Robert Proffitt v. Commonwealth of Kentucky ( 2020 )

IMPORTANT NOTICE
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED OPINION
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PROMULGATED BY THE SUPREME COURT, CR 76.28(4)(C),
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RENDERED: OCTOBER 29,2020
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
Supreme Court of Kentucky
2019-SC-0173-MR
ROBERT PROFFITT APPELLANT
ON APPEAL FROM LAUREL CIRCUIT COURT
V. HONORABLE GREGORY ALLEN LAY, JUDGE
NO. 17-CR-00315
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY APPELLEE
MEMORANDUM OPINION OF THE COURT
AFFIRMING
A circuit court jury convicted Robert Proffitt of two counts of first-degree
rape and fixed punishment at twenty years’ confinement on each count to run
consecutively. Proffitt now appeals from the resulting judgment,1 arguing that
the trial court erred by refusing to grant his motion for directed verdict of
acquittal on the two rape charges because the evidence presented at trial was
insufficient for a reasonable jury to have convicted him. Finding that the trial
court did not err in its ruling, we affirm the judgment.
I. BACKGROUND
The grand jury indicted Proffitt on four counts of first-degree rape (victim
under 12 years old) and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse (victim under
1 Ky. Const. § 110(2)(b).0
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12 years old), all perpetrated against the same female victim, 7-10-year-old
J.J., between March 2015 and August 2017.
At trial, the Commonwealth introduced evidence aiming to prove all six
counts of the indictment. At the close of the Commonwealth’s case-in-chief,
Proffitt moved for a directed verdict of acquittal on all counts. The trial court
granted that motion, in part, directing a verdict of acquittal on two counts of
rape and one count of sexual abuse. The trial then proceeded on the remaining
charges: two counts of first-degree rape and one count of first-degree sexual
abuse.
At the close of all the evidence, Proffitt renewed his motion for a directed
verdict on the remaining counts, but the trial court denied it. The trial court
then instructed the jury on two counts of first-degree rape and one count of
first-degree sexual abuse. The jury convicted Proffitt of the rape charges and
acquitted him of sexual abuse. The jury recommended two consecutive 20-
year sentences for the rape convictions, and the trial court entered judgment
accordingly.
II. ANALYSIS
Proffitt’s sole issue in this appeal is whether the trial court erred by
failing to direct a verdict of acquittal on all the rape charges. Essentially, his
argument can be summarized this way: because of his testimony about his own
physical weakness and tremor caused by a stroke he suffered in the 1980s and
his self-described erectile dysfunction caused by medication, a reasonable jury
could not have convicted him of rape on the strength of evidence coming
principally from the inconsistent testimony of the then-eleven-year-old J.J. and
her younger playmate, K.W.
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A. Standard of Review.
We approach Proffitt’s issue with the familiar rule of Commonwealth v.
Benham firmly in mind:
On motion for directed verdict, the trial court must draw all fair and
reasonable inferences from the evidence in favor of the Commonwealth. 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. For the purpose of ruling on the motion, the trial court
must assume that the evidence for the Commonwealth is true but
reserving to the jury questions as to the credibility and weight to be given
to such testimony.2
Questions about the credibility and weight to be given to any witness’s
testimony must be left for the jury to decide.3 “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.”4
B. The Evidence as a Whole Supports Submission of the Case to the
Jury.
Evidence at trial established that Proffitt, a man in his late 60s who
exhibited at trial a noticeable tremor and speech disorder, lived in a trailer
located “up the hill” and within shouting distance of J.J.’s home where she
lived with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend, who is Proffitt’s son. J.J.
was friends with Proffitt’s young grandson, A., who lived with Proffitt and his
wife. And J.J. and A. were nearly constant companions.
2 816 S.W.2d 186, 187 (Ky. 1991).
3 Id.
4 Id. (citing Commonwealth v. Sawhill, 660 S.W.2d 3 (Ky. 1983)).
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J.J. testified that Proffitt put his penis into her vagina on multiple
occasions. But she also testified about two distinct instances of sexual
intercourse during the relevant times charged in the indictment: the first
occurred “in or around” Proffitt’s truck when K.W., her friend, was nearby, and
the second occurred in the bathroom of Proffitt’s trailer.
According to the Commonwealth’s evidence, on the first-described
occasion, J.J. and her friend, K.W. were outside playing in the area between
her home and Proffitt’s trailer when Proffitt beckoned them to come up the hill.
While beside Proffitt’s truck, Proffitt pulled J.J.’s shorts down and put his penis
“in [her] vagina” for about a minute. He asked her if she liked it, and she
responded “yes” because she was afraid of making him mad. K.W. ran away
when Proffitt started doing this to J.J.
On the second-described occasion, J.J., while outside playing with A.,
went inside Proffitt’s trailer to use the bathroom. She found Proffitt in the
bathroom. When he exited, she entered. While she was in the bathroom,
Proffitt reentered the bathroom and instructed her to pull down her pants. He
“shoved his penis in [her].” This incident lasted about a minute, and when it
was over, she went back outside to play.
It was K.W. who informed a teacher that J.J. had been raped. The
teacher alerted authorities. The Department of Community Based Services
investigated as did the Kentucky State Police and the Cumberland Valley Child
Advocacy Center.
Dr. Eddie Perkins, a medical doctor who is board certified in obstetrics
and gynecology, testified as a witness for the Commonwealth. Dr. Perkins
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performed a physical examination of J.J. at the insistence of the child advocacy
center. He told the jury that based upon the physical examination he
conducted, J.J.’s hymen showed tissue damage most likely caused by the
insertion of some object that could have been a human penis. On cross-
examination, Dr. Perkins acknowledged other objects inserted into the vagina
or other external forces such as a sports injury could also have caused this
damage to the hymen, but the findings on physical examination were
consistent with the disclosure made by J.J. and there were no other external
factors present in J.J.’s history.
Testifying in his own defense, Proffitt denied that he raped J.J. He
suggested that J.J. was lying because he stopped giving her mother money.
Proffitt also asserted at trial that he was variously disabled by the debilitating
effects of a stroke and incapable of obtaining an erection because of
medications he was taking at the time. The Commonwealth countered that
Proffitt offered no medical evidence to the jury to confirm that he was incapable
of performing the physical acts as alleged by the prosecution. The
Commonwealth argues now, as it did at trial, that Proffitt’s physical ability to
commit the acts alleged was a question for the jury to decide. We agree.
The Commonwealth cites to us Commonwealth v. Cox5 in which the
defendant was convicted at trial of five counts of rape, but the judgment of
conviction was reversed by the Court of Appeals, which held that the trial court
should have directed a verdict of acquittal. Reversing the Court of Appeals and
5 837 S.W.2d 898 (Ky. 1992).
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reinstating the judgment, we acknowledged the presence in the record of
inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony and prior statements made to treating
and examining physicians. But we held that, “The record in the instant
case . . . reveals no behavior of the prosecutrix that is inconsistent with the
rules of ‘ordinary behavior,’ considering the alleged sexual abuse.”6 “[I]t is
within the purview of the jury,” we wrote, “to determine the credibility and
weight of her testimony.”7
The Cox court cited with approval Bussey v. Commonwealth8 in which we
stated:
While appellant insists that no reasonable juror could have believed the
story told by the victim, we believe otherwise. We acknowledge the
improbability of some of the details of the victim's version of the story,
but the jury could have reasonably concluded that despite the
improbability of every detail related by the victim, an act of sexual abuse
occurred. In other words, to survive a motion for directed verdict, it is not
necessary that every fact related by the victim be reasonable and
probable. It is sufficient if the victim's testimony taken as a whole could
induce a reasonable belief by the jury that the crime occurred.9
We find the approach taken by the Court in Cox and Bussey applicable
to our consideration here. Based on all the evidence presented at trial, we
conclude that despite the inconsistencies in the proof it would not be clearly
unreasonable for a jury to find Proffitt guilty of two counts of first-degree rape.
The trial court did not err when it denied his motion for a directed verdict of
acquittal and properly submitted the case to the jury.
6 Id. at 900.
7 Id.
8 797 S.W.2d 483 (Ky. 1990).
9 Id. at 484.
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 The judgment is affirmed.
All sitting. All concur.
COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT:
Karen Shuff Maurer
Assistant Public Advocate
COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE:
Daniel Jay Cameron
Attorney General of Kentucky
James Patrick Judge
Assistant Attorney General
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