FOR PUBLICATION
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE:
JERRY T. DROOK KAREN M. FREEMAN-WILSON
Indianapolis, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
KOSTAS A. POULAKIDAS
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
FRANK WISNESKEY, )
)
Appellant-Defendant, )
)
vs. ) No. 49A02-0004-CR-221
)
STATE OF INDIANA, )
)
Appellee-Plaintiff. )
APPEAL FROM THE MARION SUPERIOR COURT
CRIMINAL DIVISION, ROOM 4
The Honorable Diane Marger Moore, Master Commissioner
Cause No. 49G04-9906-CF-114845
October 13, 2000
OPINION - FOR PUBLICATION
RILEY, Judge
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellant-Defendant, Frank Wisneskey (Wisneskey), appeals his conviction of child molesting, a Class A
felony, Ind. Code § 35-42-4-3.
We affirm.
ISSUE
Wisneskey raises one issue on appeal, which we restate as follows: whether the
State presented sufficient evidence to convict him of child molesting.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The facts most favorable to the judgment are as follows. On June
4, 1999, T.L., age 12, went to Wisneskey's house with two friends to
do housework. After T.L. helped pick up trash outside, Wisneskey told him
to come inside the house. Once inside the house, Wisneskey locked the
door. When T.L. tried to leave the house, Wisneskey grabbed him and
pulled off his shorts. Wisneskey held T.L.s face down on a couch
and pulled off T.L.s underwear, mounted him and stuck his penis in T.L.s
butt. (R. 99). T.L. testified that this attack hurt him and
lasted three to five minutes.
Wisneskey was charged with child molesting, as a Class A felony, and confinement,
as a Class D felony. On November 9, 1999, Wisneskey was convicted
of child molesting and found not guilty of confinement at a bench trial.
On January 14, 2000, the trial court sentenced Wisneskey to thirty (30)
years in the Department of Correction.
DISCUSSION AND DECISION
Wisneskey argues that the State failed to present sufficient evidence to sustain his
conviction for child molesting, a Class A felony, Ind. Code § 35-42-4-3.
In reviewing claims of insufficient evidence, our court neither reweighs the evidence nor
judges the credibility of witnesses. Elliott v. State, 690 N.E.2d 774, 776
(Ind. Ct. App. 1998). We consider only the evidence supporting the judgment
and all the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom. Id. If each element
of the crime is supported by substantial evidence, we will affirm. Id.
If there is substantial evidence of probative value from which a trier
of fact could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, we will affirm the
conviction. Newman v. State, 677 N.E.2d 590, 593 (Ind. Ct. App. 1997)(citing
Grant v. State, 668 N.E.2d 254, 255 (Ind. 1996)). Further, the uncorroborated
testimony of a child victim is sufficient to support a conviction of child
molesting. Link v. State, 648 N.E.2d 709, 713 (Ind. Ct. App. 1995).
Wisneskey was convicted of child molesting under Ind. Code § 35-42-4-3(a), which provides
as follows:
(a) A person who, with a child under fourteen (14) years of age,
performs or submits to sexual intercourse or deviate sexual conduct commits child molesting,
a Class B felony. However, the offense is a Class A felony
if:
(1) it is committed by a person at least twenty-one (21) years of
age;
Ind. Code § 35-41-1-9 defines "Deviate sexual conduct" as an act involving:
(1) a sex organ of one person and the mouth or anus of
another person; or (2) the penetration of the sex organ or anus of
a person by an object. Here, Wisneskey, age 70, was accused and
convicted of performing deviate sexual conduct on T.L., age 12. The act
involved the sex organ of Wisneskey and the anus of T.L.
Although evidence of the penetration of a childs anus with a defendants penis
will establish deviate sexual conduct, the State is not required to introduce evidence
of penetration. Crabtree v. State, 547 N.E.2d 286, 291 (Ind. Ct. App.
1989). Instead, the State need only establish that the defendant committed a
sex act with his penis involving the childs anus. See Id., see
also Ind. Code § 35-41-1-9(1) and Downey v. State, 726 N.E.2d 794, 798
(Ind. Ct. App. 2000), rehg denied, trans. denied. Further, our supreme court
has noted that in child molestation cases a detailed anatomical description by the
victim is unnecessary and undesirable. Spurlock v. State, 675 N.E.2d 312, 315
(Ind. 1996). The court reasoned that many people are unable to precisely
describe anatomical features and further, that such a requirement would subject victims to
unwarranted questioning and cross-examination. Id. Thus, despite a childs unfamiliarity with
anatomical terms and limited sexual vocabulary, a conviction for child molesting may rest
solely upon the uncorroborated testimony of the child. Butcher v. State, 627
N.E.2d 855, 862 (Ind. Ct. App. 1994).
On appeal, Wisneskey argues that the State failed to prove that he performed
an act that involved T.L.s anus, a necessary element of the crime.
Therefore, Wisneskey concludes that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction of
child molesting. In support of his position, Wisneskey relies on
Downey, 726
N.E.2d 794. In Downey, the defendant was convicted of child molesting as
a Class A felony. Id. at 796. At trial, the victim
testified that Downey had rubbed his penis up and down between her butt
cheeks. Id. at 797. There was also testimony from a police
detective and a child sexual abuse counselor that Downey admitted to them that
he had rubbed his penis between the childs butt cheeks and was humping
her, but that he did not penetrate her. Id. Because there
was evidence of contact with only the victims buttocks, and not with her
anus, another panel of this court concluded that there was insufficient evidence to
convict Downey.
Relying on
Downey, Wisneskey argues that because T.L. did not use the term
anus, the State did not satisfy its burden that Wisneskey committed a sex
act involving his penis and T.L.s anus. We disagree and conclude that
Downey is not controlling here as the facts of this case differ from
Downey.
T.L. testified that Wisneskey stuck his private in [T.L.s] butt. (R. 99).
T.L. explained that Wisneskeys private is [t]he thing he pees out of.
Id. T.L. also testified that this act hurt him and lasted
three to five minutes. This evidence leads to the reasonable inference that
Wisneskey inserted his penis in T.L.s anus causing him pain. Logically, T.L.
could not have been strictly referring to his buttocks when testifying about his
butt, as asserted by Wisneskey, because the buttocks contain no orifice to stick
a penis in.
See footnote
Furthermore, T.L.s testimony that it hurt when Wisneskey stuck
his penis in his butt, can reasonably lead to the inference that the
pain was the result of the child being sodomized. Thus, the evidence
is sufficient to prove that Wisneskey committed an act involving his penis and
T.L.s anus.
CONCLUSION
Consequently, we conclude that the State presented sufficient evidence to prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that Wisneskey committed child molesting by performing deviate sexual conduct on
a twelve year old child.
Affirmed.
BARNES, J., and BAILEY, J., concur.
Footnote:
As discussed in the
Downey decision, the buttocks is defined as
the prominence formed by the gluteal muscles[Stedmans Medical Dictionary 95 (4th ed. 1976).]
or the two rounded prominences separated by a median cleft that form the
lower part of the back
and consist largely of the gluteus muscles.
Id. at 797 citing Websters Third New International Dictionary 305 (1976).