Flowers v. State
| Docket Number: | 2009-KA-00387-SCT | |
| Supreme Court: | Opinion Link Opinion Date: 05-27-2010 Opinion Author: Lamar, J. Holding: Reversed |
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| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Statutory rape - Plain error - M.R.A.P. 28(a)(3) - Defective indictment - Section 97-3-65(6) Judge(s) Concurring: Waller, C.J., Carlson and Graves, P.JJ., Dickinson, Randolph, Kitchens, Chandler and Pierce, JJ. Procedural History: Jury Trial Nature of the Case: CRIMINAL - FELONY |
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| Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 11-21-2007 Appealed from: LEFLORE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT Judge: Jannie M. Lewis Disposition: Flowers was convicted of one count of statutory rape of a seven-year old boy and sentenced to thirty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. District Attorney: Willie Dewayne Richardson Case Number: CR 2006-0218CICR |
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| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | Brief(s) Available: | ||
| Appellant: | Raphael Flowers |
BENJAMIN A. SUBER, LESLIE S. LEE |
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| Appellee: | State of Mississippi | OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL: STEPHANIE B. WOOD | ||
Synopsis provided by:  If you are interested in subscribing to the weekly synopses of all Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals hand downs please contact Tammy Upton in the MLI Press office. |
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| Topic: | Statutory rape - Plain error - M.R.A.P. 28(a)(3) - Defective indictment - Section 97-3-65(6) |
| Summary of the Facts: | Raphael Flowers was convicted of statutory rape of a seven-year-old boy and sentenced to thirty years. He appeals. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | Flowers did not object at trial, nor did he challenge on appeal, his indictment for statutory rape. However, M.R.A.P. 28(a)(3) provides that the Court may notice a plain error not identified or distinctly specified. At the time of the offense, section 97-3-65(6) provided that sexual intercourse shall mean a joining of the sexual organs of a male and female human being in which the penis of the male is inserted into the vagina of the female. The Legislature later amended the statute also include the penetration of the sexual organs of a male or female human being in which the penis or an object is inserted into the genitals, anus or perineum of a male or female. Apparently, at trial, both the State and Flowers proceeded under the erroneous assumption that the amended version applied. However, it is fundamental that the statute in effect at the time an offense is committed is the one that must control the prosecution of the offense. Flowers’s due-process rights were disregarded and the Ex Post Facto Clause was violated when he was convicted and sentenced for the crime of statutory rape, as his alleged misconduct did not fall under the definition of statutory rape in effect at the time of the offense in 2006. To the contrary, Count I of the indictment charged that Flowers had “sexual intercourse with . . . a male child.” The indictment failed to charge a crime under the statutory rape statute in effect at the time of the offense and is therefore, fatally defective. Flowers’s conviction and sentence for statutory rape is reversed and Flowers is remanded to the custody of the Sheriff of Leflore County to await action of the grand jury. |
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