Compton v. State

682 S.W.3d 348

2023 Ark. App. 587

Jiggs Dean COMPTON, Appellant

v.STATE of Arkansas, Appellee

No. CR-22-458

Court of Appeals of Arkansas, DIVISION III.

Opinion Delivered December 13, 2023

APPEAL FROM THE NEWTON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 51CR-

21-75], HONORABLE JOHN R. PUTMAN, JUDGE

The Law Office of Geoffrey D. Kearney, PLLC, by: Geoffrey D. Kearney, for appellant.

Tim Griffin, Att’y Gen., by: Christian Harris, Ass’t Att’y Gen., for appellee.

STEPHANIE POTTER BARRETT, Judge

₁Jiggs Dean Compton was convicted by a Newton County Circuit Court jury of one count of second-degree sexual assault and was sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment. His sentence was enhanced by ten years for committing the offense in the presence of a child, and the sentences were to be served consecutively. On appeal, Compton argues that the circuit court erred in three ways: (1) by failing to dismiss the jury pool due to a violation of Arkansas Code Annotated section 16-33-302; (2) by making several evidentiary-ruling errors that prejudiced him; and (3) in failing to grant his directed-verdict motion. We affirm.

The victim in this case, MC1, was eleven in July 2021 when she, her mother, and her two younger brothers, MC2 and MC3, spent the night at Compton’s house after spending the day at Greg Zabawa’s house. MC1 and her brothers slept in Compton’s bed, which is where MC1 was sexually assaulted.

₂At trial, Sergeant Jackie Stinnett of the Arkansas State Police testified that he investigated the allegations against Compton, and he interviewed Compton as a part of his investigation. That interview, which was recorded, was played for the jury; in it, Compton confirmed that Michelle Lawson and her three minor children were at his residence on the night in question, but he denied that anything improper occurred between him and MC1 on that night. Compton further denied that he locked the doors of the cabin that night while he was inside or that Michelle Lawson, who was outside on the front porch, had to beat on the door for him to let her inside. He even denied that the children slept in the bed that night, telling Sergeant Stinnett that there was only one bed in the house, and he was the only person who slept in it. When asked why MC1 would accuse him of touching her improperly, Compton said that Lawson probably told her to say it to get back at him.

Michelle Lawson testified that on July 11, 2021, she, MC1, MC2, and MC3 had gone to Zabawa’s house to celebrate her daughter Rebecca’s eighteenth birthday; Compton was also there. She and her younger children left Zabawa’s house around nine or ten; they went to Compton’s house to stay the night because she had injured her foot that day and because Compton was going to help her get new tires on her truck the next day. One of Lawson’s friends, Chris McCullen, also went to Compton’s house with her to spend the night.

Lawson testified that when they arrived at Compton’s house, she went inside to make sure that there was a room where she and her children could sleep; she said that although it was a one-room cabin, it was clean, the bedroom area was curtained off from the rest of the cabin, and there was a king-size bed. Lawson got the children ready for bed and put them ₃down; then she, McCullen, and Compton sat in the living room while McCullen played the guitar. Compton began making inappropriate comments about how "hot" Lawson’s eighteen-year-old daughter was and that he would like to have sex with her; when Lawson expressed her displeasure at the remarks, Compton replied, "Well, she’s legal." Lawson excused herself to the porch; McCullen went with her and continued to play his guitar. Lawson testified that after about fifteen or twenty minutes, she tried to open the cabin door, but it was locked; she had to knock on the door and yell for Compton to open the door. She said that when Compton came to the door, he acted like he did not know who was at the door; Lawson asked him why the door was locked, and he said that he always locked his door. Lawson told him that he did not need to lock the door because her children were inside. Compton finally let her in; she checked on her children, used the bathroom, told Compton to please not lock the door because her children were inside, and went back out on the front porch, where McCullen was still playing his guitar. After another fifteen or twenty minutes, McCullen tried to go inside, but the door was again locked; Lawson said that when McCullen had to knock, she knew that the door was locked again, which upset her. Compton asked again who was there, and when McCullen told Compton that it was him, Compton acted like he did not know who was at the door. Lawson testified that she began yelling for Compton to open the door; when he did, she ran to check on her kids; MC1 was awake, and Lawson could tell from the look on her face that something had happened. Lawson, seeing that MC1 was upset and crying, asked MC1 if Compton had touched her; MC1 said yes and showed Lawson where he had touched her. Lawson ₄communicated with McCullen that Compton had "messed with" MC1; McCullen offered to beat Compton up, which Lawson declined, and they concocted a reason to leave so that they could avoid a confrontation with Compton in front of the children. She said that when they were trying to leave, Compton came outside, threw a large chunk of ice toward the truck, and began yelling at them; Lawson said that Compton knew something was off, and he was trying to figure out why she was leaving.

MC3, who was eight at the time of trial, testified that he remembered talking to Compton at Zabawa’s house on the day in question, but he did not remember what they talked about. When asked if he saw Compton in the courtroom, MC3 pointed to Compton and said he thought that was him. MC3 explained what Compton’s cabin had looked like inside, and he said that he had taken a "nap" in the bed with MC1 and MC2. MC3 admitted on cross-examination that he did not know about anything inappropriate occurring that night before they left Compton’s house but that his mother had talked to him some about the investigation of what happened between Compton and MC1.

MC2, who was ten at the time of trial, testified that he remembered going to Compton’s house last summer, but he did not remember what Compton looked like, and he did not think that he saw him in the courtroom. He said that when they went to Compton’s house, they watched television for a little while, and then he and MC1 and MC3 went to the bedroom, and their mom told them to take a nap; when he woke up, his mom told him to grab his bag and get in the car.

₅When MC1, who was twelve at the time of trial, testified, she was asked if she remembered what Compton looked like last summer; she said he had gray hair and big eyes. When asked if she saw Compton in the courtroom, MC1 said that she thought so, that she saw someone who looked similar to Compton. MC1 stated that she remembered that Compton talked to her earlier in the day at Zabawa’s house about if she had started her period yet, which she thought was odd. She said that they went to Compton’s house when it was getting dark; she could not really remember what the inside of the cabin looked like. She recalled that she went to bed in the bedroom when they got to Compton’s house, but her brothers stayed up and watched television for a while before coming to bed. MCl stated that she slept next to the wall in the bed; when she woke up, Compton had removed her socks and was rubbing her feet, and her brothers were asleep in the bed beside her. When she rolled over to try to make him stop rubbing her feet, Compton put her socks back on and asked if he could sit at the foot of the bed. He then asked MCl if he could lay his head on her stomach, which he did, and she said that he then touched her private parts, which she identified as her vagina, as well as her butt, through her jeans until her mother began banging on the door of the cabin, at which time Compton got up and opened the door. MCl said that, to her knowledge, her brothers did not wake up while Compton was touching her. MCl testified that when her mother asked her if something had happened, she told her yes; that she was upset and crying; and that her mother had her wake her brothers up, and they left. MCl also testified that she is not Compton’s spouse.

₆The State rested after MCl’s testimony, and Compton moved for a directed verdict on the charge of second-degree sexual assault, arguing that the State had failed to prove that sexual contact occurred or that there was sexual gratification. He also moved for a directed verdict on the enhancement because the offense occurred in the presence of a minor, arguing that MCl’s brothers were both asleep; therefore, they did not observe anything and could not have suffered any physical or psychological damage associated with the events. The circuit court denied the directed-verdict motion with respect to the sexual-assault charge, but it did not rule on the directed-verdict motion with respect to the enhancement, stating that that would be dealt with if there was a conviction. The defense rested without presenting any evidence and renewed the directed-verdict motion, which was again denied.

The jury retired to deliberate and returned with a verdict of guilty of second-degree sexual assault. The jury further found that Compton had committed the offense in the presence of a child. During the sentencing phase, the State placed a certified copy of Compton’s prior rape conviction in Missouri into evidence. Kevin Thomas, a deputy sheriff for Newton County, testified that Compton had registered as a sex offender in Newton County in October 2020; while he initially registered Compton as a level-four sex offender—the highest and most restrictive level available in Arkansas—due to the fact that Compton had been convicted in Missouri for the forcible rape of a nine-year-old child, the State ultimately reduced...