State v. Roles, 18822
| Decision Date | 27 January 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 18822,18822 |
| Citation | 122 Idaho 138,832 P.2d 311 |
| Parties | STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Raymond Allen ROLES, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Idaho Court of Appeals |
Morton Law Offices and Nielson Law Offices, Boise, for defendant-appellant. Alan L. Morton and Gordon S. Nielson (argued).
Larry J. EchoHawk, Atty. Gen., Michael A. Henderson, Deputy Atty. Gen. (argued), for plaintiff-respondent.
In March, 1990, a jury found Raymond Allen Roles guilty of rape, I.C. § 18-6101, -6107; first degree kidnapping, I.C. § 18-4501, -4502; aggravated assault, I.C. § 18-901(b), -905(b); and one count of forcible sexual penetration with a foreign object, I.C. § 18-6608. Before sentencing, Roles moved for a new trial. He then substituted counsel who filed an amended motion for a new trial asserting the following grounds: the prosecution failed to disclose exculpatory information, Roles received ineffective assistance of counsel and the jury was not instructed on Roles's theory of the case. 1 The motion was denied. On each of the crimes of rape, kidnapping and forcible sexual penetration with a foreign object, Roles was given an indeterminate life sentence with a fifteen-year minimum period of incarceration. He received a fixed five-year sentence for aggravated assault. All sentences were to run concurrently.
Roles appeals, raising the following issues. Did the trial court err by admitting expert testimony that the victim (AB) exhibited symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? Were the jury instructions adequate? Is Roles entitled to a new trial based on his claim that he did not receive the effective assistance of counsel? Did the trial court err by failing to grant a new trial based on the state's belated disclosure of exculpatory evidence?
The state's evidence showed that AB and Roles had been dating for approximately a year and one-half prior to October 5, 1989, the day which gave rise to the charges. On October 5, AB and Roles were living together in a house owned by Roles's father. The two had attended a party where they used methamphetamine and drank alcohol. Later that evening they returned to their residence where AB informed Roles that she no longer wished to live with him and planned to move into a separate residence. AB told Roles that she did not want to bring him with her, as he had requested, partly because she was afraid of him. AB also informed Roles that she may be pregnant. According to AB's testimony, upon hearing about the possible pregnancy and her wish to move, Roles hit her in the face with his hand, threatened her life with a .22 caliber pistol and ordered her to disrobe. After she had complied, he tied AB's hands behind her back, tied her legs to opposite bed posts and taped her mouth shut. Roles then proceeded to beat her with a coat hanger and a leather belt and then raped her. AB also said that Roles threatened her with another weapon, a .30 caliber carbine. She also testified that Roles sexually penetrated her with foreign objects. According to AB's testimony, Roles verbally abused her throughout the ordeal.
AB further testified that she did not attempt to leave the house until the next evening because of her fear of Roles. She explained that Roles had threatened to kill her and her family and had bashed in her car windows approximately a week earlier. AB related that she tried to escape on foot the evening of October 6, but that Roles had found her and forced her into the car he was driving by pretending he had a gun in his pocket. They then returned to the house. Finally, on October 7, AB called her mother, who picked her up.
AB's mother and an uncle took her to a hospital on October 10 where she was examined by an emergency room physician, Dr. Takasaki. Dr. Takasaki testified that, during his examination, AB maintained a blank stare and would not respond to questions. Dr. Takasaki said that AB had purplish marks around her ankles, approximately one-half inch wide. She had scratches and a large bruise on the right side of her abdomen. AB also had bruises on her breasts, earlobes and extensive bruises on her inner and back thighs. AB was admitted to the medical unit and later transferred to the psychiatric unit.
Dr. Brem, a psychiatrist, examined AB at the request of Dr. Takasaki. He testified that she appeared "emotionally flat." He also testified that many of the symptoms exhibited by AB were consistent with drug withdrawal, but he opined that they were most consistent with acute PTSD. Dr. Brem also testified that if the incident to which AB testified had been against her will and perceived as an attack, then it would be the kind of triggering device that would result in PTSD.
A licensed social worker with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Rose Moore, also testified that AB suffered from PTSD. Moore, who was qualified as an expert, based her opinion on her observations of AB which began on October 31, 1989, and continued up to the time of trial. In her first meeting with AB, Moore noted that AB was tearful, had difficulty conversing and when she did talk, would wander between different subject-matters. AB related to Moore her trouble sleeping, partly caused by nightmares of the incident. Moore outlined the criteria of PTSD according to the DSM III-R, a diagnostic statistical manual widely accepted by mental health professionals and stated how AB met the criteria of that manual. Moore testified that the criteria for PTSD are: (1) the experience, or close observation, of a life-threatening event, (2) the persistent re-experience of the event in one of four ways and (3) the persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the event or the existence of a numbing of responsiveness.
Moore concluded AB suffered from PTSD because AB felt her life had been threatened during the incident and because AB re-experienced the incident through three out of the four recognized means. Moore testified that AB's re-experience was manifested through (a) recurrent and intrusive recollections of the event, (b) recurrent dreams of the event and (c) sudden acting or feeling as if the events were reoccurring or "affective flooding." Any one of these was sufficient to satisfy the second criterion, according to Moore. Finally, Moore testified that AB had tried to avoid thoughts and feelings associated with the incident and that she had a difficult time relating to Moore the facts, doing so only over a period of time.
Moore related that the symptoms AB exhibited are not just limited to people who have been in an abusive relationship, but are found whenever a person is subjected to extensive verbal and physical hardship, such as prisoners of war and people in certain religious cults. Defense counsel attempted to discredit Moore's testimony by showing that some of these same symptoms could have resulted from drug withdrawals or hallucinations. Furthermore, defense counsel noted psychiatric records reflecting that AB had suffered from auditory and visual hallucinations since childhood.
Police Detective Anderson also gave his opinion that AB had suffered from PTSD. Detective Anderson stated that he first met AB on October 17, 1989, and stated that she appeared to be very withdrawn, paranoid and traumatized. He based those conclusions on his observations that AB would curl up in a defensive posture in the corner and shake. On cross-examination, Detective Anderson stated that he did not know the source of AB's stress. He agreed that similar stress symptoms could be due to methamphetamine withdrawal, however, he stated that such withdrawals should last only three or four days.
In his defense, Roles presented alternative theories that the alleged events of October 5 either did not occur or were consensual. During cross-examination, Roles's counsel tried to discredit the state's witnesses and infuse into their testimony his theory that the activities had not occurred. Roles's counsel attempted to persuade the jury that AB's account of the activities of October 5 was either fabricated or a result of hallucinations in the mind of AB, due to drug withdrawals.
The defense called Mark Gornik to testify on the effects of illicit drugs. Gornik is a licensed alcohol and drug evaluator and an outpatient alcohol and drug counselor. Gornik had seventeen years of personal use regarding the effects of illicit drugs and, as brought out on cross-examination, was a convicted felon. Gornik testified that use of methamphetamines for a week or so could possibly result in delusions, blackouts, hallucinations and generally two other types of behavior: paranoia and seclusion or anger and aggressiveness.
Alternatively, defense counsel attempted to show that the events AB testified to were consensual. Roles's counsel elicited testimony from AB and Roles that they had engaged in what Roles now characterizes as "kinky" or strange sex prior to October 5, 1989. AB admitted consenting to "bondage" with Roles on a prior occasion and consenting to Roles's insertion of objects into her vagina on two or three prior occasions. Roles introduced this evidence in an attempt to show that the October 5 events described by AB were no less strange than the activities the two had consensually engaged in on prior occasions.
The defense also presented the testimony of a psychologist, Dr. Stoner, concerning sexual behavior. He stated that bondage and the insertion of foreign objects for sexual stimulation are relatively common, at least within the realm of deviant or unusual sexual practices. Dr. Stoner added that this behavior is typically, although not inevitably, consensual. Finally, defense counsel emphasized AB's delay in reporting the event and in leaving the house as further support for his theory that the incident was consensual.
The first issue raised by Roles is whether it was error...
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