Cordar v. State

538 So. 2d 1241, 1987 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 5372, 1987 WL 2551
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedOctober 27, 1987
Docket6 Div. 365
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 538 So. 2d 1241 (Cordar v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cordar v. State, 538 So. 2d 1241, 1987 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 5372, 1987 WL 2551 (Ala. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

TYSON, Judge.

Charles Eugene Cordar was indicted for rape in the first degree in violation of § 13A-6-61, Code of Alabama 1975. The jury found the appellant “guilty as charged in the indictment.” The trial judge then sentenced the appellant to life imprisonment in the State penitentiary as a habitual felony offender.

On the evening of November 1, 1986, the prosecutrix visited with her sister and the appellant, her brother-in-law, at their trailer located near Trafford, Alabama. Their trailer is situated in the same trailer park as the appellant’s father’s trailer and also the prosecutrix’s parents’ trailer. The prosecutrix lived with her parents.

The prosecutrix testified while at the appellant’s trailer that the appellant asked the prosecutrix to accompany him to his father’s trailer. The prosecutrix did not want to go, but her sister insisted. At the back door of the appellant’s father’s trailer the appellant asked to kiss the prosecutrix, but she refused. The appellant jerked her chin and kissed her. The prosecutrix then pushed the appellant away and “told him no.” (R. 34)

The prosecutrix then testified the appellant picked her up and carried her into the woods behind his father’s trailer. The prosecutrix told the appellant she wanted to go back to her sister’s (his wife) trailer. The appellant proceeded to remove the prosecutrix’s pants and underwear. The prosecutrix told the appellant she did not want to have sexual intercourse with him. The appellant then forced her to have sexual intercourse with him against her will. During the course of these events the appellant removed a sanitary napkin from the prosecutrix and threw it into the woods. When the appellant heard his wife calling for him at the front of his father’s trailer, he left the prosecutrix to go talk to his wife.

It should be noted there was some discrepancy in the prosecutrix’s testimony as to why she could not scream when the appellant carried her into the woods. She testified the appellant had his hand over her mouth. But then when asked later how this was done while he was carrying her, she stated that she could not scream because the appellant was kissing her. The prosecutrix only shrugged her shoulder when asked why she did not scream when the appellant laid her on the ground.

Also important to this point is the fact that the prosecutrix is mentally slow. The prosecutrix testified she attended special classes in school. The nurse who examined her at the hospital testified she could tell the prosecutrix was “mentally retarded” and her answers to questions were “child like.” (R. 92). The prosecutrix’s mother testified the prosecutrix attended special classes at school. Also at one point, when the State was questioning a neighbor about whether the prosecutrix was slow, the trial judge stated, “Obviously she is. I don’t know why you are going into it. We have all observed it.” (R. 219).

After the appellant went to see his wife, the prosecutrix began putting her clothes back on but could not find her shoe because it was dark. The appellant, after obtaining a flashlight, came back and helped the prosecutrix find her shoe. The prosecutrix was told by the appellant to tell no one what had happened.

Later the prosecutrix, the appellant and his wife returned to the appellant’s trailer. After staying a brief time, the prosecutrix went to another trailer in the trailer park. The appellant’s wife, the prosecutrix’s sister, came over to check on her. There the prosecutrix told her sister that the appellant had raped her.

The prosecutrix then returned to her parents’ trailer. The prosecutrix stated she began screaming because the appellant was coming after her with a steel pole and calling her names. The prosecutrix’s father asked her what had happened. She told her father that “Charles raped me.” (R. 57). Upon seeing the prosecutrix’s father, the appellant left.

The police were called. The prosecutrix was taken to Cooper Green Hospital where [1243]*1243she was examined by a registered nurse, Sandra Patterson. Patterson testified that there were no external signs of trauma either in the pelvic areas or the rest of the prosecutrix’s body. Patterson took several samples from the prosecutrix in the preparation of the rape kit which was later sent to Larry Hays, a forensic serologist with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, for analysis.

Ted Williams, the evidence technician for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, went to the scene of the crime. While there Williams photographed and collected a sanitary napkin. Williams delivered this to Larry Hays.

Larry Hays testified he examined the swabs from the prosecutrix’s rape kit and also her panties and blue jeans. Semen was found present on the swabs, panties and blue jeans. Hays stated that the appellant could have been the source of the semen. There was no evidence of semen on the clothing of the appellant.

Hays also testified that he did not examine the stain on the sanitary napkin because it had been wet for three days when it arrived and was not suitable for analysis due to the deterioration.

Stephen Drexler, a crime laboratory analyst for the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, then testified he examined the hairs found on the sanitary napkin and found they matched the “head hairs” taken from the appellant.

Other witnesses presented by the State testified concerning the chain of physical evidence. This testimony is not relevant to issues presented on appeal.

The appellant’s wife testified she walked down to the appellant’s father’s trailer with the appellant and prosecutrix. His wife stated they all went into the appellant’s father’s trailer and stayed about 30 minutes. Then she, the appellant, and prosecu-trix went back to her own and the appellant’s trailer. She stated that the appellant and the prosecutrix did not leave the trailer during the 30 minute visit.

Christine Thrift, who lived next to the appellant’s father, testified she saw the appellant, his wife, and the prosecutrix walk up to the appellant’s father’s trailer. Then, about 25 minutes later she saw the same three people leaving the appellant’s father’s trailer.

The defense also called another witness whose testimony is not relevant to the issues presented on appeal. The appellant did not testify.

I

The appellant contends the trial court erred in not granting the appellant’s motion in limine to suppress evidence of a sanitary napkin found at the scene of the crime.

The appellant argues that the picture of a sanitary napkin and evidence of “head hairs” acquired from the sanitary napkin should be excluded because its probative value was substantially outweighed by its shocking and prejudicial effect upon the jury.

In appellant’s brief he cites a case which states: “The trial court may exclude evidence, even though it is relevant, when it would serve comparatively little or no purpose except to arouse passion, prejudice or sympathy of the jury.” Crook v. State, 469 So.2d 690, 694 (Ala.Crim.App.) cert. denied, 469 So.2d 690 (Ala.1985).

In this cause it was shown that the sanitary napkin was found at the scene of the crime, it contained hairs which matched hairs from the appellant’s head, and the prosecutrix testified the appellant removed it and threw it into the woods. This evidence was relevant and material to the issues involved.

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Related

Ex Parte Cordar
538 So. 2d 1246 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
538 So. 2d 1241, 1987 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 5372, 1987 WL 2551, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cordar-v-state-alacrimapp-1987.