COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: Judges Bray, Clements and Senior Judge Hodges
Argued at Chesapeake, Virginia
BURNEST GRIFFIN, III
MEMORANDUM OPINION * BY
v. Record No. 0855-99-1 JUDGE WILLIAM H. HODGES
OCTOBER 17, 2000
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF NORFOLK
Everett A. Martin, Jr., Judge
J. Barry McCracken (Richard A. Monteith, on
brief), for appellant.
Amy L. Marshall, Assistant Attorney General
(Mark L. Earley, Attorney General; Rick R.
Linker, Assistant Attorney General, on
brief), for appellee.
Burnest Griffin, appellant, appeals his convictions wherein
his three-year-old daughter, A.G., was the victim: two counts of
aggravated sexual battery and two counts of taking indecent
liberties while in a custodial relationship. Appellant contends
that he was convicted on the basis of his uncorroborated
confession and, therefore, his convictions should be reversed.
For the following reasons, we agree and reverse and dismiss
appellant's convictions involving A.G.
An accused cannot be convicted solely on his extrajudicial
admission or confession. See Watkins v. Commonwealth, 238 Va.
* Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, recodifying Code
§ 17-116.010, this opinion is not designated for publication.
341, 348, 385 S.E.2d 50, 54 (1989); Hamm v. Commonwealth, 16 Va.
App. 150, 157, 428 S.E.2d 517, 522 (1993). The corpus delicti
must be corroborated. See Watkins, 238 Va. at 348, 385 S.E.2d at
54. However, when "the commission of the crime has been fully
confessed by the accused, only slight corroborative evidence is
necessary to establish the corpus delicti." Clozza v.
Commonwealth, 228 Va. 124, 133, 321 S.E.2d 273, 279 (1984). "'The
purpose of the corroboration rule is to reduce the possibility of
punishing a person for a crime which was never, in fact,
committed.'" Jefferson v. Commonwealth, 6 Va. App. 421, 424, 369
S.E.2d 212, 214 (1988) (citation omitted).
Applying these principles, we conclude that although
appellant confessed to the crimes involving A.G., the facts
constituting the corpus delicti of aggravated sexual battery and
indecent liberties were not supported by the necessary "slight
corroborative evidence."
Appellant acknowledged that he masturbated before he bathed
A.G. Appellant admitted that he became sexually aroused when he
touched A.G.'s private parts while bathing her and while rubbing
oil across her back and buttocks. Appellant confessed that he
fondled A.G.'s chest and buttocks on more than one occasion.
Appellant also confessed to crimes against five-year-old L.L.
L.L. testified at trial and described what appellant did to her,
providing corroborative evidence of appellant's confession of the
crimes against her. L.L. testified that A.G. was in the house and
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came upstairs during one such incident. Appellant admitted that
A.G. came upstairs during the incident involving L.L., but that he
instructed her to go back downstairs. However, no evidence was
presented that supports the corpus delicti of aggravated sexual
battery and taking indecent liberties with A.G. The evidence only
showed that appellant was in charge of A.G. and had the
opportunity to commit the crimes against her. These factors do
not constitute "slight corroborative evidence."
Therefore, the trial court erred by convicting appellant of
the charges involving A.G. We reverse those convictions and
dismiss the corresponding indictments.
Reversed and dismissed.
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Burnest Griffin, III v. Commonwealth of Virginia
Combined Opinion