Hurst v. State

• Decision Date: 26 October 2006
• Docket Number: No. 1951 September Term, 2004.,1951 September Term, 2004.
• Citation: 909 A.2d 1069,171 Md. App. 223
• Parties: Richard David HURST v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 1069

909 A.2d 1069

171 Md. App. 223

Richard David HURST v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 1951 September Term, 2004.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

October 26, 2006.

Claudia A. Cortese (Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender, on brief), Baltimore, MD, for Appellant.

Celia Anderson Davis (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., on the brief), Baltimore, MD, for Appellee.

Panel: SALMON, ADKINS and MEREDITH, JJ.

SALMON, Judge.

Appellant, Richard David Hurst, was convicted by a jury sitting in the Circuit Court for Frederick County of first-degree rape, second-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, second-degree sexual offense, kidnapping, and false imprisonment. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, without the possibility of parole, for the first-degree rape; life imprisonment, with the possibility of parole, for the first-degree sexual offense; and thirty years' imprisonment for the kidnapping. The remaining convictions were merged for purposes of sentencing. All sentences were to run concurrently. Appellant noted a timely appeal and presents two questions for our review:

I. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in admitting other crimes evidence?

II. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in denying appellant's request for a postponement?

I. FACTS

A. Uncontroverted Facts

On the evening of May 16, 2002, appellant had vaginal intercourse with Gertrude P., and on the same date, Ms. P. performed fellatio on appellant. Ms. P. testified that appellant forced her to have sex with him. Appellant testified that the sex was consensual.

In May 2002, Ms. P., forty, lived on one side of a duplex in Hagerstown; her brother, John, lived on the other side. She was mentally challenged, yet for the most part, she was able to live independently.

On May 16, 2002, she spent most of the day obtaining job applications at various fast-food restaurants in the Valley Mall located in Hagerstown. It was dark when she finished, and because she believed she had missed the last bus to her home, she began walking on Wessel Boulevard in the direction of her home.

B. Ms. P's Testimony

As she walked along Wessel Boulevard, Ms. P. noticed a truck on the opposite side of the roadway. Appellant, whom she did not know, was the truck driver. Appellant asked Ms. P. for directions to Frederick. Ms. P. told appellant that she was "not very good at giving directions" and asked appellant to "please go to the gas station and ask the cashier to give . . . directions."

Appellant drove off, but returned shortly thereafter. This time, his truck was on the same side of the road as Ms. P. Ms. P. approached the truck, and appellant again asked for directions to Frederick. Ms. P. attempted to give appellant directions, but he suggested that she show him how to get to that destination. She obliged by getting into the truck with appellant. After Ms. P. was seated, appellant identified himself as "Christopher Cane" and locked the doors of his vehicle.

As appellant drove, Ms. P. gave appellant directions to Frederick. Eventually, however, he stopped following those directions. This caused her to feel "very uncomfortable." As the two drove along Route 40, she saw a Sheetz Store and asked appellant to pull into the parking lot of the store because she had to use the bathroom. Appellant refused to stop, and thereafter the truck passed a "welcome to Frederick" sign.

During the trip, appellant brought up the topic of having sex. Ms. P. did not want to talk about that subject so that conversational gambit reached a dead end.

Appellant eventually turned his truck off Route 40 onto Hollow Road and then into a wooded area. After appellant stopped the truck, he unlocked the doors and told Ms. P. to get out. She complied. Appellant then walked to her side of the vehicle and told Ms. P. that he would not hurt her, but that he had a knife and, if she struggled, he would hurt her.

Appellant placed one hand around Ms. P.'s shoulder and neck and the other behind her back. Appellant then started "dragging" her down a hill. She fell and struck her back on sticks that were laying on the ground.

At the bottom of the hill, appellant told Ms. P. to get on the ground, "spread her legs a little," and pull down her pants and underwear. Ms. P. complied because appellant told her that if she did not do what he said, he would hurt her. While restraining Ms. P., appellant forced Ms. P. to perform fellatio. Appellant next engaged in non-consensual vaginal intercourse with Ms. P. During these sexual acts, appellant placed his hand over Ms. P.'s mouth so that she could not scream.

After the rape, appellant told Ms. P. to get dressed and to get into the truck. She dressed, and appellant offered to take her to the Sheetz Store.

At that point Ms. P. did not know where she was and was afraid of appellant so she got back in the truck. Appellant then drove back toward Hagerstown. As they approached the Sheetz store, appellant gave Ms. P. a $20.00 bill, saying the money was "for sex." He also said, "Don't tell no one about this." Ms. P. did not ask for or want the money.

Ms. P. nevertheless took the money, got out of the truck, and went into the Sheetz Store. One of the cashiers then noticed that she was crying, found out why, and called the police.

C. Testimony of Cindy Wagner

Cindy Wagner was working at the Sheetz Store when she observed Ms. P. enter. According to Ms. Wagner, Ms. P. "was standing there all excited looking, and I noticed she [had] messed up hair and her clothes were wrinkled and dirty . . . so I went up and asked her if I could help her." Wagner added: "Well she was so hyper, and I knew she, there must have been something wrong with her mentally because she acted like a child ten- or eleven-years old, and she had tears in her eyes." After Ms. P. explained what had happened, Ms. Wagner asked her if she would like her to call the police. Ms. P. responded in the affirmative.

Ms. P. told Ms. Wagner that she was getting ready to go home from the store when a man offered her a ride home. The man did not take her home but, instead, drove to the woods by Hollow Road and "made her do things she didn't want to do." Ms. P. told Wagner that she repeatedly told the man "No," but that he nevertheless "grabbed her head and put it down there, put her mouth down there."

D. Testimony of Police Officers

Deputy Brian Miller, who was employed by the Washington County Sheriff's Office in May of 2002,¹ talked to Ms. P. on the night of the alleged sexual assault. During his interview, the deputy noticed that Ms. P. had "slightly red marks all around . . . the front of her neck." The deputy transported Ms. P. over the Frederick County line where they met with a deputy from Frederick County because Ms. P. said that the assault occurred in Frederick County.

Deputy First Class Paul Collantuno of the Frederick County Sheriff's Office met Deputy Miller and Ms. P. at the Washington County/Frederick County line. To Deputy Collantuno, Ms. P. appeared to have "a mental deficiency." He added that her speech was "very labored," she "stuttered a lot," and she had "facial ticks." Nonetheless, Ms. P. was able to tell the deputy that she had been on foot in the Hagerstown area when a brand new pick-up truck passed her by, circled around, and that the driver of the pick-up asked for directions to Frederick County. The driver told Ms. P. he was forty-seven-years old and that his name was Christopher Cane. He also told her that he would give her $20 or $30 if she showed him how to get to Frederick County. Ms. P. agreed to do so and got into the truck. Once she was in the truck, Ms. P. told the driver to get onto Interstate 70, but he did not do so. They then drove past the Sheetz Store on Route 40. Ms. P. asked the driver to stop at the store, but he refused.

Ms. P. told Deputy Collantuno that she recalled seeing a "Welcome to Frederick" sign and later a sign for Hollow Road and that the pick-up truck stopped a short distance later in a grassy area. Ms. P. reported that the driver then told her "to do what she was told to do or else she'd get hurt." After they got out of the truck, the driver forced her to perform oral sex on him even though she told him that she did not want to do it and did not like it. The driver then forced her to the ground and had vaginal intercourse with her. She told the driver to stop and that it hurt. Ms. P. also reported that she believed that the driver had a knife. She did not, however, say that she saw the knife, just that she believed he had one.

Ms. P. also reported to Deputy Collantuno that, following the assault, she and the driver got back into the pick-up truck, and she was driven to the Sheetz Store where she got out of the truck. The driver gave Ms. P. $20 for a taxi ride. After giving her statement, Ms. P. was transported to Frederick Memorial Hospital.

D. Testimony of Kim Day, R.N.

Kim Day, a registered nurse employed at Frederick Memorial Hospital, was qualified as an expert witness. On May 17, 2002, at 2:50 a.m., she came in contact with Ms. P. at the hospital emergency room. Ms. P. was "childlike," "apprehensive, frightened" and appeared to be a person who did not understand a lot of the terminology she (Ms. Day) used.

Ms. P. informed Day that she had driven with Christopher Cane from Hagerstown to Frederick County and then to a wooded area on Hollow Road, where "Cane" "[d]id something to me that I didn't ask for." Ms. P. also indicated that Cane told her that he had a pocket knife, but that he did not attack her with the knife. When they were in a field, Cane told Ms. P. that if she did not cooperate, he would hurt her. Cane then told her to put her mouth on his penis. Ms. P. told Cane that she was "against it" and that she "didn't like that." Cane also pulled her pants down. He told her that if she tried to scream he would put his hand over her mouth. At one point, cars drove by which caused Cane to put his hand over her mouth so she could not...