State v. Raines

• Decision Date: 09 September 2003
• Docket Number: No. WD 61366.,WD 61366.
• Citation: 118 S.W.3d 205
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Myron W. RAINES, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

118 S.W.3d 205

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Myron W. RAINES, Appellant.

No. WD 61366.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

September 9, 2003.

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to Supreme Court Denied October 28, 2003.

Craig E. Hellmann, Washington, MO, for Appellant.

John M. Morris, III, Anne E. Edgington, Co-Counsel, Jefferson City, MO, for Respondent.

Before LOWENSTEIN, P.J., SMART and EDWIN H. SMITH, JJ.

HAROLD L. LOWENSTEIN, Judge.

This appeal requires this court to determine whether a criminal defendant charged with rape is entitled under the Confrontation Clause to cross-examine the putative victim about her alleged prior false allegations of rape solely to show that she has a propensity to lie. Appellant Raines, who was convicted of two counts of forcible rape, Section 566.030, RSMo. (1999),¹ and one count of assault in the second degree, Section 565.060, argues that he does have such a right and that the rape shield statute, Section 491.015, RSMo. (2000), does not prohibit his inquiry into the prosecutrix's false allegations of rape. The trial court held to the contrary regarding the latter, not reaching the constitutional issue. Thus, Raines contends his convictions must be set aside. This court disagrees. Although rape shield statute does not cover Raines' proposed cross-examination of the victim, there was no Confrontation Clause violation.

I. FACTS

The facts in this case are relatively straightforward. The State charged Raines with recklessly causing serious physical injury to and forcibly raping A.E., a twenty-two year-old woman. A.E. testified that in the evening of August 29, 1999, she met Raines (whom she had dated when she was 16) at a strip club in Sedalia. Raines told A.E. that he wanted to get some alcohol and "party" with her. A.E., married, but separated from her husband, said that she "wasn't there to get laid." Raines persuaded A.E. to give him a ride to his truck, where at about 12:30 a.m. A.E. agreed to follow Raines to a place where they could "talk about old times." En route, A.E. ran her car into a ditch, because her vision had been obstructed by dust kicked-up by Raines truck. A.E. then drove her car to a gas station to determine the extent of damage to her car. Raines told her that he thought the car was fine, and the two resumed their trip, which ended at Hughesville, Missouri.

A.E. testified that it was in the park that Raines viciously and repeatedly raped and assaulted her. According to A.E., the two went on a walk around a pond in Hughesville Park, during which Raines asked to kiss her. A.E. refused. They then stopped at a tree that hung over part of the pond. Again, Raines asked for a kiss. A.E. refused. Undeterred, Raines said he wanted a kiss, grabbed A.E. by the shoulders and forced his lips on her. She pushed him away and told him to back off because she couldn't breathe. Raines then tackled A.E., put his hand over her mouth, and told her to "take off your fucking clothes." A.E. was "scared to death." Raines then told A.E., "If you run, I'm going to kill you."

Afraid that Raines was indeed going to kill her, A.E. complied with all of Raines demands. Raines had intercourse with her, holding her by her shoulders so that she could not move. He demanded that she say that she loved him. When she did not say it loud enough for him, Raines hit her on the head repeatedly, causing her to see a bright light and hear ringing in her ears. A.E. loudly prayed for God to help her. She grabbed Raines head and threw him off her, and ran into the pond to get away from him. She took off her shirt to swim.

Raines started walking toward his truck, stopped, turned around, walked to the edge of the pond, and grabbed A.E.'s head, shoving it under water and holding it there for a few seconds. After pulling her head out of the water, he commanded her to fellate him. She refused. He forced her head under water, pulled her head out of the water, and when he let her up he then forced his penis into her mouth. He then pulled her up the bank by her hair near where their vehicles were parked. He had intercourse with her and attempted to have anal intercourse with her. After this, Raines said he was tired and started walking away, but then came back and had intercourse with her again and also stuck his fingers in her vagina. Once again, he walked away, came back, and told A.E. that he wanted to "fuck [her] over the back of [her] car." A.E. pushed Raines away and got in her car, but Raines tried to pull her out of the car by her hair. To extricate herself from his grasp, she slammed the car door on his leg, after which he said, "Fine, I'm done with you anyway, you bitch."

Covered in mud, her scalp numb, having trouble seeing out of her left eye, unable to hear out of her left ear, and feeling great pain in her genitalia, A.E. drove to the Pettis County Sheriff's Department. She honked her horn. A deputy came out to help her. A.E. told the deputy that she had been raped. She was interviewed and then taken to the Bothwell Regional Health Center where she was admitted and stayed three days. Registered Nurse Candace Smith, who had treated A.E. in the emergency room and had taken her medical history, testified that A.E.'s hair was wet and there were clumps of grass and dirt in her hair and on her body; that her left eye was swollen and bruised, the white part of the left eye being red; that her left ear was red; that the left side of her head had a bruised knot; and that her body was scratched and bruised everywhere, with injuries to her knees and back, and bruising of her genitalia. Dr. Dale Chapman, who had treated A.E. the morning after she was admitted to the hospital, testified that there was a lot of bruising on her face and on the side of her head and that she had significant swelling and acute bruising in the region of her face around her left eye. Dr. Chapman also concluded that the tympanic membrane in her left ear was ruptured. Her left ear was very bloody. She suffered a permanent partial loss of hearing in that ear. Only a "lot of trauma" could have caused the injuries A.E. exhibited, according to Dr. Chapman.

Before trial, the State filed a motion in limine relying on Missouri's rape shield statute, Section 491.015, RSMo. (2000), to prohibit Raines from "commenting on, arguing, introducing evidence of any matter relating to any prior sexual conduct of the alleged victim...." In response, Raines filed a "motion pursuant to Section 491.015 R.S.Mo. [sic]," seeking to admit evidence of A.E.'s "prior sexual conduct," namely, two prior false allegations of rape. The trial court granted the State's and denied Raines' motion around four months after Raines had filed his original motion. Raines moved the court to reconsider his motion, arguing that the rape shield statute did not apply because a prior false allegation of sexual conduct was not itself sexual conduct.

Raines referred to two supposedly false allegations of rape made by A.E. in both of his motions. The first, Raines claimed, was made when A.E. was 16 1/2 years old, when she provided a statement to the Pettis County Sheriff's Department in which she said that a man had raped her. A few days after making her statement, she wrote a note to the man expressing affection for him and saying that she had never "used a guy in that way before." There was no express mention of her statement to the Sheriff's Department. The second putatively false allegation was that A.E.'s husband at the time had raped and sexually assaulted her, which she made in a deposition and interrogatory relating to her dissolution action against her husband. Raines claimed that to his "knowledge, information[,] and belief," A.E. never filed a complaint against her husband with the police, and no charges were ever filed against him. Raines did not claim—and nothing in the record even hinted—that A.E. ever recanted this second allegation.

During his trial, Raines did not make an offer of proof of the relevancy of the testimony regarding these two prior allegations.

Raines was sentenced to five years for the assault and ten years on each rape count, to be served concurrently, and consecutive to the assault count. In Raines' motion for new trial, he states the court erred in overruling his motions pursuant to Section 491.015 to present evidence of the two prior allegations, which were relevant to the issue of her reliability and credibility. In his motion, he admits he was not attempting to present evidence of her prior sexual conduct and the statute should not exclude "evidence of her false statements."

On appeal, Raines raises two points: (1) there was insufficient evidence to convict the defendant of either offense; and (2) that the trial court denied his Sixth Amendment right to confront his accusers by misapplying the rape shield statute and not allowing him to cross examine A.E. as to alleged false accusations of rape made by her against other men.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, this court must accept as true all evidence favorable to the verdict and all reasonable inferences therefrom, ignoring all evidence and inferences that undermine the verdict. State v. Goudeau, 85 S.W.3d 126, 127 (Mo.App.2002). Here, the jury could believe all, none, or some of a witness's testimony. State v. Rose, 86 S.W.3d 90, 105 (Mo.App.2002). Trial courts have broad discretion to admit or exclude evidence, and review is for an abuse of discretion. State v. Mayes, 63 S.W.3d 615, 627 (Mo. banc 2001). An abuse of discretion exists when the trial court's decision is clearly against the logic of the circumstances before the court and is so arbitrary and unreasonable as to shock the sense of justice and indicate a lack of careful consideration. State v. Christeson, 50 S.W.3d 251, 261 (Mo. banc 2001). If reasonable persons can disagree about the propriety of the trial court's decision, the trial court did not...