Opinion ID: 1723020
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: People v Simpson

Text: Defendant Maurice Simpson was convicted of one count of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, MCL 750.520b(1)(f); MSA 28.788(2)(1)(f), at a bench trial before Allegan Circuit Judge George R. Corsiglia on February 27, 1979. On May 18, 1979, Judge Corsiglia sentenced defendant to seven and one-half to fifteen years imprisonment. The victim is the defendant's daughter, who was twenty years old at the time of the trial. She testified that, on the night of August 27, 1978, she awoke to find defendant standing in the bedroom of her apartment. When defendant refused to leave at the victim's request, she attempted to leave to go see her mother. The victim testified that when she got up to leave, she and her father began to wrestle or struggle, while she screamed and her father attempted to cover her mouth. At the defendant's direction, they left the complainant's apartment and got into her car. Defendant got into the driver's seat, pushing the complainant to the passenger side and locking the doors, while holding onto her arm. The complainant said she wanted to go see her mother, but defendant told her no, that he wanted to talk first. He then drove to a vacant field on property owned by the complainant's grandmother. When they reached the field, the defendant threw the victim to the ground and removed her clothing. She testified that she struggled with the defendant, attempting to get away from him. At this point, defendant told the complainant that she was more of a wife to him and that she loved him, which the complainant denied. Defendant then had sexual intercourse with the complainant. He then got up, and the complainant told him that she wanted to go home, so he picked up her clothes and gave them to her. They dressed, and got back into the car. Complainant testified that she was upset and screaming and crying, and defendant told her that she could not go home until she calmed down. Defendant then drove the complainant to her mother's house, where defendant also lived. She spoke to her mother for a few minutes, and then defendant spoke to his wife. The complainant's mother then drove with her back to her apartment, where complainant showered, took some aspirin, and went to bed. The complainant testified that she was still upset and crying. She did not tell her mother what happened because she presumed she knew already from having spoken to her father. The complainant testified that she did not report the incident to the police until about a week later, [6] stating that she never really gave it too much thought. The complainant did not claim to have suffered any bodily injury during the assault. The next witness for the prosecution was the complainant's mother, and defendant's wife, Martha Simpson. Before she testified, defense counsel objected on the basis of the spousal privilege statute, MCL 600.2162; MSA 27A.2162. [7] The prosecutor responded that he was relying on the statutory exception for a crime committed against the child of either or both spouses. Defense counsel maintained that this exception applied only when the child was a minor. The trial court agreed with the prosecutor that the exception applied to this case even though the complainant was twenty years old, and ruled that the witness could testify to her observations but could not testify to any communication between herself and her husband that would fall within the confidential communications privilege to which the exception for a crime committed against a child is not applicable. The victim's mother testified that when her daughter arrived at the house, she was crying and she was full of sand.... She testified that the complainant was still crying when they arrived back at her apartment. The complainant's mother spent the rest of the night at her daughter's apartment. After the people rested, defense counsel moved for a directed verdict on the ground that the prosecutor had not sufficiently proved the element of mental anguish. He argued that, in order to preserve the constitutionality of the statute, the mental suffering must be greater than that normally incidental to a forcible sexual assault, and that this standard had not been satisfied by the prosecutor's proofs. The court denied the motion, stating: I think the testimony here shows that she was trying to get away. She testified that she was striking him, he was holding her down, she was screaming and hollering at the time these things were occurring. I think that is evidence of mental anguish. Further, one other factor that is difficult to just bury our heads in the sand about is the father-daughter relationship. I think that can be taken into consideration, whether there might be mental anguish, whether you might report it to the police or whether it might be embarrassing to tell your mother. I am satisfied at least at this point that there is sufficient evidence at this time as to all of the elements for criminal sexual conduct in the first degree presented by the prosecution. Defendant was the only witness to testify for the defense. Before defendant testified, defense counsel made a brief opening statement in which he stated that an important factor in this case was the mental state of the complainant. He contended that the defense proofs would show that there was an ongoing relationship between the complainant and her father, that the complainant had sexually tantalized or enticed her father in the past, that the complainant had had sexual conduct with her father in the past, and that it was not necessarily of a forcible type. He contended that this relationship affected how the complainant reacted to the incident in question, and suggested that it was unlikely that she suffered mental anguish at the time the act of intercourse finally occurred. Defendant testified to several incidents of sexual contact between him and his daughter in the months preceding the incident in question. In defendant's opinion, the complainant had tantalized him and wanted to have sex with him. Regarding the incident for which he was charged, defendant testified that he did not believe there was any great mental anguish or pain or anything else involved. My feeling was that she protested just enough so that she could maintain  so she could say she protested and she could maintain a good girl image, which she is a nice, young lady. [8] Defendant testified that when they got into the car, the complainant was crying a little bit, and when she did not calm down, he offered to take her to the hospital and offered to let her drop him off at the jail. Defendant stated that it was obvious to him, just like so many childhood experiences, that it was over and that she might have been whimpering a trifle about it, but it wasn't that bad and she just wanted to go home and see her mother, which I think is normal for a girl after something like this happens, to go home and see her mother. Defendant testified that he saw the complainant again on the following Friday night and she was just as contented and happy as could be. He apologized to her, and told her that the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her. He stated that at the time of the trial he loved his daughter and thought the world of her, and believed that she loved him as well, but that she had stayed away from him after the incident was reported and went along with the officers to protect the image of a decent young lady. In closing argument, the prosecutor contended that the element of mental anguish had been shown: [The complainant] has described certain circumstances from which the Court, as the trier of fact, may find that there was mental anguish at the time of the sexual intercourse that she suffered, the fact that she was crying, the fact that she testified that she struggled, she kicked, she struck the defendant; the fact that the defendant is in fact the natural father of this young woman all points to the fact, and I think the inference that the trier of fact may draw is that she was suffering at the time that the defendant was having an act of actual sexual intercourse with her. Defense counsel argued that the element of mental anguish required for first-degree CSC had not been shown. In rebuttal, the prosecutor once again stressed the father-daughter relationship, and suggested that the societal taboo associated with incest would cause a victim of incest to experience mental anguish and suffer a great deal, including feelings of guilt. The trial court found the defendant guilty as charged, and in its findings of fact and conclusions of law stated: The Court believes the testimony of Ruth. She made it clear to me, or to any reasonable person and in no uncertain terms that she wanted to go over to her mother's, that he took her out in the country, that he used force, he pushed her down, he held her down, that she was screaming and hollering, and that she was striking him, as she said, resisting him; he forced himself on her and had sexual intercourse. Further the Court is satisfied that she suffered personal injury as set forth by the statute, by means as defined in the statute; or among other things, the mental anguish. The statute defines mental anguish which means suffering which occurred at the time of the act. I am satisfied that she was suffering at the time this act occurred. This is demonstrated by her crying, her screaming, her hollering; that she was suffering in that apartment mental anguish of a high degree, or mental suffering in this case because of what this defendant was forcing upon her. The Court of Appeals affirmed defendant's conviction. People v Simpson, 132 Mich App 259; 347 NW2d 215 (1984). We granted leave to appeal, directing the parties to include among the issues to be briefed, the following: (1) was there sufficient evidence of mental anguish to support the conviction for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and (2) did the trial court err by allowing defendant's wife to testify as a prosecution witness. 419 Mich 922 (1984).