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APPEAL
FROM THE SALINE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT [NO. 63CR-17-335],
HONORABLE GRISHAM PHILLIPS, JUDGE
Terry
Goodwin Jones, for appellant.
Leslie
Rutledge, Atty Gen., by: Rachel Kemp, Senior Asst Atty
Gen., for appellee.
OPINION
PHILLIP
T. WHITEAKER, Judge.
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Bruce
Wayne Devries was convicted by a Saline County jury of one
count of rape; one count of sexual assault; three counts of
video voyeurism; and thirty-two counts of distributing,
possessing, or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit
conduct involving a child. He was sentenced to forty years
imprisonment for rape, twenty years imprisonment for sexual
assault, six years imprisonment on each count of video
voyeurism, and ten years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine on
each of the thirty-two counts of distributing, possessing, or
viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving
a child. He appeals his convictions, challenging the
sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions and
arguing that the trial court erred in allowing one of the
victims to testify. We affirm.
I.
Sufficiency of the Evidence
Devriess first argument is a challenge to the sufficiency of
the evidence of each of his convictions.[1] When reviewing a
challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, this court
assesses the evidence in the light most favorable to the
State and considers only the evidence that supports the
verdict. Id. We test the sufficiency of the evidence
to determine whether the verdict is supported by substantial
evidence, direct or circumstantial. Wyles v. State,
368 Ark. 646, 249 S.W.3d 782 (2007); Boyd v. State,
2016 Ark.App. 407, 500 S.W.3d 772. Substantial evidence is
evidence that is of sufficient force and character that will,
with reasonable certainty, compel a conclusion one way or the
other, without resorting to speculation or conjecture.
Hinton v. State, 2015 Ark. 479, 477 S.W.3d 517. With
these standards in mind, we consider the evidence presented
to the jury relating to each conviction.
A.
Rape and Sexual Assault
Devriess
first challenge is to the sufficiency of the evidence to
support his rape and sexual-assault
convictions.[2] He asserts that these crimes involved
the same victim, CC,[3] his now nineteen-year-old
stepdaughter. At trial, CC testified that Devries began
sexually abusing her when she was in fifth grade while they
lived in Kansas, it lasted through several interstate moves,
and it continued while they were living in Arkansas. CC
testified that the abuse included inappropriate touching and
digital penetration. CC admitted that she had originally
accused her biological father of being her abuser instead of
Devries, but she did so only because she was afraid of
Devries. She reported that Devries had threatened that she
would be sent to foster care away from her family and that he
would hurt her mother if she told what had happened between
them.
Devries argues that this evidence was insufficient to convict
him of either rape or sexual assault. He claims that because
CC had previously accused her biological father of abusing
her and then subsequently changed her story to identify him
as the abuser, she cannot be believed. While he admits that a
rape victims testimony alone is sufficient to support a rape
conviction, he claims CCs credibility was
"nonexistent"
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and therefore cannot support a conviction. We ...