Glass v. State

• Citation: 671 So.2d 114
• Decision Date: 16 June 1995
• Docket Number: CR-94-0074
• Parties: Bobby L. GLASS v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 114

671 So.2d 114

Bobby L. GLASS v. STATE.

CR-94-0074.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

June 16, 1995.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 18, 1995.

Certiorari Denied Nov. 17, 1995

Alabama Supreme Court 1941839.

John S. Waddell, Birmingham, for Appellant.

Jeff Sessions, Atty. Gen., and James Prude, Asst. Atty. Gen., for Appellee.

LONG, Judge.

The appellant, Bobby L. Glass, was convicted of rape in the first degree, burglary in the first degree, and assault in the first degree. He was sentenced as a habitual offender to life in prison without parole for both the rape and the burglary convictions, and to 15 years in prison for the assault conviction. The trial court ordered that the appellant's sentences were to run concurrently. The appellant raises several issues on appeal.

The state's evidence tended to show the following. The victim and the appellant met in October 1990 and dated for a short time before the appellant and his six-year-old daughter moved into the victim's residence, a house trailer in Alabaster, in Shelby County, in December 1990. The victim testified that she had purchased the house trailer in 1988 and that she had lived there for over two years before she met the appellant. The victim and the appellant were married in April 1991; following the marriage, they continued to live in the victim's house trailer with the appellant's daughter. The victim testified that problems soon developed in the marriage, because of the appellant's alcohol and drug abuse. In July 1991, the appellant moved out of the victim's trailer and did not return for several months; during his absence, his daughter continued to live with the victim.

The victim testified that in March 1992, the appellant expressed a desire to move back in with her. She was reluctant to allow him to do so, however, and she told the appellant that if he drank anymore or used drugs after moving back in, he would have to leave and it would be the end of their relationship. The appellant returned to live in the victim's house trailer. The victim testified that in October 1992, she found some dirty hypodermic needles in the trailer, and that this discovery confirmed her suspicions, which she said had been mounting for some time, that the appellant was still using drugs. She then confronted the appellant and told him to leave, and the appellant again moved out of the trailer. The appellant's daughter continued to live with the victim. The victim testified that after the appellant moved out, he began to show up at the trailer every night, harassing her, threatening to beat her, and accusing her of seeing other men.

The victim and the appellant "signed divorce papers in open court" on December 17, 1992. Shortly after Christmas of that year, the victim took the appellant's daughter to live with the appellant's mother so the appellant would not use his daughter as a reason to continue coming to the victim's house trailer. The divorce was finalized in January 1993.

The appellant began making telephone calls to the victim in March 1993. During these calls, he would apologize to the victim for his past behavior. The victim testified that she would tell the appellant not to call her because she was afraid of him. On April 9, 1993, the appellant telephoned the victim and told her that he wanted to come by her trailer to pick up his truck, which had remained parked at the victim's trailer after the parties' divorce although the appellant's other belongings had been removed from inside the trailer. The victim agreed to allow the appellant to come by to pick up the truck; however, she told him to come by when she would not be home because she did not want to see him. The victim testified that she deliberately stayed away from her trailer on April 9 during the time she believed the appellant would be picking up his truck. However, when she returned to her residence that afternoon, the appellant's truck was still there. Shortly thereafter, a car pulled up to the trailer and the appellant got out. The victim testified that the appellant inspected his truck and became angry; he claimed that some of his things were missing. He told the victim that he should "whip her ... ass," and accused her of causing him to lose his child and "to lose everything." (R. 58.) The victim testified that the appellant then went into her house trailer, despite her protestations that he was not supposed to be there and her demands that he get out. The appellant accused the victim of being involved with another man and began opening her closets and dresser drawers in an apparent effort to find items of male clothing. According to the victim, the appellant continued to "rant and rave" for some time, after which he told the victim that "he needed some," which she interpreted as meaning that he wanted to have sexual intercourse. (R. 59.) When the victim refused, the appellant grabbed her, tore her clothing, and told her that "he was going to have some and [she] could make it easy or [she] could make it hard." (R. 60.) The victim testified that she pleaded with the appellant to stop. However, she said, he pushed her across her bed, pulled off her pants, and engaged in sexual intercourse with her. The victim testified that she begged the appellant to stop throughout the attack and that she put up as much physical resistance as she could in light of her fear that he would hit her if she resisted further. When the appellant was done, the victim pleaded with him to leave; however, he refused, telling her that his truck would not start. The appellant remained in the victim's trailer through the night.

The following morning, April 10, 1993, the victim called a wrecker service to tow the appellant's truck from her residence. She drove the appellant to the service station to which the truck was towed and, according to her testimony, "put him out." (R. 63.) The victim testified that she drove the appellant to the service station because she was willing to do anything "to get him out of [her trailer]." (R. 63.) The night of April 10, the victim went out on a date; she returned to her trailer at around 3:30 a.m. the morning of April 11. When she entered her trailer, the appellant was inside. The victim testified that the appellant was holding a steak knife and a screwdriver and that he began demanding to know how her date was. The appellant told the victim that he was going to kill her because he had warned her not to go out with another man. He began cursing and hitting her and knocked her across her bed. The victim testified that the appellant then told her that since she wanted to have sex so badly, he was going "to help [her] out." (R. 66.) She stated that the appellant began tearing her clothes off as he continued to hit her. He dragged her off the bed by her pubic hair, and she fell to the floor. He then grabbed her by the hair on her head and by her ears and began beating her head against the floor as he slapped and hit her. At the same time, the appellant threatened to stick her with the screwdriver that he was holding. He began to hit the victim across the chest with the blunt end of the screwdriver, telling her that he was trying to decide "where it would be best to stick [her]." (R. 68.)

The victim testified that this beating lasted until daylight. She testified that after the beating, her head hurt so badly, she thought she was having a brain hemorrhage. She could not see out of her left eye, her mouth was badly swollen, and she was in so much pain that she could not move. What was left of her hair, she said, was in a row around the back of her head. The victim stated that the appellant began to apologize for his actions, telling her that she would never have been dating anyone else if he had not gotten mixed up with cocaine. The appellant then took off his clothes and lay down on the bed next to the victim. When the victim protested, the appellant told her that he was only going to lie down because he was tired. After a while, however, the appellant told the victim that he wanted to have sexual intercourse with her. The victim testified that she pleaded with the appellant not to touch her and that she told him that she thought her brain was bleeding from the beating. The appellant told the victim that she was "his" and that he could do with her what he pleased. (R. 70.) The victim again pleaded with the appellant not to do anything to her; however, he began to perform oral sex on her and then proceeded to have sexual intercourse with her. The victim testified that she was in fear for her life during the intercourse because the steak knife and the screwdriver were next to the bed, within the appellant's reach.

When the appellant left, the victim telephoned her family, and she was taken to the hospital emergency room. The victim was beaten so badly that she could not walk without assistance from others. She had bruises on her throat, legs, thighs, arms, and chest, and there were scratches on her legs. X-rays were taken of the victim's face, head, and knees at the hospital. The swelling on her face was so severe that she was required to return to the hospital for a CAT-scan to determine if there was an orbital fracture to the side of her face. In court, the victim identified photographs taken of her shortly after the beating, and these photographs were given to the jury. A rape examination was performed on the victim by hospital personnel, and a "rape kit" was collected and later sent to the department of forensic sciences.

A forensic serologist testified that a semen sample removed from a vaginal swab from the rape kit was type O and that the appellant's blood was type O as well. The serologist stated that semen stains were found in the victim's panties. The victim testified that she was seeing a specialist as a result of the injuries she sustained from the beating and that over a year after the attack, she continued to suffer from severe sinus headaches. She stated that sh...