State v. Cartwright
| Decision Date | 26 September 2018 |
| Docket Number | Opinion No. 27842,Appellate Case No. 2016-000005 |
| Citation | 425 S.C. 81,819 S.E.2d 756 |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | The STATE, Respondent, v. Harold Bennon CARTWRIGHT, III, Petitioner. |
Chief Appellate Defender Robert Michael Dudek, of South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, of Columbia, for Petitioner.
Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson and Senior Assistant Attorney General David A. Spencer, both of Columbia; and Solicitor James Strom Thurmond, Jr., of Aiken, all for Respondent.
Harold Cartwright, III (Cartwright) was convicted of one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC), eight counts of first-degree CSC with a minor, two counts of second-degree CSC with a minor, one count of third-degree CSC, and sixteen counts of committing a lewd act on a minor. Cartwright appealed, arguing the trial court abused its discretion in: (1) ruling evidence of his suicide attempt was admissible to show consciousness of guilt; and (2) qualifying a witness and allowing her to testify as an expert in the field of "child sexual abuse dynamics." The Court of Appeals affirmed. State v. Cartwright , Op. No. 2015-UP-466, 2015 WL 5723498 (S.C. Ct. App. filed Sept. 30, 2015). This Court granted Cartwright's petition for a writ of certiorari. We affirm.
Cartwright married Melinda Lively (Lively) in 1987. From that relationship, the couple had three children, Daughter, Hoss Cartwright (Hoss), and Jamie Cartwright. After Cartwright's divorce from Lively in 1997, Cartwright married Buffy Brown (Buffy) in 1999. Prior to marrying Cartwright, Buffy had two children, Stepdaughter One and Stepdaughter Two. In 2011, an Aiken County grand jury indicted Cartwright for sexually abusing Daughter and Stepdaughters One and Two between 1989 and 2011.
At the time of trial, Daughter was twenty-eight years old. Daughter recalled that, in 1989 when she was four, Cartwright had her perform oral sex on him. Daughter testified further that, when she was five years old, she told Lively about the abuse, but Lively refrained from contacting the police because Cartwright threatened to kill Daughter, Lively, and himself. Lively recalled Daughter mentioning the abuse, and corroborated Daughter's recollection that Lively did not contact law enforcement because she was also afraid of Cartwright. Additionally, Daughter explained to the jury that, when she was six, Cartwright ejaculated in her mouth. Daughter stated she spoke with the South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS) about the incident, but she recanted because Cartwright instructed her to tell DSS that the abuse never happened. Daughter maintained that Cartwright never had sexual intercourse with her, but the sexual abuse continued every year until 1995, when she was ten. Furthermore, in response to the State's question about bribes, Daughter testified Cartwright would give her money, take her places, and buy her various items.
In 2011, detectives from the Aiken County Sheriff's Department contacted Daughter as part of an ongoing investigation of the alleged abuse of Stepdaughters One and Two. At that time, Daughter gave a statement to investigators detailing the abuse, which she later recounted at trial. Additionally, on cross-examination, Daughter acknowledged that, from 1995 until 2011, she never mentioned the alleged sexual abuse because she was afraid of Cartwright.1
Stepdaughter One was twenty-one at the time of Cartwright's trial. She recalled that Cartwright began abusing her when she was nine. Thereafter, during the years of 2000 and 2001, Cartwright made Stepdaughter One perform oral sex on him multiple times a month. In July of 2001, Stepdaughter One disclosed the abuse to Sandra Parsons, a neighbor, and Michelle Prince, an Aiken County DSS employee. As a result, Cartwright was arrested in September of 2001 and released on bond. However, Stepdaughter One's mother, Buffy, convinced her to tell the prosecutors the abuse did not happen. Stepdaughter One explained that, after she recanted, Cartwright returned to the home and the abuse continued in the form of "humping."
Stepdaughter One further testified that, in 2002 when she was eleven, Cartwright began going into her room, rubbing his penis on her leg, and ejaculating on and in between her legs, "three to seven times a week." The abuse continued until 2006 when Stepdaughter One was fifteen. During this time, Cartwright threatened her with a knife and she eventually agreed to have sexual intercourse with him in exchange for money so she could visit an amusement park. Stepdaughter One maintained Cartwright would bribe her in the form of clothes, food, and transportation. According to Stepdaughter One, Cartwright threatened to kill her, Buffy, Stepdaughter Two, and himself.
Stepdaughter Two was eighteen at the time of Cartwright's trial. She alleged that Cartwright began sexually abusing her in 2008, when she was thirteen. She stated he would come into her room before school multiple times a week and hump her leg. Stepdaughter Two explained he would ejaculate on her, on her bed, and on her clothes. According to Stepdaughter Two, Cartwright threatened "to kill all of us and himself."
Stepdaughter Two testified that, when she was fourteen, Cartwright began having non-consensual sex with her. She recounted that, in May of 2010, after Hoss moved in, Cartwright stopped having sex with her, but continued to hump her before school. Hoss recalled that every morning he would hear Cartwright enter Stepdaughter Two's bedroom and stay for an extended period of time.
Investigators questioned Stepdaughter Two about the alleged sexual abuse. She initially told them Cartwright had not touched her because she was afraid of him but, after further questioning, she told the investigators Cartwright molested her.
Buffy testified that Cartwright would spend ten to twenty minutes waking up Stepdaughter One each morning before school. Buffy admitted that she put "some pressure" on Stepdaughter One to recant when Stepdaughter One originally reported the abuse because Cartwright convinced Buffy that he had done nothing wrong.
Buffy acknowledged that on February 19, 2011, Cartwright revealed to her that he may have molested both stepdaughters. Thereafter, Buffy explained Cartwright instructed her to wash Stepdaughter Two's bed linens and underwear because he had been laying in the bed with Stepdaughter Two and his DNA was in the bed. However, Buffy declined to wash the linens and consented to police searching the house and seizing the linens on February 25, 2011. The DNA recovered from Stepdaughter Two's bed sheet was a 1 in 16 trillion match to Cartwright's DNA.
As part of its case, the State called Dr. Alicia Benedetto, a clinical psychologist, as an expert in "child sexual abuse dynamics." Over defense counsel's objection, the trial court qualified Dr. Benedetto as an expert in clinical psychology. Dr. Benedetto acknowledged that she had not talked to any witnesses or victims in the case. She explained that "Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome" involved patterns of behavior that children engage in that may not make sense to adults. She stated that children often respond to sexual abuse in a different manner than adults. She acknowledged that a child's response, although different from an adult's, is not necessarily indicative of abuse or untruthfulness. She explained that, to maintain the secrecy of the abuse, it was common for an abuser to bribe or buy gifts for the abused children. Dr. Benedetto asserted that manipulation and fear also play roles in maintaining secrecy. Specifically, she testified "[children] may be afraid for their own safety or the safety of siblings or the safety of the other parent in the home." Additionally, she noted that sexual abuse may cause children to "act out" and abuse alcohol or drugs.
When asked about recantations, Dr. Benedetto maintained that "children routinely delay reporting" and any delay was not indicative of whether or not sexual abuse occurred. Dr. Benedetto added
At the conclusion of the State's case, James Hettich, an Aiken County Detention Center guard, was offered to establish that Cartwright attempted to commit suicide while detained prior to trial. On April 13, 2011, Hettich found Cartwright hanging from his bunk with a sheet wrapped tightly around his neck. Hettich recalled that Cartwright was unresponsive, but still breathing.
Cartwright took the stand in his own defense. He denied molesting any of the children and claimed that the semen found on Stepdaughter Two's sheets came from Buffy pushing him onto Stepdaughter Two's bed and masturbating him with underwear.
Cartwright offered the following explanation as to why he attempted suicide:
I turned myself in. I'd been there for 30 days. I couldn't get a bond. I was charged with some of the most heinous crimes that somebody could ever think about being charged with.... I'm in my cell with all these things on my mind, and then the daughter that I loved, [Daughter], hates me so much because I had her husband ... locked up ... and she held a grudge against me, and they come [sic] and served me ten warrants.... [A]t that time I didn't feel I wanted to live any more [sic].
Ultimately, the jury found Cartwright guilty of all charges. The trial court sentenced him to concurrent terms of thirty years' imprisonment for first-degree CSC and each first-degree CSC with a minor, twenty years' imprisonment for each second-degree CSC with a minor, fifteen years' imprisonment for each lewd act on a minor, and a consecutive term of ten years' imprisonment for third-degree CSC. The Court of Appeals affirmed.
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