Case Name: Raymond BAUGH, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2007-04-26
Citations: 961 So. 2d 198
Docket Number: No. SC04-21
Parties: Raymond BAUGH, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.
Judges: LEWIS, C.J., and WELLS and PARIENTE, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 961
Pages: 198–211

Head Matter:
Raymond BAUGH, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.
No. SC04-21.
Supreme Court of Florida.
April 26, 2007.
Rehearing Denied July 10, 2007.
J. Marion Moorman, Public Defender, Tenth Judicial Circuit, Bartow, FL, and James T. Miller, Special Assistant Public Defender, Jacksonville, FL, for Petitioner.
Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, Robert J. Krauss, Bureau Chief, Tampa Criminal Appeals and Richard Michael Fishkin, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, FL, for Respondent.

Opinion:
QUINCE, J.
We have for review Baugh v. State, 862 So.2d 756 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003), in which the Second District Court of Appeal certified the following question as a matter of great public importance:
IF A CHILD VICTIM OF SEXUAL ABUSE TOTALLY REPUDIATES HER OUT-OF-COURT STATEMENTS AT TRIAL, AND THE PROSECUTION ADDUCES NO EYEWITNESS OR PHYSICAL EVIDENCE OF ABUSE, MUST THE TRIAL COURT GRANT A JUDGMENT OF ACQUITTAL EVEN IN THE FACE OF OTHER EVIDENCE CORROBORATING THE OUT-OF-COURT STATEMENTS AND THE DICTATES OF THE CONFRONTATION CLAUSE?
Id. at 767. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const.
As worded, we conclude that the certified question does not accurately reflect the circumstances of the instant case. The "corroborating" evidence offered in support of repudiated out-of-court statements by a child sexual abuse victim must corroborate the facts of the sexual act stated by the victim. Accordingly, we reword the question as follows:
If a child victim of sexual abuse totally repudiates her out-of-court statements at trial, and the prosecution adduces no eyewitness or physical evidence of abuse, must the trial court grant a judgment of acquittal when the other evidence presented by the prosecution does not corroborate the facts alleged in the victim's repudiated statement?
For the reasons discussed below, we answer the reworded question in the affirmative and quash the decision of the Second District.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE AND FACTS
On the evening of January 13, 2002, Raymond Baugh's girlfriend, Rachel, was on the phone ordering food for dinner. When her seven-year-old daughter, C.P., persisted in interrupting her conversation, Rachel sent C.P. to her bedroom. Baugh, who lived with Rachel, followed C.P. into the bedroom and closed the door. When Rachel ended her conversation, she attempted to enter C.P.'s room but found that the door was locked. C.P. testified that she had been playing with the lock earlier and the door accidentally locked when Baugh closed it behind him. Rachel proceeded to bang on the door and demand that it be opened. When the door was opened thirty seconds later, Rachel saw Baugh standing in the bedroom wrapped in a towel and holding two white mice in his hands. C.P. was standing behind him. Apparently, Baugh entered the bedroom after bathing and was only wearing a towel. Baugh intended to feed the mice to a pet snake in the bedroom. Baugh, 862 So.2d at 757.
After separating C.P. from Baugh, Rachel asked C.P. what had happened. C.P. responded that Baugh made her perform fellatio on him. Rachel accosted Baugh with this information, hit him several times, and demanded that he leave her house. Baugh denied doing what C.P. claimed. As the argument between Rachel and Baugh progressed, Baugh stated that he wanted C.P. to perform fellatio on him, have Rachel watch, and then have sex with Rachel. Thereafter, Rachel called the police and Baugh went into the bath room where he attempted to slash his wrists and arms.
C.P. recounted the incident to a police detective the next day. C.P. told the detective that "it happened," that she had performed the same act on Baugh twelve times previously, and that "white stuff came out, which tasted bad." Baugh, 862 So.2d at 758. She also told investigators that Baugh had shown her pictures to teach her how to perform oral sex. C.P. repeated this story to the state attorney and the detective on January 24 and to the child protection team nurse on January 28. However, according to Rachel, sometime in late February, C.P. voluntarily recanted her story and told her mother that she had lied about what happened with Baugh.
At Baugh's trial for capital sexual battery, C.P. testified that her original story was a "fib" which she made up to get Baugh in a " 'little, but not that much trouble,' because sometimes he made her mad." Id. at 757-58. C.P. also stated that she learned the details of the sexual act from her older brother who had been assaulted by a different individual in a manner identical to what she had described to the detective. C.P. explained that she maintained her story about Baugh because she was afraid of what her mother might do if she found out that C.P. had lied. C.P. stated that she ultimately decided to tell the truth because she was sad that her family had been broken apart. C.P. also stated that Baugh had never shown her the pornographic pictures that the police recovered from their house; she had found them while snooping in her mother's bedroom. C.P. also testified about new house rules instituted by Rachel after the incident, including a rule regarding proper clothing in the house and a prohibition on locking the interior doors of the house. The State argued that these rules showed that Rachel believed C.P.'s original story.
At the conclusion of C.P's testimony, the State had demonstrated that the child had first accused Baugh of molesting her, repeated that story to a number of people, and then changed her story. During their testimony, the detective, the child protection team nurse, and Rachel repeated C.P.'s prior statements about the incident. Thereafter, the State introduced testimony from an inmate imprisoned with Baugh and a former friend of Rachel's in order to rebut the testimony of C.P. and Rachel concerning the child's decision to change her story. The inmate claimed that he overheard Baugh telling female visitors that "they had to get the little girl to 'recamp' [sic] her story because otherwise he was looking at life in prison." Id. at 761. The family friend testified that C.P. told her " 'it really did happen' but [Rachel] wanted her to change her story." Id. The State failed to produce physical or direct evidence to support C.P.'s original story of abuse.
At the conclusion of the State's case, Baugh moved for a judgment of acquittal, contending that the State had adduced no direct evidence that C.P. had been sexually abused. The trial court denied the motion. Baugh was subsequently convicted of capital sexual battery on C.P. and sentenced to life in prison.
On appeal, Baugh asserted that C.P.'s prior out-of-court statements were insufficient to sustain his conviction. The Second District agreed and held that C.P.'s out-of-court hearsay statements alone could not sustain Baugh's conviction for capital sexual battery. However, the Second District concluded that "there was some other evidence that would give rise to the inference that Mr. Baugh committed the crime of which he was accused." Baugh, 862 So.2d at 757. The Second District described the following "corroborating" evidence: "the spontaneous statement from [the child] to her mother immediately after the event; the defendant's 'admission' ("I want her to s[-]ek my d[-]ck while you watch"); the defendant's consciousness of guilt as evidenced by his suicide attempt; and the suggestion that the defendant engaged in 'witness tampering,' adduced from the testimonies of the prison inmate and the mother's former friend." Id. at 766. The Second District admitted its "hesitation to say that any one piece of 'corroboration' would be sufficient" in conjunction with the out-of-court statements to sustain Baugh's conviction. Id. at 767. However, the Second District concluded that, based on the inferences that the jury could draw from all of the evidence, the trial court correctly denied Baugh's motion for judgment of acquittal. Id. In light of this corroborative evidence, the Second District affirmed the conviction. Additionally, the Second District certified the original question above to this Court based on a perceived "need for clarification of some of these issues." Id.
ANALYSIS
The instant case is similar to Beber v. State, 887 So.2d 1248 (Fla.2004), because like Beber this case involves the admission of pretrial statements as substantive evidence under the child victim hearsay exception in section 90.803(23), Florida Statutes (2001), after the child recanted the pretrial statements during her in-trial testimony. In Beber, the Fifth District concluded that an out-of-court videotaped statement by the child victim, which had been admitted pursuant to section 90.803(23), was sufficient to sustain Be-ber's conviction of capital sexual battery for fellatio, even though there was no corroborating evidence other than the child's in-court testimony that Beber perpetrated other sexual crimes on him, and even though the child contradicted his videotaped statement in court. Beber v. State, 853 So.2d 576 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003), quashed, 887 So.2d 1248 (Fla.2004). In our review, we quashed the decision of the Fifth District and reaffirmed our previous holding in State v. Green, 667 So.2d 756 (Fla.1995), and State v. Moore, 485 So.2d 1279 (Fla.1986), that prior inconsistent statements are insufficient by themselves to sustain a criminal conviction. Beber, 887 So.2d at 1253.
The Second District's analysis in Baugh is consistent with our reasoning in Beber. The Second District recognized that the child's out-of-court hearsay statements, which directly conflicted with her in-court testimony, were not sufficient by themselves to sustain Baugh's conviction and that "there must be other corroborating evidence to support the conviction." Baugh, 862 So.2d at 765.
The Second District acknowledged that none of the alleged corroboration carried much evidentiary weight and that when considered individually "each of these grounds . would fail as sufficient corroboration of Mr. Baugh's guilt." Id. at 766. The Second District noted problems with each piece of the alleged corroborating evidence. C.P.'s "spontaneous statement" to her mother was part of the substantive evidence admitted under section 90.803(23) and "putting another name on it" did not make it any more corroborative of the event. Id. Baugh's "admission" was "not really an admission at all, but a statement of desire and not of a completed act." Id. While Baugh's suicide attempt was "suggestive of guilt," it was "equally susceptible of an interpretation that [the defendant] was despondent over the accusation and was in need of intensive psychotherapy." Id. Finally, the court said that the testimony of the jail inmate and former friend revealed that Baugh "knew he would never get out of jail unless [the child] changed her story. That was true; as long as [the child] alleged that Mr. Baugh committed the crime, he had little hope of being released. However, that does not indicate that her original story was either true or corroborative of his guilt." Id. at 766-67. Despite the Second District's "hesitation" to find the corroborating evidence and the out-of-court statements sufficient to sustain Baugh's conviction, the court concluded that denial of Baugh's motion for judgment of acquittal was correct in light of "all of the inferences that the jury could draw from the sum total of the evidence." Id.
Thus, we must determine whether the evidence presented at Baugh's trial to corroborate the child victim's out-of-court statements was sufficient to sustain his conviction. Baugh was charged with capital felony sexual battery pursuant to section 794.011(2)(a), Florida Statutes (2001). The elements of this crime are (1) a person eighteen years of age or older (2) commits a sexual battery upon (3) a person less than twelve years of age. In her original statement the child alleged that Baugh made her perform fellatio on him. The age of the defendant and the victim are not at issue here. Thus, the evidence presented in corroboration had to demonstrate that fellatio occurred and that the defendant was the person who forced the child to commit this act. We conclude that none of the other evidence, either individually or collectively, corroborated the statement concerning fellatio.
The only direct evidence presented in this case was the child's out-of-court hearsay statements, which she completely recanted during her in-court testimony. The evidence which was offered as "corroborating" these out-of-court statements, as required by Green and Moore, was circumstantial evidence from which the jury had to infer that Baugh had perpetrated a sexual battery on the child.
"The rule is well established that the prosecution, in order to present a pri- ma facie case, is required to prove each and every element of the offense charged beyond a reasonable doubt, and when the prosecution fails to meet this burden, the case should not be submitted to the jury, and a judgment of acquittal should be granted." Williams v. State, 560 So.2d 1304, 1306 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990). In reviewing a motion for judgment of acquittal, a de novo standard of review applies. Pagan v. State, 830 So.2d 792, 803 (Fla.2002). Generally, an appellate court will not reverse a conviction which is supported by competent, substantial evidence. Id. There is sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction if, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, a rational trier of fact could find the existence of the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Banks v. State, 732 So.2d 1065 (Fla.1999).
As we held in Green and reaffirmed in Beber, "a prior inconsistent statement standing alone is insufficient as a matter of law to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." Green, 667 So.2d at 760; accord Beber, 887 So.2d at 1251. However, recanted statements can sustain a sexual battery conviction "when other proper corroborating evidence is admitted." Green, 667 So.2d at 761 (emphasis added); see Beber, 887 So.2d at 1252-53. Corroborating evidence is defined as "[ejvidence that differs from but strengthens or confirms what other evidence shows," especially "that which needs support." Black's Law Dictionary 596 (8th ed.2004).
In the instant case, the question is whether the other evidence presented at trial corroborated the child's recanted out-of-court statement and, if so, whether the evidence was sufficient to convict Baugh. Baugh was charged with a capital felony sexual battery pursuant to section 794.011(2)(a), Florida Statutes (2001). The information specified that Baugh, who was over eighteen years of age, committed a sexual battery on a child less than twelve years of age by placing his penis into or in union with the mouth of the child. The only evidence adduced at trial that Baugh placed his penis in the child's mouth was the child's out-of-court statements, which she recanted during her in-court testimony. We conclude that the other evidence collectively did not actually "corroborate" the recanted out-of-court statements.
Even if Baugh's purported "admission" is viewed as a statement of desire rather than a rash response during a heated argument, it still only shows that he had thoughts about committing sexual battery on the child, not that he actually committed the act. The fact that Baugh slashed his wrists after being confronted by the child's mother may be "suggestive of guilt," but is also consistent with a troubled defendant in need of psychotherapy, as evidenced by Baugh's earlier suicide attempt by the same method when his telephone service was turned off for nonpayment. Although the new household rules concerning clothing and locked doors indicate that the mother believed the child's original story, the mother readily admitted that she initially did believe the story. Finally, while the testimony of both the jail inmate and the former friend about the child's recantation could indicate that the child was pressured to change her story, it also reflected the reality of the situation — Baugh would not get out of jail as long as the child alleged that he committed the crime. Thus, the evidence presented to "corroborate" the child's recanted out-of-court statements did not necessarily strengthen or confirm the recanted out-of-court statements. See Baugh, 862 So.2d at 766-67 (discussing the problems with each item of "corroborating" evidence and noting how each could be interpreted in a manner entirely consistent with innocence).
Where the evidence creates only a strong suspicion of guilt or simply a probability of guilt, the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction. Cox v. State, 555 So.2d 352, 353 (Fla.1989). Additionally, evidence is insufficient to support a conviction when it requires pyramiding of assumptions or impermissibly stacked inferences. Cf. Gustine v. State, 86 Fla. 24, 97 So. 207, 208 (1923) (reversing conviction because "[o]nly by pyramiding assumption upon assumption and intent upon intent can the conclusion necessary for conviction be reached"); Brown v. State, 672 So.2d 648, 650 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996) (finding evidence insufficient when it requires pyramiding of assumptions or inferences in order to arrive at the conclusion of guilt).
CONCLUSION
For the reasons discussed above, we answer the reworded certified question in the affirmative and quash the decision of the Second District.
It is so ordered.
LEWIS, C.J., and WELLS and PARIENTE, JJ., concur.
CANTERO, J., dissents with an opinion, in which ANSTEAD and BELL, JJ., concur.
. This family friend moved into Rachel's house shortly after the incident in January. The friend remained there until mid-March when she and Rachel had a falling out. Their friendship terminated in a "heated breakup" and Rachel threw the friend out of the house at that time.
. The State also cross-appealed the trial court's decision to instruct the jury to consider the child hearsay testimony as impeachment rather than as direct evidence. The Second District concluded that the trial court erred in giving the instruction, but that the State's cross-appeal was moot in light of the district court's decision to affirm Baugh's conviction. Id. at 757. Baugh filed a motion for rehearing, alleging that the district court had piled inference upon inference to conclude that the corroborative evidence was sufficient to sustain his conviction. The Second District denied Baugh's motion for rehearing.
. In out-of-court statements made by the child in a videotaped interview, the child claimed that Beber placed his mouth on the child's penis. At trial, the child testified that Beber only touched the child's penis with his hand. See Beber v. State, 887 So.2d 1248, 1252 (Fla.2004).
. The statutory definition of sexual battery includes the "oral, anal, or vaginal penetration by, or union with, the sexual organ of another or the anal or vaginal penetration of another by any other object." § 794.01 l(l)(h), Fla. Stat. (2001).
. "Direct evidence is that to which the witness testifies of his own knowledge as to the facts at issue. Circumstantial .evidence is proof of certain facts and circumstances from which the trier of fact may infer that the ultimate facts in dispute existed or did not exist." Davis v. State, 90 So.2d 629, 631 (Fla.1956).
. As the district court noted, the credibility of this former friend was "damaged." Baugh, 862 So.2d at 761. C.P. testified that she did not like this person and never told her anything about the incident. Additionally, the friend admitted on cross-examination that she suspected Rachel was pressuring C.P. to change her story in late February, but never gave this information to the police or the prosecutor until she was approached by a detective on April 2. In fact, the friend admitted that she had no intention of telling the police or the prosecutor anything and would not have done so if she had not been approached by the detective.