State v. DeJesus, ___ N.C. App. ___, 827 S.E.2d 744 (May. 7, 2019)

In this child sexual assault case, there was substantial independent evidence to support the trustworthiness of the defendant’s extrajudicial confession that he engaged in vaginal intercourse with the victim on at least three occasions and therefore the corpus delicti rule was satisfied. The defendant challenged the trial court’s denial of his motion to dismiss two of his three statutory rape charges, which arose following the defendant’s confession that he had sex with the victim on three separate occasions. The defendant recognized that there was “confirmatory circumstance” to support one count of statutory rape because the victim became pregnant with the defendant’s child. However, he asserted that there was no evidence corroborating the two other charges other than his extrajudicial confession. The court disagreed, finding that there was substantial independent evidence establishing the trustworthiness of his confession that he engaged in vaginal intercourse with the victim on at least three separate occasions. Specifically, the victim’s pregnancy, together with evidence of the defendant’s opportunity to commit the crimes and the circumstances surrounding his statement to detectives provide sufficient corroboration “to engender a belief in the overall truth of Defendant’s confession.” The court began by noting that here there is no argument that the defendant’s confession was produced by deception or coercion. Additionally, in his confession he admitted that he engaged in intercourse with the victim on at least three occasions “that he could account for,” suggesting his appreciation and understanding of the importance of the accuracy of his statements. The trustworthiness of the confession was further reinforced by his ample opportunity to commit the crimes given that he was living in the victim’s home during the relevant period. Finally, and most significantly, the undisputed fact that the defendant fathered the victim’s child unequivocally corroborated his statement that he had engaged in vaginal intercourse with her. Thus, strong corroboration of the confession sufficiently establishes the trustworthiness of the concurrent statement regarding the number of instances that he had sexual intercourse with the victim.