Villafranco v. State, s. 40359
| Decision Date | 16 February 1984 |
| Docket Number | 40360 and 40498,Nos. 40359,s. 40359 |
| Parties | Guadalupe VILLAFRANCO, III v. The STATE. Carlos VILLAFRANCO v. The STATE. Jeffrey Lamar DAVIS v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Martin S. Jackel, Savannah, for Carlos Villafranco.
Spencer Lawton, Dist. Atty., David T. Lock, Asst. Dist. Atty., Savannah, for the State.
William A. Dowell, Hudson and Galloway, Savannah, for Jeffrey Lamar Davis.
John Wright Jones, Noble L. Boykin, Jr., Jones, Bordeaux & Associates, P.C., Savannah, George M. Hubbard, Calhoun, Hubbard, Riddle, & Cox, P.C., Savannah, for Guadalupe Villafranco, III.
Guadalupe Villafranco, his brother Carlos, and Jeffrey Davis were tried by a jury and convicted of rape. 1 They appeal, arguing that in two respects the trial court misconstrued Georgia's rape shield statute, OCGA § 24-2-3 (Code, § 38-202.1), thereby erroneously excluding evidence relevant to their defense. They argue in the alternative that if the trial court correctly construed the statute, it is unconstitutional because it violates their right to confrontation as guaranteed by the sixth amendment to the United States Constitution. (Code Ann. § 1-806) Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974).
Norma Jean Carter testified that she met the complaining witness, Betty Edwards, age 22, on the afternoon of August 2, 1982, and they decided to go out that evening after Edwards got off work. Shortly before eleven they went out, stopping at two places where they had one beer each before going to the lounge at a Savannah motel. According to Carter, at the lounge the victim began drinking mixed drinks and walking from one table to another. Carter saw an old friend, Roger Moore, a state trooper, and asked him to help her get Edwards home. He agreed. When Carter, Moore and Edwards left the motel, Edwards was tipsy and not in condition to drive. Moore and Carter managed to get her car keys away from her. Meanwhile Edwards began talking to a man in a white car who said he was going to a party. She wanted to go too but Carter insisted on taking her home. As they got into Edwards' car she called Carter a bitch, for which she then apologized, and said that Moore and Carter had fouled her up. 2
Carter, who was driving, was unused to shifting gears. After she had been driving a short distance, it cut off and she pulled over. By then Carter was upset and crying so she asked Moore to drive. When Carter got out, Edwards moved into the driver's seat but Moore took the keys from her. According to Carter's testimony, Edwards got out of the car and pushed Carter several times. Then Edwards started running into the road but Moore grabbed her by the upper arm and stopped her. At that point, the three defendants and a friend drove up in their car. They were cordial. One of them told Carter, who was crying and very upset, "Don't cry, we'll help take care of you." Edwards got in their car voluntarily. They all drove off, the defendants with Edwards in their car following Moore and Carter. The defendants then turned around; Moore turned too and followed them, flashing the lights. When they kept going, Carter decided to just go get her car; she assumed that Edwards had asked the boys to take her to the party. She and Moore drove to Edwards' home where they left Edwards' car and picked up hers.
Roger Moore testified that he was at the motel lounge and Carter asked him to join her, that they all left together, and that Edwards was in no condition to drive. Carter started driving but the car stalled. When they pulled over Edwards moved over to drive, but he took the keys away from her. The defendants came by and offered help; he told them he thought he had the situation under control but they stopped anyway. He heard Edwards ask them about taking her to a party. He thought she needed to go home so he asked the defendants to help him get her in her car. While they were talking with Edwards and trying to get her into her car, he went around to the other side of the car to calm down Carter, who was crying and scared. When he came back, Edwards was in the defendants' car. Realizing that he probably couldn't get her into her own car, he asked them to follow him and take her home; they agreed. They followed for 2 or 3 miles but then they turned around. He turned around too and flashed his bright lights at them. He also memorized the tag number. Carter said they were probably going to the party, so he proceeded to take Carter to get her car. He left Edwards' car at her home with the keys on the floorboard.
Edwards testified that she, Moore and Carter left the motel at about 1 a.m. She was tipsy but not drunk. She was not satisfied with the way Carter was driving her car. When Carter pulled over, they all got out and were discussing who would drive and arguing over it a little bit. The defendants pulled up and offered to help. She got in their car because Carter and Moore thought it would be best if she rode with them. They were to take her home, but they turned around before they got there and drove to Big John's Pond. When they turned around they mentioned going to a party and she said no, that she had to go home because she had to get up to go to work. Then they said they'd go to Big John's and have their own party and she said no, she had to go home because she had to go to work. They drove to Big John's, however, where they pushed and pulled her out of the car. They went down an enbankment; then, despite her fighting and hollering, they took her pants off, held her arms and legs down, and raped her. At one point whoever was trying to hold her feet down twisted her ankle. She continued to scream real loud until someone put his hand over her mouth and said they had a knife and that if she didn't stop screaming they would put it through her throat. She was lying on the ground, not on a blanket or sheet. She was assaulted six times; she was unsure who assaulted her when, except that after the fifth time they appeared to have left when Guadalupe Villafranco came back and raped her again. After they left, she found her drawers and one shoe, dressed and walked home, a distance of some six miles. She retrieved her car and drove to a friend's home. They took her to the hospital. She originally told the police she had been raped by six men but that was because she had been raped six times and was distraught at that interview. She identified each of the defendants as having raped her; she also testified that she was not positive that the fourth person in the car, Glen Page, had not raped her. The state introduced into evidence the bluejeans, underpants, bra and blouse identified as having been worn by Edwards.
A doctor who examined Edwards when she reached the hospital in the early morning hours of August 3 testified that her right breast and right arm were bruised, that she had twisted her left ankle and it was swollen, and that there was a small tear on the outside of her vagina.
Each of the defendants testified. According to them, the three of them and Glen Page had shared a bottle of rum, which they drank with Coke, earlier that evening. Because they were all minors at the time (Guadalupe Villafranco was 16, Carlos Villafranco and Glen Page were 15, and Jeffrey Davis was 14), they had asked someone to buy it for them. On their way home, they saw a car with its hazard lights on. They stopped and asked if they could help. Moore first said no but then he said yes and asked if they could take Edwards home. They agreed. Edwards kissed Guadalupe Villafranco while standing behind the car. As they drove away, she was sitting in Guadalupe's lap. Later she put her arm around Carlos and kissed him. Jeffrey Davis and Glen Page were in the back seat. Because she said they had missed a turn, they turned around; then she said they had missed a turn again and while they were turning the car around on a dirt road, she said she had to go to the bathroom. Guadalupe told her it was not a good place to stop but she insisted. She told them to drive on down and to stop near a ramp and she got out of the car. She went down off the ramp near the pond; the defendants got out of the car and stood on the ramp. She came back up, started talking to Guadalupe and kissing him, and then she led him down beside the ramp. He yelled out for Jeffrey Davis to go get a sheet. There was a sheet in the car that they had used when working on the car earlier that day. Davis went back to the car, where Glen Page was lying on the back seat, got the sheet, and threw it down to Guadalupe. In about 15 minutes, Guadalupe came up and told Carlos to go down to Edwards, which he did. In about 15 minutes Carlos came up and told Jeffrey Davis to go down, which he did. Each admitted having sex with Edwards. After they were through, they came back to the car. Edwards said she would not ride with them. Guadalupe argued with her, saying he was going to take her home, but she refused to go and they left her there.
The defendants and Glen Page all testified that Page did not have sex with Edwards. Glen Page testified that he did not do so because his sister had been raped. In describing the events of the night, he testified that they stopped to help when they saw the car pulled over. Guadalupe talked to Edwards, trying to get her to get back in the car so Moore could take her home. Finally they agreed that they would take her home. As they rode, Jeffrey Davis told him that they "were gonna fuck her and dump her." They drove to Big John's Pond. As they approached it on a dirt road, she said she had to "pee"; Guadalupe said, "You don't want to get out and pee here lady." When he stopped, however, she got out of the car on her own and went to use the bathroom. The other three boys also got out of the car. They were there about an hour. He got out three times and walked up to where they were. He heard...
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