State v. Robinson
| Decision Date | 04 April 1961 |
| Docket Number | No. 17762,17762 |
| Citation | 119 S.E.2d 671,238 S.C. 140 |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE, Respondent, v. Charlie ROBINSON, Appellant. |
Jerry M. Hughes, Jr., Edward V. Mirmow, Jr., Orangeburg, for appellant.
Julian S. Wolfe, Sol., Orangeburg, Gressette & Gressette, St. Matthews, for respondent.
At a Court of General Sessions held in St. Matthews, South Carolina, in February 1960, Charlie Robinson, the appellant herein, was indicted by the Grand Jury of said County and charged with (1) rape, (2) assault with intent to ravish, and (3) assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. The indictment alleged the crimes took place in Calhoun County, South Carolina, on December 5, 1959. The appellant was duly arraigned upon said indictment, and being without counsel, a plea of not guilty was entered for him by the Presiding Judge, and thereafter, counsel was appointed to defend the said appellant. Upon motion duly made and heard in Calhoun County, the venue of this case was changed to Orangeburg County.
The appellant, Charlie Robinson, a Negro, who resided near Cameron, South Carolina, was tried at a special term of the Court of General Sessions held in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, commencing on June 29, 1960. He was convicted of rape and sentenced to death. Section 16-71, 16-72, of the 1952 Code of Laws of South Carolina. Following the conviction, a motion for a new trial was made, heard and denied. Timely notice of intention to appeal to this Court was given.
It appears from the evidence that the prosecutrix, a white woman, fifty-eight years of age at the time of the trial, was employed in Cameron, South Carolina, in the office of her son, who was a cotton broker, gin operator and a farmer. She was a widow and lived alone in the family residence located on Highway No. 176, in the town of Cameron. The prosecutrix went to bed at about 1:00 o'clock on the morning of December 5, 1959, an occupied an upstairs bedroom. At approximately 5:00 o'clock she was awakened by her feet being grabbed by a man, who first inquired if she had any money. He was told that the money she had was downstairs in her den. It was then that the intruder announced his purpose of having sexual relations with her and told her, 'If you turn on a light I will kill you.' He then placed his hands around her neck and told her if she screamed he would kill her. She testified that this man assaulted her twice, without her consent and against her will, because of the force used and the threats made. After the prosecutrix had been assaulted twice, she was forced to put on her pajamas and bedroom slippers and to accompany him downstairs to the den and was required to turn over to him certain money which consisted of a five dollar bill and two ten dollar bills. While downstairs, the intruder made the prosecutrix remove her pajamas and place them in a lavatory in the bathroom. She was allowed to get a coat from a downstairs closet and made to go out into the front yard of her house with her assailant. She testified that out in the yard she saw for the first time, that her assailant was a Negro man. She was able to see the appellant because it was approximately daylight and also because of the reflected light from a passing automobile. Positively identifying the appellant, she testified as follows:
The prosecutrix described her escape from the appellant, and in so doing she lost her bedroom slippers in her front yard, and ran barefooted to the house of a neighbor, where she related what had happened to her. At this neighbor's house, the prosecutrix was seen by her daughter-in-law. The daughter-in-law testified that when she got to the neighbor's house that her mother-in-law 'looked terrible, dishevelled, dirty, bruised, and was very nervous.' She testified that her mother-in-law was first seen by Dr. M. E. Borgstedt and, thereafter, by Dr. O. Z. Culler.
Dr. Borgstedt was called as a witness in behalf of the State and testified that he first saw the prosecutrix at the home of the neighbor above referred to, and that she was emotionally upset. Thereafter, the prosecutrix was removed from the home of the neighbor above referred to and taken to the office of this physician, where he made a complete examination. He testified that he found a mucosal tear about one inch in length in the left lateral wall of the vagina. He further testified that he made a microscopic examination of the material found within the vagina and this showed the presence of male spermatozoa.
Dr. O. Z. Culler testified that on December 5, 1959, he examined the prosecutrix in the hospital in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He found her to be in a highly nervous state from an emotional standpoint. He further testified that he found a one inch laceration in the left side of the vaginal canal, such being sufficient to cause bleeding.
M. H. Rowell, Sheriff of Calhoun County, assisted in the investigation of this case. He testified that he arrived at the home of the Prosecutrix and found a pair of bedroom slippers in the front yard. He examined the bed of the prosecutrix and found it in disorder, with blood stains on the covering. He found a Pall Mall cigarette between the covers of the bed. The prosecutrix had previously testified that her assailant was wearing a light colored sport coat and light colored pants. The sheriff testified that when he saw the appellant he had on a grey colored sport coat and khaki pants. These clothes were identified and offered in evidence. The sheriff had previously turned the clothes over to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division for examination. He further testified that after the appellant was arrested and carried to the sheriff's office in St. Matthews, he examined the clothes worn by the appellant and observed stains on his underwear which resembleed blood stains. There were similar stains on the sport coat and on the inside of the fly and along the front of the trousers. There were likewise similar stains on the shorts worn by the appellant. He testified that he found two ten dollar bills and one five dollar bill in the pocket book of the appellant. He removed from the shirt pocket of the appellant a partly used package of Pall Mall cigarettes.
W. W. Swearingen, a member of the State Highway Patrol, assisted other officers in investigating this case. He says that he went to the home of the prosecutrix and shortly thereafter the appellant arrived in custody of another officer. He testified that the appellant told him that he had been to a 'juke joint' in Orangeburg County, just below Cameron, and that he had left this place with one David Zeigler, but on account of tire trouble the appellant left the car at a point approximately four hundred to five hundred feet west of the home of the prosecutrix. He further testified that he was present when the appellant removed his clothes in the office of the sheriff and he observed what appeared to be blood on the fly of the trousers of the appellant and on his shorts.
D. H. Rast, a Deputy Sheriff of Calhoun County, testified that he arrested the appellant about 7:10 a. m. while he was walking along Highway No. 176, about a mile from the residence of the prosecutrix. He testified that when he arrested the appellant he did not have on a hat but was wearing tan trousers and a light colored sport coat. The prosecutrix had testified that her assailant did not have on a hat and that he wore a light sport coat and light colored trousers. During the cross-examination of Deputy Rast by counsel for the appellant, he was asked, 'When you stopped he didn't attempt to run, did he?', and this witness answered, 'When I stopped, I asked him where he was going. He said, 'I am going to the probition office.' I said, 'This time of day?' He said, 'That's right."
James K. Wilson, a laboratory technician with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, testified that he examined the clothes of the appellant and found human blood on the shorts, coat and the trousers. This witness also testified that the blood he found on the clothes of the appellant was Type 'O'. There was also testimony by A. H. Carroll, a medical technologist, and by Dr. F. H. MacCauley, that a sample of blood was drawn from the prosecutrix and an examination showed that it was Type 'O Positive'.
J. Frank Faulk, an officer with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, assisted in the investigation of this case and made a number of photographs taken at the residence of the prosecutrix. One of these photographs showed the front yard area of the home of the prosecutrix and the two bedroom slippers on the ground. Another photograph was of the downstairs bathroom and showed a pair of pajamas in the lavatory.
Dave Zeigler testified that he, the appellant, Jimmy Glover, and Cudney Haynes, had visited Praelleau Funchess' place and that they left this place after midnight on December 5, 1959. This witness testified that he left the appellant out of his car about two or three o'clock at the same place pointed out in the testimony of W. W. Swearingen, and the appellant started walking in the direction of the home of the prosecutrix.
At the close of the testimony in behalf of the State, the appellant, through his counsel, announced that he would offer no testimony. The appellant made a motion for a directed verdict on the ground that there was a lack of evidence to prove the crime of rape. This motion was refused by the Trial Judge. The evidence in behalf of the State was sufficient to require the Trial Judge to overrule the motion for a directed verdict and submit to the jury the question of the guilt of the appellant.
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