State v. Bayles, 94-2009

• Decision Date: 19 June 1996
• Docket Number: No. 94-2009,94-2009
• Citation: 551 N.W.2d 600
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Edgar K. BAYLES, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 600

551 N.W.2d 600

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Edgar K. BAYLES, Appellant.

No. 94-2009.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

June 19, 1996.

Linda Del Gallo, State Appellate Defender, and Kevin Cmelik, Assistant State Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Richard J. Bennett, Assistant Attorney General, John P. Sarcone, County Attorney, and Melodee Hanes, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.

Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and CARTER, LAVORATO, NEUMAN, and ANDREASEN, JJ.

LAVORATO, Justice.

Edgar Karrol Bayles appeals from a judgment of conviction and sentence for kidnapping in the first degree. See Iowa Code §§ 710.1(3), 710.2 (1993). He raises three issues. First, he contends the district court abused its discretion by admitting character evidence concerning other crimes, which he claims was irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial. Second, he contends the evidence was insufficient to establish his guilt on the charge. Last, he contends his trial counsel were ineffective because they failed to object to alleged instances of prosecutorial misconduct. We affirm.

I. Background Facts.

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, we think the jury could find the following facts. Bayles met J.W. in 1976 when he was thirty and she was fifteen. They moved to Colorado where J.W had Bayles' son, whom they named Carlos. She was sixteen at the time.

Over time, Bayles increasingly exerted control over J.W. During the relationship J.W. endured Bayles' physical and mental abuse. Things became even worse after Carlos' birth. J.W. eventually left Bayles and returned to Des Moines with Carlos.

Bayles followed her back to Des Moines. Bayles then left for Arizona. While there, he was arrested for the kidnapping and repeated rape of a fifteen-year-old girl. He was convicted on several charges and served a fifteen-year sentence. J.W. initially corresponded with Bayles. She never went to see him and eventually severed all ties. Bayles was paroled in February 1993.

J.W.'s next contact with Bayles occurred on August 21, 1993, when he appeared unannounced at her Des Moines home. She testified that she was stunned to see Bayles. He told her he was back in town, and wanted to discuss Carlos' future with her. At the time Carlos was residing in the Polk County Youth Shelter because of juvenile problems.

Bayles moved into J.W.'s home early in September. The couple reestablished their intimate relationship, but the situation soon began to deteriorate. Bayles again became controlling and abusive. J.W. told him to go back to his wife in Indiana, or get a job and find a place of his own. She told friends and coworkers that she was concerned Bayles would harm her.

Despite J.W.'s repeated requests, Bayles refused to leave her home. On October 10, J.W. left out of fear. She stayed overnight with a friend, returning the next day to retrieve some clothing. A neighbor accompanied her inside. They saw Bayles talking on the telephone. J.W. refused to take the phone from Bayles because she was afraid to get too close to him.

Again J.W. asked Bayles to leave and he refused. She went to a neighbor's house and called the police. Bayles finally left J.W.'s home after talking with the responding officer. When Bayles left, his car was packed with his belongings. J.W. told Bayles she did not want him around anymore. To J.W.'s knowledge, Bayles had no keys to enter her home.

J.W. told neighbors that if they ever saw Bayles' car at her house, they should notify the police. She told friends and coworkers that she was afraid Bayles was going to kill her.

On the night of October 11, J.W. stayed with a friend. She was afraid Bayles would come back to her home. She did not go to work the following day because she was afraid Bayles knew where she worked.

On the night of October 12, J.W. again stayed with a friend. She finally returned to work the following day. On that day, Bayles unexpectedly appeared at a convenience store where J.W. was taking a work break with coworkers. He came up behind her and spoke to her. She turned around and saw it was Bayles; she noticed he had shaved his head. She was scared and left the store without talking to him.

That evening J.W. stayed with a friend. She worked the next day, Thursday, October 14. After work, she returned home. Because she was afraid, she asked a friend to spend the night there. He gave her a gun for protection, loaded the chamber with a live round, and told her just to point it and pull the trigger if she had to defend herself. During the evening Bayles called her; she told him she did not want to talk to him and that she was afraid of him.

The next day--Friday, October 15--J.W. went to work. She saw a car that looked like Bayles' pass by where she was parked. That evening she spent the night at a motel in Indianola. She chose to go to the motel instead of going to friends because she was afraid Bayles would find her.

The following day, J.W. had her brother change the locks on the doors in her home. Her son could not find his house key so she feared Bayles had taken it. She told her brother she wanted the locks changed because she was afraid of Bayles and was afraid to be in the house alone. For the first time in a week, J.W. spent the night in her own home.

The next day, Sunday, J.W. visited her son and attended to some personal matters. Before leaving home that morning, she put a roast in the crock pot because she had invited her brother for supper. She returned home about 6:30 in the evening, checked the roast, and put the loaded gun she had been carrying on the vanity next to her bed.

She then went to the basement door to let her dog out. As she approached the door, Bayles grabbed her from behind. He held a knife to her throat, saying "Shut up or I'll dust you right now." The knife he was using was one that he carried all the time. He taped her mouth and wrists with duct tape, threw her purse and a coat over her arms, and led her to her car.

Bayles drove J.W.'s car to a nearby hospital parking lot where he had left his car. He transferred J.W. to his car. At this point he taped J.W.'s legs together with the duct tape. He drove east on Interstate 80.

On this drive, Bayles repeatedly threatened to kill J.W. Specifically, he (1) asked her whether she would like to swim in the Dubuque River, (2) warned her his car could do over 100 miles per hour and that anyone thrown out at that speed would be killed, and (3) told her he had shaved his head so that when her body was discovered there would be no hair evidence to connect him to her.

Bayles stopped the car at a Newton motel. He left J.W. bound in the car, and went inside to register. When he returned, he removed the duct tape from J.W.'s legs and took her into the motel room.

J.W. was shivering, so she asked Bayles if she could get under the covers. He let her do so but only after insisting she take off all of her clothes. Then he told her she was lucky he was only going to have sex with her because what he really ought to do is drown her in the tub.

Ultimately, J.W. and Bayles twice engaged in intercourse after he threatened to drown her in the bathtub. At all times the knife Bayles carried was on a bedside table within his reach. J.W. did not want to have sex with him but did so--in her words--"to survive." She decided on this course of action because of the violent things Bayles told her he had done in the past. She also thought that if she would be nice to him and tell him what he wanted to hear, he might let her live.

After the sex, Bayles talked about getting back together and getting married. J.W. readily agreed, knowing that if she continued to say things he wanted to hear, she could come out of the ordeal alive.

At the motel, the pair--at Bayles' suggestion--called her brother and Bayles' half-sister, Mary. J.W. apologized to her brother about missing dinner and only said "Hi" to Mary, whom she knew.

The next day Bayles took J.W. to a McDonalds for breakfast and stopped at a convenience store for some items. At all times he was in close proximity to J.W. or was actually touching her.

Bayles eventually drove J.W. back to Mary's home. When he left the room, J.W. told Mary what had happened. J.W. told Mary not to call the police, because she feared Bayles might try to harm Mary and her two small children.

Bayles then took J.W. back to her home, where the two again had intercourse. Before this she was able to retrieve the gun she had laid on her vanity table the Sunday before. She hid the gun because she was afraid to use it. By this time Mary and J.W.'s neighbor had called the police.

When the police arrived at J.W.'s home they saw J.W. at the door, with Bayles at her side. J.W. told the officers she was fine before they were able to ask her any questions. The officers then took J.W. to their squad car, where she broke down and related what had happened. The officers arrested Bayles.

II. Background Proceedings.

The State charged Bayles in a two-count trial information. Count I was for first-degree kidnapping, a class "A" felony. See Iowa Code §§ 710.1(3), 710.2. Count II was for first-degree burglary, a class "B" felony. See Iowa Code §§ 713.1, 713.3. The jury convicted Bayles on both counts. The court sentenced Bayles to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the kidnapping conviction. On the burglary conviction, the court sentenced Bayles to a term not to exceed twenty-five years.

Bayles does not challenge the conviction for first-degree burglary. He appeals from the judgment of conviction and sentence on the kidnapping count.

III. Admission of Other-Crimes Evidence.

Iowa Rule of Evidence 404(b) provides that "[e]vidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show that he acted in conformity therewith." Under the rule, character evidence may be admitted for several other purposes, including "proof of...