defendant, he claimedthat Roy Carrico was guilty of the rape. Ultimately , the victim acknowledged that he had been untruthful with authorities and named Elkins as his assailant.
At the request of the Department of Human Services, John Heise, a pediatrician in Kingsport, treated the victim. The medical history he was provided included information that the victim

had been anally penetrated

by an individu

al named Darry

l. Dr. Heise

recalled that the victim stated that the time of penetration was about five minutes until "he felt a gooey substance." Dr. Heise desc ribed the victim's rectal area as "slightly open or g aping when it should have been closed t i ght." He determined that the physical changes were consistent with the complaints made by the victim. Elkins, who was tried jointly with the defenda

nt, 2 called Carrico as a witness. When asked about the victim's cl aim that he had called for help during the first incident with Elkins, Carrico responded, "[T]hat's a lie." Carrico, who wore jail clothing to the trial, testified that he had never pulled Elkins off the vict im and had never w

arned Elkins not t

o tou ch the victim. On crossexamination by the state, it wasestablished that Carrico, who had been convicted of two aggravated assaults, was a prisoner at a jail in Sullivan County. Carrico also admitted a 1994 theft offense.
The defendant testified on her own behalf. She denied that the incident ever occurred and claimed that she "wou ld not stand by and let somebody hurt [her] child." The defenda nt, who acknowledged

a conviction of fraud in 1995, testified that she had never instructed her "son to lie-3-

on [any]body." She acknowledged that Elkins shared a residence with her and her family at the

time the victim contended the offense took place. The defendant also con ceded that she continued her relationship

with Elkins. The def

endant testified t

hat by the time

of the trial, their relationship had ended. She acknowledged that Carrico was her first cousin.
Detective Penny Kindle of the Kingsport Police Department was called as a defe

nse witness. She recalled having

questioned the vic

tim about a

year after the incident. Detective Kindle testified that at that time, the victim made no mention of the involvement of the defendant. The defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence. She contends that the testimony offered by the state, even if taken as true, is inadequate to convict because it does nothing other than establish that she sat in a chair during the course of the rape. In response, the state alleges the proof demonstrated "substantial assistance" in the commission of the felony.
On appeal , the stat e is entitled to the s trongest legit

imate view of the e

vidence and all inferences which might be drawn therefrom. State v. Ca bbage , 571 S.W.2d 832, 836 (Tenn. 1978). The credibilit

y of the witnesses, the weight to be given their testimony, and the reconciliation of conflicts in the evidence are matters entrusted exclusively to the jury as the trier of fact. Byrge v. State , 575 S.W.2d 292, 295 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1978). The relevant question is whether, after reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, any rational trier of f act could have foundthe essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Tenn. R. App. P. 13(e); State v. Williams , 657 S.W.2d 405, 410 (Tenn. 1983). This court may neither

reweigh nor reevaluate the evidence; nor may

this court substitute its inferences for those drawn by the trier of fact. Liakas v. State , 199 Tenn. 298, 286 S.W.2d 856, 859 (1956). The evidence is sufficient when a rational trier of fact could conclude that the defendant is guilty beyond a r easonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979). The defendant has the burden of demonstrating that the evidence is not sufficient when there is a challenge to the sufficiency of the

evidence. State v. Tuggle , 639 S.W.2d 913, 914 (Tenn. 1982). Rape of a child, a

Class A felony

, is defined as fol

lows: (a) Ra pe of a child is the unlawful sexual pe

netration of a vic

tim by the defendant or the defendan

t by a victim, i

f such victim is

less than thirteen (13) years of age. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-522(a) (1997). A person is "crim

inally resp

onsible for the facilitation of a felony if, knowing that another intends to commit a specific felony, but without the intent required for criminal responsibility under § 39-11-402(2), the person knowingly furnishes substantial assistanc e i n the commission of the felony." Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-11-403(a).-4-

Here, the jury accredited the testimony of the vic tim who, at the time of the rape, was in the physical and legal custody of the defendant. Their assessment of the truthf ulness of the victim at trial is critical to our own c onclusions reached in t his appeal. By closing the door to the bedroom andby underta

king a passive r

ole while her minor son was sexually molested by her adult boy friend, the defendant tacitly approved of the conduct. A parent has a duty to her child an d the f

ailure to fulfill that obligation may result in criminal culpability. See , e.g. , State v. Hodges , 7 S.W.3d 609, 6 23 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1998). In State v. Angela Renee Gates , No. E1998-00131- CCA-R3-CD (Tenn. Crim. App., at Knoxville, Jan. 21, 2000), this court affirmed a conviction for facilitation of aggravated

child abuse where the defendant, the mother of the victim, allowed he r bo yf riend to administer

physical abuse. When there is such a duty, the f ailure to take act

ion is tantam ount to substantial assistance in the crime. That the de

fendant failed t

o take responsible actionat the time of the rape and later encou

raged the victi

m to lie about the identity of his assailant are circumstances which would warrant a c

onviction for fac

ilitation to

commit the rape. In our view, the evidence was sufficient. Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.

____________________________________ G ARY R. WADE, PRESIDING JUDGE