Graham v. State
| Decision Date | 28 March 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 34S00-8705-CR-519,34S00-8705-CR-519 |
| Citation | 535 N.E.2d 1174 |
| Parties | Excell L. GRAHAM, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Merrill W. Otterman, Deputy Public Defender, Kokomo, for appellant.
Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Louis E. Ransdell, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
A jury trial resulted in the conviction of appellant of Rape, a Class B felony, for which he received a sentence of twenty (20) years, and Confinement, a Class D felony, for which he received a sentence of two (2) years, the sentences to be served concurrently.
The facts are: On February 16, 1985, the victim, D.T., Ellen Bailey, and Lauren Donovan picked up appellant to direct them to a party. Later, D.T. agreed to take appellant home. She stated she entered the house because appellant had agreed to reimburse her for gasoline. Once inside the house, appellant locked the door, yanked her into another room, pushed her onto a couch, and started removing her clothing. She testified that she struggled but that appellant struck her several times, and she quit struggling because she was afraid he would kill her.
Between the hours of 1:15 a.m. and 5:05 a.m., appellant repeatedly raped D.T. The victim also testified that appellant performed oral sex upon her during this period. However, the jury found appellant not guilty of that charge. The victim escaped from appellant when her friends came looking for her at 5:05 in the morning. The victim went to the emergency room at the Howard Community Hospital where tests were performed to determine the presence of sperm and the chemical makeup of body fluids taken from the victim.
Timothy Hagmaier testified that he was a medical technologist and that he performed various tests which showed the presence of the male enzyme produced by the prostate gland. James Romack testified that he was employed as a forensic serologist for the Indiana State Police, and his examinations indicated that the victim was a secretor and the appellant was a non-secretor. The blood type of a secretor is indicated in body fluids whereas it is not so indicated in a non-secretor. He testified that the fluids taken from the victim's body were consistent with what one would find in eighty percent of the population.
Appellant testified that the victim had been to his house several times where they would drink together. He also testified that on the night in question the victim had been drinking and using marijuana. He testified that he also had been drinking heavily, and when they arrived home after the party, he immediately laid down on the couch and was knocked out and did not arouse until the victim's friends called for her at 5:05 in the morning. He further testified that he did not engage in any necking with the victim nor did he have any sexual relations with her. The victim conceded that she had been drinking that night, and s...
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Young v. State
...expend public funds on a test that the record before the trial court indicated would produce no reliable evidence. Cf. Graham v. State, 535 N.E.2d 1174, 1175-76 (Ind.1989). The trial court sua sponte supplemented the record with Tahir's affidavit, and Young provides nothing to the contrary.......