State v. Stanton, 80A86
| Decision Date | 04 March 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 80A86,80A86 |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina v. William Foster STANTON. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen. by James Wallace, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Raleigh, for the State.
Malcolm Ray Hunter, Jr., Appellate Defender by Louis D. Bilionis, Asst. Appellate Defender, Raleigh, for defendant-appellant.
Defendant brings forward on appeal three issues, all relating to the admission of, or failure to admit, certain items of evidence. We find no error in defendant's trial and affirm his convictions and sentences.
The victim, Mary Jane Brown, returned to her apartment at Carolina Apartments in Maxton, North Carolina, at approximately 2:00 a.m. on the morning of 2 June 1985 following an all-day bus trip to King's Dominion, a recreational park in Virginia. She returned to Maxton at approximately 11:00 p.m. and stopped at her mother's to pick up one of her children. The other child spent the night at the grandmother's house. Upon reaching her apartment, she and the child took a bath and went to bed. The doors to her home were locked.
At approximately 4:45 a.m., while lying face down in her bed, she was awakened by the presence of someone on top of her, beating her across her head and face and threatening to kill her if she moved. Her attacker was attempting to have sexual intercourse with her. After pleading with her attacker, she was permitted to turn over. He then held her down and had forcible vaginal intercourse with her against her will. It was after she was allowed to turn over that she recognized her attacker as the defendant, whom she had known previously. A light from the kitchen shone into the bedroom and permitted her to see defendant's face. The defendant had previously lived in the same mobile home park as the victim, and though she had never spoken with him, she had seen him "a lot." The forced intercourse lasted about five minutes, and defendant then left the apartment. Mrs. Brown's pocketbook had been moved, and $50.00 was missing.
Mrs. Brown gathered up her child and drove to her mother's and told her what had happened. Her mother went to the police station and told officers what had happened. An officer accompanied her mother back to her house and spoke with the victim. He then accompanied her to the hospital, where a rape kit was prepared.
Upon returning to her apartment from the hospital and the police station, Mrs. Brown found that the screen to a front window had been cut. Mrs. Brown gave the officers a statement concerning the attack and identified defendant as the man who had raped her.
At the trial, Mrs. Brown testified to the details of the attack and again identified defendant as her attacker. Over defendant's objection, Mrs. Brown testified that fourteen weeks after the rape, she found out that she was approximately fourteen weeks pregnant. She then testified that she had not had intercourse with anyone but defendant during that time frame. Also, over defendant's objection, she testified that she obtained an abortion.
Officer Andre McPhaul testified that he took Mrs. Brown's statement to the effect that defendant had raped her, that he took her to the hospital for the preparation of the rape kit, and that he had sent it to the State Bureau of Investigation in Raleigh for analysis. Officer McPhaul went to defendant's house and spoke with defendant and his wife. Defendant voluntarily agreed to accompany Officer McPhaul to police headquarters for questioning. McPhaul testified that he read defendant his Miranda rights twice, but that defendant refused to sign the acknowledgment form.
No identifiable fingerprints were found in Mrs. Brown's apartment. SBI Agent Taub, a serology specialist, testified that semen was present in the rape kit swabs and that it originated from an AB secretor, a type which occurs in three percent of the nation's population. He testified that defendant's blood type was AB.
Maxton Police Chief Thompson testified that Mrs. Brown identified defendant at the police station on the morning of the attack as the man who raped her.
By his testimony, defendant denied any involvement. He offered alibi evidence through testimony of his wife, family members, and friends. He also offered the testimony of a neighbor of Mrs. Brown that she had seen a car pull up to Mrs. Brown's apartment on two occasions between 4:00 and 4:30 a.m. on 2 June 1985 and heard someone beating on her door.
Defendant first argues that the trial judge committed reversible error by permitting the victim to testify, over objection, that she became pregnant and had an abortion subsequent to the rape. He also argues that it was plain error for the trial judge to permit the victim to testify, even in the absence of any objection, that she was not having sexual intercourse with anyone else during that time.
The testimony in question occurred during direct examination of Mrs. Brown by the assistant district attorney after she had testified as to the actual penetration. The transcript reveals the following exchange:
Q. Now, after June the 2d, did you find out at a later date that you were pregnant?
A. Yes.
Q. (By Mr. Carter:) When did you find out you were pregnant?
A. I'm not sure of the date.
Q. When you found out you were pregnant, do you know how many weeks or months you were pregnant?
A. Yes.
Q. How many weeks were you pregnant?
A. Fourteen.
Q. And did you calculate as to how many weeks that was after you had been assaulted by the defendant?
A. Yes.
Q. How many weeks was it?
A. Fourteen.
Q. Okay. As a result of finding out that you were pregnant and fourteen weeks pregnant, what, if anything, did you do?
[Q. (By Mr. Carter:) Now, during the time you were assaulted by the defendant, were you dating anyone on a regular basis?]
A. No.
Q. Were you having sexual intercourse with anyone during that time?
A. No.] EXCEPTION NO. 3 NO OBJECTION STATED AT TRIAL
Defendant concedes the relevance of the evidence regarding the prosecutrix's pregnancy and abortion; he argues, however, that its probative value is far outweighed by its prejudicial effect. Defendant contends that evidence of the pregnancy and abortion added little if anything to the State's case because the evidence of the penetration was unequivocal. Defendant argues that this is precisely the sort of inflammatory evidence that Rule 403 of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence is calculated to exclude.
Rule 401 of our rules defines "relevant evidence" as "evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." Unquestionably, the determination of the fact of penetration is made more probable by evidence of the subsequent pregnancy and abortion. Indeed, the defendant concedes as much. Rule 402 provides, in effect, that all "relevant evidence" is admissible unless it is made inadmissible by constitutional provision, legislative act, or any other Rule of Evidence. Defendant argues that Rule 403 is the rule which prohibits the admission of this evidence. Even prior to the adoption of the Rules of Evidence, our case law had long recognized that certain circumstances call for the exclusion of evidence which was of unquestioned relevance. See 1 Brandis on North Carolina Evidence § 80 (1982 & Supp.1986), and cases cited therein. Rule 403 is the modern embodiment of that concept. Rule 403 provides as follows:
Although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.
We find nothing in Rule 403 that causes us to depart from our prior holdings that evidence merely disclosing a subsequent pregnancy is admissible as tending to prove penetration, an essential element of the crime of forcible rape. Our case of State v. Cross, 284 N.C. 174, 200 S.E.2d 27 (1973), is dispositive of the issue:
Defendant first contends the trial court erred in permitting the prosecutrix to testify over objection that she became pregnant as the result of the rape. Defendant says this testimony was offered only to excite sympathy for the prosecutrix and to play upon the passions and prejudices of the jury.
Rape is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. State v. Primes, 275 N.C. 61, 165 S.E.2d 225 (1969); State v. Overman, 269 N.C. 453, 153 S.E.2d 44 (1967). There must be penetration of the sexual organ of the female by the sexual organ of the male to constitute carnal knowledge in a legal sense, but the slightest penetration is sufficient. State v. Sneeden, 274 N.C. 498, 164 S.E.2d 190 (1968). The testimony of the prosecutrix concerning her pregnancy tended to show penetration, one of the elements of rape. Defendant's plea of not guilty placed upon the State the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt all the essential elements of the offense charged. Hence, evidence tending to prove penetration, an essential element of the offense, was properly admitted. State v. McNeil, 277 N.C. 162, 176 S.E.2d 732 (1970); State v. Perry, 275 N.C. 565, 169 S.E.2d 839 (1969); Annot., 62 A.L.R.2d 1083 (1958), and cases therein cited. Such testimony was also competent to corroborate the testimony of the prosecutrix that a male person had carnally known and abused her. See State v. Jones, 249 N.C. 134, 105 S.E.2d 513 (1958).
Cross, 284 N.C. at 176-177, 200 S.E.2d at 29-30.
Mrs. Brown's simple statement that she had an abortion served the purpose of corroborating both the fact of penetration and the fact of her pregnancy. The mere fact that an...
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