## Facts

- In February 1986, the victim, a close friend of the Davis family who referred to Dewey C. Davis as “Uncle Dewey,” went to Dewey’s mobile home to pick up her laundry.
- While the victim was in the home, Dewey’s adult son, Gerald Davis, followed her into the laundry room, asked her to go to his bedroom, and tried to force her when she refused.
- The victim ran to the living room and pleaded with Dewey to help her; Dewey, who had been drinking, told her he could not help.
- The victim tried to keep Dewey positioned between herself and Gerald, but Dewey moved out of the way, and Gerald dragged the victim down the hall into a bedroom.
- Dewey followed Gerald and the victim into the bedroom and lay on the bed next to the victim while Gerald raped her.
- During the assault, the victim again begged Dewey for help; Dewey patted her hand and told her not to worry.
- A jury convicted Gerald as a principal in the first degree for the sexual assault and convicted Dewey of second-degree sexual assault as a principal in the second degree (aider and abettor). The jury also convicted Dewey of abduction and first-degree sexual abuse.
- Dewey appealed, arguing he was merely a bystander and that the evidence was insufficient to show he aided or encouraged the sexual assault.
- On appeal, the State conceded Dewey’s abduction and first-degree sexual abuse convictions could not stand under the court’s earlier decision in Gerald Davis’s case.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the State, was sufficient for a rational jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Dewey Davis aided, abetted, assisted, or encouraged Gerald Davis’s second-degree sexual assault.
2. Whether Dewey Davis’s abduction and first-degree sexual abuse convictions, dependent on Gerald Davis’s liability, had to be set aside in light of the court’s prior ruling involving Gerald.

## Decision

- The court affirmed Dewey Davis’s conviction for second-degree sexual assault as a principal in the second degree.
- The court set aside Dewey’s abduction and first-degree sexual abuse convictions based on the State’s concession and the controlling earlier decision involving Gerald Davis.
- Applying the sufficiency-of-the-evidence standard, the court held the proof was not manifestly inadequate and supported the jury’s finding that Dewey’s conduct went beyond mere presence.
- The court relied on the combined force of Dewey’s actions and omissions: refusing the victim’s request for help, moving aside so Gerald could take her, following them into the bedroom, remaining physically next to the victim during the rape, and responding to the victim’s pleas with reassurance rather than intervention—conduct a jury could treat as assistance and encouragement.

## Legal Principles

- A guilty verdict will not be overturned for insufficient evidence if the State’s evidence, taken in the light most favorable to the prosecution, could convince impartial minds of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; reversal is reserved for situations where the evidence is manifestly inadequate and results in injustice.
- A person present at the scene may be punished as a principal in the second degree if the person aids, abets, assists, or encourages the crime; the jury may infer such participation from conduct and surrounding circumstances.
- Mere presence, without more, does not establish accomplice liability, but actions that facilitate the offense or provide support to the principal can satisfy aiding-and-abetting requirements even if the defendant does not personally perform the criminal act.
- When certain convictions rest entirely on derivative liability tied to another defendant’s invalidated convictions, the dependent convictions must also be set aside.

## Conclusion

State v. Davis held that a jury could reasonably find Dewey Davis guilty as a principal in the second degree to his son’s sexual assault based on Dewey’s refusal to help the victim, his physical conduct that allowed the assault to proceed, and his behavior during the rape that a factfinder could treat as support for the perpetrator; however, the court set aside Dewey’s abduction and first-degree sexual abuse convictions because those counts could not stand after the court’s earlier ruling in Gerald Davis’s case.


State v. Davis, 388 S.E.2d 508 (1989)