Opinion ID: 1698163
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Weight of the Evidence: Sexual Penetration

Text: Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-95 (Supp. 1993), which defines the offense of sexual battery, states, inter alia, that [a] person is guilty of sexual battery if he or she engages in sexual penetration with: ... (c) A child under the age of fourteen (14) years. Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-97 (Supp. 1993) defines sexual penetration as follows: Sexual penetration includes cunnilingus, fellatio, buggery or pederasty, any penetration of the genital or anal openings of another person's body by any part of a person's body, and insertion of any object into the genital or anal openings of another person's body. [emphasis supplied]. Penetration is the very essence of the crime of sexual battery. Thompson v. State, 468 So.2d 852, 853 (Miss. 1985) (citing West v. State, 437 So.2d 1212 (Miss. 1983)). In the case at bar, evidence of sexual penetration was supplied by two sources: the victim and her examining physician. The testimony of Ann, the youthful victim, viewed in harmony with the testimony of Dr. Johnson, the examining physician, provided substantial credible evidence of sexual penetration accomplished via the defendant's tongue. The victim testified the defendant pulled down her panties and licked in her private part. When asked specifically to identify the area of her body she was referring to, Ann promptly replied, inside. In the wake of further questioning, the victim testified the defendant was licking [t]he middle part of where my private part is or [i]n between my private part. She succinctly testified that she was looking at him, and I felt his tongue when he was licking me there. [emphasis supplied] Dr. Veda C. Johnson, the examining physician, testified that although there was no evidence of penetration of the victim's vagina by the defendant's penis, he did suck her vaginal area. When asked about irritation of the victim's vagina, Dr. Johnson testified she observed moderate redness of her labia, which is the most inner portion of her vagina  well, the most inner portion of the covering of her vagina  and it seemed quite irritated. Finally, Dr. Johnson was asked whether there was penetration if the term sexual penetration included cunnilingus. She replied, I would think so. In Jackson v. State, 452 So.2d 438 (Miss. 1984), an appeal from a conviction of rape of a six-year-old girl, the examining physician testified he found a bruise on the left labia and an abrasion in the fold between the major and minor labia. We held that slight penetration to the vulva or labia was sufficient penetration to constitute the offense of rape. Jackson, 452 So.2d at 440. Sexual battery is no different. The testimony supplied by the victim and her doctor was legally sufficient to establish sexual penetration via use of the defendant's tongue. Our standard of review is quite familiar. In reviewing Johnson's claim that the verdict of the jury is contrary to the weight of the evidence, this Court is duty bound to accept as true all evidence favorable to the State. Van Buren v. State, 498 So.2d 1224, 1229 (Miss. 1986). Johnson's weight of the evidence complaint necessarily implicates the post-verdict denial of his motion for a new trial where he alleged that [t]he verdict is decidedly and strongly against the weight of the evidence and [t]he verdict is contrary to the law and the weight of the evidence. [T]he motion for a new trial is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court. Burge v. State, 472 So.2d 392, 397 (Miss. 1985). As to a motion for a new trial, the trial judge should set aside the jury's verdict only when, in the exercise of his sound discretion, he is convinced the verdict is contrary to the substantial weight of the evidence; this Court will not reverse unless convinced the verdict is against the substantial weight of the evidence. Leflore v. State, 535 So.2d 68, 70 (Miss. 1988). See also Thornhill v. State, 561 So.2d 1025, 1030 (Miss. 1989); Rainer v. State, 473 So.2d 172, 173 (Miss. 1985); May v. State, 460 So.2d 778, 781 (1984).