Morrell v. State, 2790

• Decision Date: 03 March 1978
• Docket Number: No. 2790,2790
• Citation: Morrell v. State, 575 P.2d 1200 (Alaska 1978)
• Parties: Clayton J. MORRELL, Appellant, v. STATE of Alaska, Appellee.
• Court: Alaska Supreme Court

Page 1200

575 P.2d 1200

Clayton J. MORRELL, Appellant, v. STATE of Alaska, Appellee.

No. 2790.

Supreme Court of Alaska.

March 3, 1978.

Lyle R. Carlson, Fairbanks, and Keith C. Monroe of Monroe & Riddet, Santa Ana, Cal., for appellant.

Natalie Finn and David Shimek, Asst. Dist. Attys., Harry L. Davis, Dist. Atty., Fairbanks, and Avrum M. Gross, Atty. Gen., Juneau, for appellee.

Before BOOCHEVER, C. J., and RABINOWITZ, CONNOR and BURKE, JJ.

OPINION

RABINOWITZ, Justice.

Clayton Morrell brings this appeal from his conviction, after trial by jury, on one count of kidnapping, ¹ a single count of assault with intent to commit rape, ² and eight counts of forcible rape. ³ All of these charges arose out of Morrell's 8-day encounter with 18-year-old Anne Elias in May 1975. After a presentence investigation had been conducted and the presentence report had been filed, Morrell was sentenced to life imprisonment on the kidnapping charge and to concurrent 10-year terms of imprisonment on each of the eight separate forcible rape convictions; Morrell's life imprisonment sentence was to run consecutively to the concurrent 10-year terms. ⁴ We affirm.

On May 5, 1975, Morrell offered a ride in his pickup truck to Anne Elias, who was hitchhiking from the University to her home outside Fairbanks. According to Elias' testimony at trial, she became Morrell's prisoner for 8 days. Morrell's version was that Elias voluntarily entered his vehicle on May 5 and voluntarily stayed with him for the next 8 days. Elias testified that Morrell, who was driving a green-blue pickup truck, picked her up as she was trying to hitch a ride home. Upon entering Morrell's vehicle, Elias testified she almost immediately noticed that the operating mechanism for the lock on the door on her side of the truck, which Morrell had told her to lock, was missing. Thus, she could not unlock the door. Furthermore, the window crank on her side of the vehicle was missing. Morrell testified that these defects in his truck had come about routinely and further he had not, or could not, repair the defects for one specific reason or another.

Elias testified that Morrell, despite her protests, drove to a campground outside Fairbanks. On the way to the campground, Morrell showed Elias a handgun that he was carrying. At the campground, Morrell fondled Elias for a short while and then he forced her into the back of the truck, where he unsuccessfully attempted to rape her. Blaming his failure on the cold, Morrell, who had taken Elias' clothes and put them in a plastic garbage bag in the back of the truck, gave Elias a nightgown which apparently had belonged to his ex-wife, and ordered her to get back into the cab of the truck.

After they had driven some distance from the campground, Morrell stopped the truck so he could tie and blindfold Elias. When they stopped a second time, Morrell had Elias get out of the truck. Her blindfold slipped enough for her to see that Morrell was leading her into a residence. Once in the residence he removed her blindfold. After he led her into a bedroom in the downstairs part of the house, Morrell untied Elias. A short while later, he raped Elias, who testified that she had resisted Morrell.

Morrell, on the other hand, testified that when he had reached an appropriate spot to let Elias out of his truck, she had been reluctant to leave. He suggested that she might like to go with him on his ride to the campground. At the campground, they simply talked for a long time and went for a short walk. Morrell further testified that when they neared Fairbanks on the drive from the campground, he told Elias that he had to be up early the next morning and therefore needed to let her off so he could go home and get some sleep. Morrell claimed at trial that Elias asked him if she could go home with him and when they arrived at his house, it was Elias who determined they would sleep together.

As for the succeeding week, Elias testified Morrell raped her at least once a day. She stated that when Morrell left the house, he would tie her to the bed and when he was at home, he would allow her to be untied. In addition, Elias testified that whenever Morrell left the house, he turned on the television set or the washer or both, apparently to block out Elias' screams, if she chose to scream.

At one point, Holland Butler, Morrell's landlord who lived in the other half of the duplex in which Morrell lived, came to Morrell's home. Butler testified that he did not notice anything unusual then or at any time during the week Elias was there. Elias testified that when Butler knocked on the door, Morrell told her not to say anything if she did not want to get hurt.

Elias testified that on the morning of May 13, Morrell, after raping her once more, told her to get dressed because he intended to release her. He drove her to a campground 30 miles from his home and released her. When Morrell stopped at a gas station that morning, Elias did not try to tell the attendant of her plight, even though Morrell left the truck while at the gas station.

After Morrell released her, Elias started walking toward Fairbanks, even though there were campers at the campground with whom she might have spoken. Later, Elias hitched a ride with Fred Shott despite the fact that he was alone, driving a pickup truck. After obtaining a second ride with another man, Elias reached her place of employment. A friend drove her home, and Elias told her friend about the encounter with Morrell.

Almost immediately after arriving home, Elias was interviewed by police officers who had been called by Elias' friend to report that Elias, who was being sought as a missing person, had returned. The officers took Elias to a doctor for examination. The doctor testified at trial that when he examined Elias, she had a bruise on her left hip and one on her left buttock. The bruises were recent, from two days to a week old. Elias also had bruises circling both ankles, bruises which could have been made by binding her ankles with rope.

Morrell testified that he had known Elias had been reported missing, but he thought that since she was an adult and was not wanted in connection with criminal conduct, she had a right to go wherever she pleased. Morrell explained Elias' ankle bruises by recounting that he had shown her the garters he had used while in the Marines to blouse his uniform trousers. Morrell said that Elias was particularly interested in the garters because she complained that she had difficulty keeping her socks up inside her boots.

Based on affidavits from Elias and from an investigator from the Alaska State Troopers assigned to the case, troopers obtained a warrant to search Morrell's home. Morrell's home had been located through information given by Elias, who had ascertained Morrell's name and phone number during her captivity and who could describe the exterior of Morrell's residence. Officers executed the warrant in the afternoon of May 13, arresting Morrell and conducting a full search of the house. The search produced incriminating circumstantial evidence, such as magazines with address labels cut out, which Elias claimed had been given to her to read and which she believed had been cut up to keep her from learning where she was being held. Officers also found novels containing stories about kidnapping and captivity. They found cigarettes of the type Elias smoked. They also found packages of rope, clothes of the type Elias claimed to have been given to wear, food containers from a McDonald's restaurant, and a telephone extension which had been disconnected from the wall.

Morrell contends that the superior court erred in limiting his cross-examination of Elias about her drug usage and of Fred Shott about Elias' condition at the time he offered her a ride following her alleged release by Morrell.

At the trial, Elias testified that on one occasion during the week she was held, she smoked the butt of a marijuana cigarette which she had been carrying when Morrell picked her up. Outside the presence of the jury, Elias further testified that she regularly smoked marijuana and had used LSD, "speed" and cocaine. The superior court limited the defense attorney's attempts to cross-examine Elias on her drug usage. Outside the hearing of the jury, Shott testified he had originally concluded that Elias was using drugs at the time he gave her a ride. Shott's opinion was based on what he considered to be abnormal behavior on Elias' part. The superior court limited defense counsel's cross-examination of Shott on this aspect of the latter's testimony.

Appellant recognizes that a witness may not be questioned as to drug use or addiction solely for the purpose of showing that the witness is unreliable. Fields v. State, 487 P.2d 831, 844 (Alaska 1971). However, Morrell asserts that such evidence is proper where, as here, the complaining witness and he had given conflicting reports as to the witness' drug use. ⁵

As the state notes, Morrell's first justification for cross-examining Elias as to her drug use would constitute impeachment on a collateral matter. Elias and Morrell each testified about Elias' drug use while she was with Morrell. The superior court's ruling permitted Morrell's attorney to cross-examine Elias on this subject. The evidence excluded was her testimony about her drug use generally. Morrell wished to examine Elias as to this, apparently to prove that she was likely to be carrying with her more than the butt of a marijuana cigarette and, therefore, that his testimony as to her drug use while with him was more credible than that given by Elias. Even assuming this conclusion follows, i. e., that Morrell's version of her drug use while with him was correct, Elias would have been impeached as to a collateral matter only. On this basis we conclude that the superior court's limitation was not erroneous.

Morrell also contends that the superior court erred in limiting cross-examination of...