Opinion ID: 1796115
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: whether the evidence of attempted rape was insufficient to support the charge of capital murder.

Text: ¶ 73. Let us be very clear about what the majority is announcing in this case. First, it declares that for the purposes of a charge of capital murder, a circumstantial evidence instruction is not warranted to prove the underlying felony when one has admitted to causing the death of the victim. Second, it declares that when a body has been moved post mortem into a sexually explicit position, the position may automatically be used as direct physical evidence of the position the victim was in during an attempted rape that would have occurred before the death of the victim. Needless to say, I do not agree with these propositions.
¶ 74. Circumstantial evidence instructions are required when the prosecution is without a confession and without eyewitnesses to the gravamen of the offense charged. Swinney v. State, 829 So.2d 1225, 1236 (Miss.2002) (quoting Woodward v. State, 533 So.2d 418, 431 (Miss.1988)). Thus, as the majority notes, an admission to any significant element of the offense removes the need for such an instruction. See Mack v. State, 481 So.2d 793, 795 (Miss.1985) . However, the majority has cited a case where this Court has held that a circumstantial evidence instruction is not warranted for an underlying felony in a capital murder case solely based upon the fact that the defendant has admitted to causing the death of the victim and not to the underlying felony. ¶ 75. In Swinney v. State, we held that a confession to a shooting could be direct evidence to an underlying felony for capital murder purposes. 829 So.2d at 1237. Swinney admitted to pointing a gun at the victim and stated that the gun accidentally fired as she attempted to unjam it. Id. at 1236. The underlying felony in this case was robbery. Since an essential element of robbery is the use of force or intimidation, we held her admission that she pointed the gun at the victim as confession of an essential element of the crime. Id. Therefore, we held that the circumstantial evidence instruction was not required. Id. at 1237. ¶ 76. Better yet, in Moody v. State, 841 So.2d 1067 (Miss.2003), this Court dealt with a capital murder based on sexual battery. Therein, we recognized that an admission to causing the death of the victim is not a confession to an essential element of the underlying offense. See id. at 1095. However, in that case, we found that there was enough direct physical evidence in the totality, including sperm samples produced by a vaginal slide, so that a circumstantial evidence instruction was not warranted. [1] Id. at 1095-96. ¶ 77. These cases ought to be instructive. We know from Moody that confessing to causing the death of the victim is not the same as confessing to the underlying felony. Therefore, we are left to apply the Swinney analysis and determine if by his admission, Powers admitted to an essential element of the offense. However, the majority fails to mention any element of attempted rape that is admitted in Powers's statement. Therefore, his confession to causing the victim's death is not cause alone to do away with the need for a circumstantial evidence instruction and to hold otherwise is in error.
¶ 78. Direct evidence is defined as [e]vidence that is based on personal knowledge or observation and that, if true, proves a fact without inference or presumption. Black's Law Dictionary 577 (7th ed.1999). On the other hand, circumstantial evidence is defined as [e]vidence based on inference and not on personal knowledge or observation. Id. at 576. In addition, [e]vidence of some collateral fact, from which the existence or non-existence of some fact in question may be inferred as a probable consequence, is termed circumstantial evidence. Id. (quoting William P. Richardson, The Law of Evidence § 111, at 68 (3d ed.1928)). ¶ 79. The majority states that three pieces of direct physical evidence obviate the need to have given the circumstantial evidence instruction: (1) The sexually explicit position in which the victim's body was found, (2) Powers's admission that he left the body in the position in which it was found, and (3) his admission that he caused the victim's death. However, none of this is direct evidence that an attempted rape occurred.
¶ 80. The majority cites the photographs of the position of the victim's body as physical evidence that an attempted rape occurred. However, based on the above definitions, I remain convinced that these powerful images are still not direct evidence of an attempted rape. Furthermore, their probative value even as circumstantial evidence is questionable. ¶ 81. The photographs show the victim's body lying face up on the house floor. Naked from the waist down, the victim's legs are spread in a position that the prosecution's expert best described as inconsistent with consensual sexual activity. Despite the emotional value of the photographs, they lack evidentiary value. To be correctly described as direct evidence, the position that the photographs depicted should prove an essential fact without inference or presumption. ¶ 82. The position of the body is essential to the majority's holding in this case. However, Powers indicated that he moved the body post mortem. In addition, despite the fact that the victim is lying face up with the back of her head against the floor, the evidence clearly showed that she suffered three gunshot wounds to the back of the head. Simply stated, this is not the position that the body would have been in during the alleged attempted rape. Therefore, the position is not directly, or circumstantially, probative of an attempted rape. A gigantic inferential leap is required to reach the majority's conclusion. Therefore, this piece of evidence is insufficient to avoid the necessity of a circumstantial evidence instruction.
¶ 83. Powers's admission to moving the body post mortem into the position in which it was found is no better fit into the definition of direct evidence than the position itself. Again, the position is not directly probative of an attempted rape. In Swinney, we did hold confessions to essential elements of a crime to be direct evidence of the crime. See 829 So.2d at 1237. However, Powers's admission is not directly probative of any element of attempted rape. As stated above, without the aid of an inference, the probative value of this admission remains in serious question.
¶ 84. Much like the above admission, Powers's admission that he caused the victim's death is not directly probative of any element of attempted rape. While he admits fault, he never admits any intentional act. Simply stated, there is not one element of rape to which this statement is directly probative. Again, we are left to inferences to give it any value towards the charge of attempted rape, making it circumstantial evidence, at best. ¶ 85. To reiterate, none of this evidence is directly probative of attempted rape and if this kind of evidence is, then we have no further need for a circumstantial evidence instruction. This evidence depends on the stacking of inferences for it to be in any way probative of rape. Therefore, a circumstantial evidence instruction should have been given. ¶ 86. Having seen the same pictures as the majority, under these circumstances I cannot do a bull frog's leap that attempted rape occurred. Our job is to ensure that the law is followed, not that retribution is meted out. Our responsibilities towards ensuring that the law is followed are at their greatest in cases such as this. However, in this case, the law has not been followed because the circumstantial evidence instruction was not given. To properly dispose of this matter I would affirm only on the lesser offense of simple murder and remand for resentencing. ¶ 87. Accordingly, I dissent. GRAVES, J., JOINS THIS OPINION IN PART.