Opinion ID: 1890713
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidencesodomy

Text: Banks contends that the Commonwealth presented insufficient evidence to convict him of the nine sodomy counts, [1] and thus the trial court erred by denying his motion for a directed verdict. Banks was indicted for twelve counts of sodomy, six against each child. One count against each child was dismissed prior to submission of the case to the jury. The jury acquitted Banks of one of the remaining ten counts, resulting in a total of nine sodomy convictions. On motion for directed verdict, the trial court must draw all fair and reasonable inferences from the evidence in favor of the Commonwealth. Commonwealth v. Benham, 816 S.W.2d 186, 187 (Ky.1991). If the evidence is sufficient to induce a reasonable juror to believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty, a directed verdict should not be given. Id. For the purpose of ruling on the motion, the trial court must assume that the evidence for the Commonwealth is true, but reserve for the jury questions as to the credibility and weight to be given to such testimony. Id. On appellate review, the test of a directed verdict is, if under the evidence as a whole, it would be clearly unreasonable for a jury to find guilt, only then the defendant is entitled to a directed verdict of acquittal. Id. (citing Commonwealth v. Sawhill, 660 S.W.2d 3 (Ky.1983)). [T]here must be evidence of substance, and the trial court is expressly authorized to direct a verdict for the defendant if the prosecution produces no more than a mere scintilla of evidence. Benham, 816 S.W.2d at 186-87. The evidence presented to support the sodomy charges is as follows. Detective Norris testified concerning his June 2005 interview with Banks and played an audio tape of the statement. In this statement, Banks described sexually abusing the children. Banks testified that he would go into the children's rooms while they were asleep, start touching and rubbing them, and then commit acts of sodomy against them. Specifically, he confessed that he would digitally penetrate, make oral contact with, and lay his penis on their anuses. Banks stated that he did this over a three-year period. The one specific date he identified as engaging in the conduct was March 17, 2005, on an occasion when he ingested ecstasy. When asked how many times the abuse occurred over the three-year period, Banks responded about six times with each child. T.B. had a very difficult time testifying. She testified that things happened when she was eight or nine and attending a certain elementary school. Due to her difficulty testifying she was excused from the stand but later returned. With continued difficulty she then testified that Banks raped her while the family was living in Elizabethtown. She testified that the rape happened at night when no one else was around. She said she was around six when it happened. T.B. also testified to an occasion when she felt something wet on her rear end. She stated that she was sure that what she felt was Banks's tongue. T.B. also testified regarding an occasion in the first grade when she had to stay home from school because of an eye infection and Banks did something to her, but did not describe specific acts which occurred on that occasion. She also referred to an occasion when she and her sister had scratched up their bed, but again did not provide specifics about what Banks did on that occasion. C.B. testified that she had witnessed something happen between T.B. and Banks in her room. She further testified that things would happen between her and Banks during the day and at night, but she could not remember how many times those things happened. She also testified that Banks raped her when she was seven or eight; she at first said she was not sure how many times it happened, but then testified it happened once a day and just one time at night. C.B. testified that she would be asleep when she would feel Banks begin to touch her with his hands and with his private. She testified that Banks would put his private inside the private between her legs and sometimes stuck his hand up her butt. She then testified concerning an event that occurred in her parents' room during which she witnessed Banks put his private inside T.B., she thought in the back. She did not remember how old she was but believed T.B. was six or seven at the time. Pursuant to Benham , we assume Banks's confession to be true; that is that he committed acts of sodomy against each of his daughters as admitted in his statement to police. [2] Banks confessed that he did this on about six occasions against each daughter, and from this we draw the inference that he did, in fact, commit a total of twelve acts of sodomy against his children during the three year period from March 2002 to March 2005. C.B. and T.B. corroborated Banks's confession with their testimony of multiple instances of abuse. Upon drawing all inferences from the evidence in favor of the Commonwealth, we cannot conclude that it was unreasonable for the jury to have found the defendant guilty of nine counts of sodomy. There was sufficient evidence presented by the Commonwealth to submit the case to the jury. Id. The trial court did not err by denying Banks's motion for a directed verdict on the sodomy charges.