State v. Deanes
| Decision Date | 08 December 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 489A87,489A87 |
| Citation | 323 N.C. 508,374 S.E.2d 249 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. Danny Mark DEANES. |
Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen. by Catherine C. McLamb, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Elizabeth G. McCrodden, Associate Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.
Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender by Teresa A. McHugh, Asst. Appellate Defender, Raleigh, for defendant-appellant.
Defendant Danny Mark Deanes was convicted of the first-degree rape of a five-year-old girl and sentenced to life imprisonment. Having reviewed the four assignments of error defendant has presented, we find no error in his trial.
The State's evidence, in pertinent summary, showed the following: in early May of 1987, the defendant Danny Mark Deanes was living in the home of the victim's mother. Also living there were the five-year-old victim, her younger sister, her mother, and her mother's boyfriend. The house was small, with three rooms--a living room, a kitchen, and one bedroom. The bedroom contained two beds--a large bed and a small one. The victim's mother, her boyfriend, and the two little girls slept in the bedroom; the defendant slept on a couch in the living room.
The victim's mother testified that on Friday morning, 1 May 1987, she began drinking at home as she usually did. Her two little girls were at home with her. They went out about noon and returned home about 7:00 p.m. She fed, bathed, and dressed the girls for bed. At about 8:00 p.m. she and her daughters went to sleep together in one bed in the bedroom. Having been drinking most of the day, she was intoxicated when she went to bed.
When the mother awoke about midnight, the victim was talking to her. The child complained that she was sore and sticky around her vagina. Her mother looked at her and saw that the area was "sore and sticky-like." She bathed the child and put some vaseline on the irritated area. The mother asked the child if anyone had been "messing with" her. The child said, "Yes." When the mother asked, "Who?" the child answered, "Danny."
The mother walked into the living room and saw her boyfriend asleep on the couch and defendant asleep in a chair. They had been to a party and had come in while she was asleep. She did nothing then because she was still under the influence of alcohol. The next morning she asked the defendant if he had "messed with" the child, and he denied it.
That Saturday morning the child began calling the defendant the "Monster Man." On Monday, 4 May, the Hertford County Department of Social Services (DSS) received an anonymous report that the victim had been raped. As a result of that call, Murfreesboro Chief of Police, Robert Harris, visited the victim's mother. She was drunk. He told her he had received a report that her daughter had been raped. At first, she said her child had not been raped; she had a rash, and the report was only a rumor. When the Chief said he would bring charges against her if he found she was lying, she said she was afraid to report it because she had no money to take the child to the doctor and no evidence of the rape except that the child had started to call the defendant "Monster Man."
Chief Harris called DSS social worker Susan Farmer to arrange for her to take the child to a physician for an examination. Later that day, Ms. Farmer and Chief Harris talked with the victim and her mother in the police car parked in front of their house. The child seemed ill at ease, so Chief Harris and the victim's mother got out of the car so the social worker and the child could talk privately.
Once alone with the child, Ms. Farmer tried to make her feel at ease. Ms. Farmer talked about how pretty she was, asked about her brothers and sisters, and "got her to laughing and talking some." Then, once the child was relaxed, Ms. Farmer asked her if anyone had "messed with her" or "touched her in any way that they shouldn't." The child answered, "Yes, the Monster Man" had. Then the social worker asked specifically: "What did the Monster Man do?" The child answered: "Messed with me" and pointed down at the area around her vagina.
When Ms. Farmer asked where it had happened, the child pointed to her house and indicated it happened in the bedroom, but was not more specific. The child said her mama and her sister were asleep and there were other people in the house. Then the social worker asked "Who is the Monster Man?" and the child answered, "Danny." The five-year-old said she did not know his last name.
Ms. Farmer asked if anyone else who had come to her mother's house had ever touched her. The child said, "No." When asked who had visited her mother's house she gave the first names of her mother's boyfriend and a female friend of her mother. She also said there were other people who came over, but she didn't know their names. The child said her mother's boyfriend had never touched her. Ms. Farmer asked again, "Who has touched you in a way that did not feel right or any place that they shouldn't?" Again, the child answered, "The Monster Man." Then Ms. Farmer asked the child if she knew what a lie was. The child answered, it's "when you tell a story." Ms. Farmer asked, "does that mean when you are not telling the truth?" And the child answered, "Yes."
Then the social worker talked with the mother and made arrangements for the child, her mother, and sister to stay overnight with the maternal grandmother.
On Tuesday, 5 May, Ms. Farmer took the child and her mother to see Dr. Bonnie Revelle, a pediatrician in practice in Ahoskie. After the child had spent a few minutes alone with Dr. Revelle and had been hesitant in responding to her questions, Ms. Farmer was called in to talk with the child and to calm her during the examination. The doctor began the physical exam by checking the child's eyes and nose and ears and listening to her heart. Then the child was put on all fours in order to examine her vagina. There was a greenish-white discharge; the hymen was more relaxed and open than is normal for a five-year-old, and there were three areas around the vaginal opening which were chafed. When she was asked why she had been brought to see the doctor, she said it was because of her "rash." Then Ms. Farmer asked if someone had been "messing with" her, and she nodded "yes." Then Ms. Farmer asked her if she could "tell Dr. Revelle who" it was. The child told Dr. Revelle, "Danny."
Then the child and her mother went with Ms. Farmer to her office. There Ms. Farmer interviewed the child using anatomically correct dolls. Ms. Farmer testified that she began, as is always her procedure, by sitting on the floor with the child. She offered the child the female doll and let the child hold the doll. She asked the child if she liked the doll, and she said she did. Then, on her own, the child unsnapped the doll's dress and pulled it off, leaving the panties on. After the child had looked at the doll and played with it for a few minutes, Ms. Farmer began to talk about the male doll with the child. She asked if the child knew the doll was a boy; she said, "Yes." Then the child opened his shirt. She laughed when she saw the doll had hair on his chest and under his arms. Then Ms. Farmer asked if the child knew the difference between boys and girls; in answer, the child undid the doll's pants, pulled his pants down, and then put his pants back on. Then Ms. Farmer picked up the girl doll again and said, "Let's pretend this doll's name is the same as yours." The child liked that, and held the doll for a few minutes.
Then Ms. Farmer said: "I want you to take the male doll and ... show me what happened to you." The child took the male doll, undid his pants and pulled them down, put him on top of the female and tried to insert the penis into the vagina of the female doll. Then Ms. Farmer asked, "Is this what happened to you?" The child said, "yes." When Ms. Farmer asked who the male doll was, the child said, "Danny."
Then Ms. Farmer took the child and her mother to Police Chief Harris' office. The child said her mother had been drinking on the day the incident occurred, and that she had gone to bed and to sleep. Then using the dolls, she again demonstrated what had happened to her, and related that she had waked her mother up and told her that Danny had messed with her.
Pediatrician Bonnie Revelle also described the child's physical exam on Tuesday, 5 May. After the child's initial reluctance to volunteer information, Dr. Revelle asked her if anyone had touched her in her private area. The child nodded, "Yes." Dr. Revelle asked her, "Who messed with you?" She responded, "Danny." At that time, only the two of them were in the examining room. As part of the exam, Dr. Revelle had taken a sample of the vaginal discharge, plated it on a growth medium and sent it to Roche Biomedical Laboratories for identification of the organism. The next day a person from the lab called her to report that the culture was positive for gonorrhea.
Peter Huley, Manager of the Microbiology and Virology Section of Roche Biomedical Laboratories, testified. He identified the original computer worksheet, and a copy documenting the work performed on the child's specimen. The copy was introduced in evidence. Huley testified further that the test was done in the regular course of business using standard procedures and that the information was recorded promptly using standard procedures. He testified further that he had not known until he was called to testify that morning that there was any legal involvement with the case. He summarized the procedures used in the lab to confirm that the culture from the child's specimen tested positive for gonorrhea.
The State also introduced evidence that a sample of discharge taken from the penis of the defendant had tested positive for gonorrhea. A nursing supervisor from the Health Department testified that a person will show symptoms of gonorrhea within one to three days after...
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