State v. Smith

• Citation: 314 S.W.3d 802
• Decision Date: 29 June 2010
• Docket Number: No. ED 92056.,ED 92056.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Steven E. SMITH, Appellant.

314 S.W.3d 802

STATE of Missouri, Respondent,
v.
Steven E. SMITH, Appellant.

No. ED 92056.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Division Two.

June 29, 2010.

314 S.W.3d 803

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

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Margaret M. Johnston, Columbia, MO, for appellant.

Shaun J. Mackelprang, Assistant Attorney General, Jefferson City, MO, for respondent.

PATRICIA L. COHEN, Judge.

Introduction

Steven Smith (Defendant) appeals from the judgment of the Circuit Court of St. Charles County convicting him of forcible rape, forcible sodomy, assault in the second degree, felonious restraint, and three counts of armed criminal action. Defendant claims that the trial court erred in sustaining the State's objections to: (1) the admission of evidence of prior consensual sexual conduct between Defendant and the victim (S.F.); (2) Adrian Smith's testimony regarding S.F.'s poor reputation for truthfulness; and (3) Darryl Southard's testimony regarding S.F.'s poor reputation for truthfulness. We affirm.

Background

Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence at trial revealed the following: Defendant was married to S.F.'s mother before she died from cancer on July 12, 2006. At the time of her mother's death, S.F. was twenty-nine years old.

On the morning of October 6, 2006, S.F. received a phone call from Defendant who sounded "really down." Subsequently, S.F. drove to the trailer park where Defendant lived and picked him up. During the day, S.F. brought Defendant along to visit with family members and run errands before returning to Defendant's trailer home that afternoon. While at Defendant's trailer, the two talked and drank alcoholic beverages.

Later in the evening, S.F. decided to spend the night at Defendant's trailer and fell asleep on the loveseat in the living room. In the middle of the night, S.F. felt Defendant playing with her hair and trying to kiss her. S.F. asked Defendant to leave her alone because she was trying to sleep. Defendant told her to take off her clothes. S.F. thought Defendant was "kidding around" and again told him to leave her alone. Defendant then pulled out a knife and instructed S.F. to "take off your clothes or I'm going to slit your F-ing

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throat." Still unsure whether Defendant was serious, S.F. told him to leave her alone. Defendant then started "stabbing" at S.F. and held the knife to S.F.'s throat and said, "I told you to take off your fucking clothes."

S.F. began to remove her clothes. As she took off her sweatshirt, S.F. noticed that her white t-shirt was "full of blood" and that blood was running down her arms, legs, and stomach. S.F. realized that she had been stabbed in her left breast and upper left arm.

Defendant ordered S.F. into his bedroom. Once in the bedroom, Defendant had S.F. remove the rest of her clothes. Defendant then instructed S.F. to lie down on the bed and spread her legs. By this point, S.F. was "screaming", "bawling", had "snot rolling down her nose", and "could hardly breathe." S.F. sat on the bed, but when she would not open her legs, Defendant climbed on top of S.F., forced her legs open, and put his penis in her vagina. While having sex, Defendant held the knife to S.F.'s throat. Later, Defendant turned S.F. over and penetrated her vagina from behind.

S.F. attempted on several occasions to escape from Defendant's trailer. The first time, S.F. attempted to exit through the back door while Defendant was in the kitchen grabbing cigarettes, but the door was locked. On the second attempt, S.F. tried to leave through the front door, but it was also locked. When Defendant caught S.F. attempting to escape through the front door, a struggle ensued. A lamp was knocked off a table and a recliner was flipped over. Eventually, Defendant grabbed S.F. by her hair and, with the knife, ordered S.F. back to the bedroom. While back in the bedroom, Defendant instructed S.F. to lie on the bed and Defendant put his mouth on S.F.'s vagina.

Defendant returned to the kitchen, and S.F. managed to escape from the trailer. S.F. ran naked to the neighbor's trailer "banging" on the door "screaming help, help!" The neighbors, however, were out of town. Defendant caught up to S.F. and grabbed her by the hair and started dragging her back to his trailer, while holding a butcher's knife.

Tim Russell, who lived in one of the neighboring trailers, heard the "banging" and "yelling" outside. Mr. Russell went outside and saw Defendant dragging S.F. by her arm. S.F. was naked and Defendant was holding a knife in his hand. Mr. Russell saw S.F. "trying to get away" from Defendant. Mr. Russell went back in his trailer and had someone call the police.

Back in his trailer, Defendant ordered S.F. into the bedroom. Defendant told S.F., I was "going to let you go, but now that I got to looking at your tits ... it's not going to happen."

S.F. managed to escape the trailer a second time. This time, S.F. ran to Mr. Russell's trailer. S.F. beat on the door yelling for the people inside to help her. Mr. Russell opened the door and let her inside to wait for the police to arrive. S.F. was still naked and had blood on her.

Soon thereafter, police officers arrived at the scene and entered Defendant's trailer. The officers saw a lamp lying on the floor and other items "strewn about in the living area." Then, the officers heard Defendant announce that he was in the bedroom. As the officers entered the bedroom, they saw Defendant lying on the bed with a "folding knife protruding from the center of his chest." The officers asked Defendant what had happened, and Defendant told the officers to leave him alone so he could die. Other than the knife wound, the officers did not observe any other injuries on Defendant. Defendant made a statement to the officers where he said

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that he had "stabbed the girl and stabbed himself."

Paramedics arrived at Defendant's trailer and treated Defendant. The paramedics observed that there was no bleeding from Defendant's knife wound. The paramedics also noticed blood on the pillow in the bedroom where Defendant was, but the amount of blood was substantially greater than any attributable to the visible wounds on Defendant. After the paramedics transported Defendant to the hospital, doctors discovered a wound on one of Defendant's arms in addition to the knife wound in his chest. Both injuries were "superficial" and were treated with steri-strips—"butterfly bandages." The doctors noticed that Defendant was "behaving in an intoxicated manner." Defendant's toxicology report tested positive for cocaine and showed a blood alcohol level of .246%.

At the trailer park, the police officers also found S.F. at Mr. Russell's home. The officers noticed that S.F. was "shaking" and "crying" and that she had "fresh" cuts on her left arm and chest. Paramedics transported S.F. to a hospital where hospital personnel treated her stab wounds and administered a rape kit. S.F.'s stab wounds were one to two centimeters deep. The rape kit revealed that, in addition to the stab wounds, S.F. had bruises to her neck and right buttock and she had some redness on the base and opening of her vagina and an abrasion on her cervix.

Following the incident, the police arrested Defendant. Subsequently, a grand jury charged Defendant by indictment of forcible rape, forcible sodomy, second degree assault, felonious restraint, and three counts of armed criminal action.

Prior to his trial, Defendant filed a motion seeking to offer evidence of prior consensual sexual conduct between himself and S.F. as evidence that S.F. consented to sex on October 7, 2006. See Mo.Rev.Stat. § 491.015.1(1) (2000).¹ In support of the motion, Defendant testified during a pre-trial hearing that he had consensual sexual intercourse with S.F. on three separate occasions between two months and six weeks prior to the date of the charged offenses. Defendant also testified that he had told his friend, Daryl Southard, about the first and third occasions. Defendant further stated that he called Mr. Southard on the day of the crime and told him that S.F. was at his house and they would probably have sex again. Mr. Southard testified at the hearing and stated that Defendant had told him about his sexual encounters with S.F. After the hearing, the trial court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law denying Defendant's motion.

At the pre-trial hearing, Mr. Southard also testified as to his opinion that S.F. had a poor reputation for truthfulness. The trial court sustained the prosecution's objection to Mr. Southard's testimony, and the defense did not attempt to call Mr. Southard at trial.

At trial, the State called S.F., who testified as to the events that occurred on October 6, 2006 and the morning of October 7, 2006. The State also called the neighbor, Mr. Russell, the responding police officers, the paramedics, the doctors who treated Defendant's and S.F.'s wounds, and the nurse who administered the rape kit.

After the State rested, the defense called Adrian Smith to testify as to his opinion of S.F.'s poor reputation for truthfulness in the community. Mr. Smith testified that he was S.F.'s ex-boyfriend who, at one point, had lived with S.F., S.F.'s mother, and Defendant for approximately

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three months. Defense counsel asked Mr. Smith about his opinion of S.F.'s reputation for truthfulness, and Mr. Smith stated that she was not truthful. The State objected to Mr. Smith's testimony and the trial court sustained the objection

Defendant testified on his own behalf. According to Defendant, he and S.F. had consensual sex on the night in question. Defendant testified that S.F. had called him on the morning of October 6, 2006, and that they ran errands before returning his trailer. At his trailer, he performed oral sex on S.F. and then they had sexual intercourse. Defendant said that after he and S.F. had sex, S.F. became upset. Defendant testified that he and...