State Of Washington, Res/cross-app. v. Amos K. Gyau, App/cross-res.

Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided July 20, 2015·No. 71013-3·Unpublished

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION ONE

STATE OF WASHINGTON, No. 71013-3- o-

Respondent, o

v. UNPUBLISHED OPINION AMOS K. GYAU, Appellant. FILED: July 20, 2015 Schindler, J. — The State charged Amos K. Gyau in juvenile court with rape in the second degree. Following a bench trial, the court found Gyau guilty of rape as charged. Gyau seeks reversal arguing the court erred in failing to find the State proved lack of consent "beyond a reasonable doubt" and finding the victim's "suicide attempt and psychological problems" as a result of the rape corroborated her testimony. Gyau also argues the court abused its discretion in transferring the charges filed in juvenile court for prosecution as an adult. We conclude the record establishes the State proved lack of consent and forcible compulsion beyond a reasonable doubt, and the court did not err in considering evidence of trauma to the victim as a result of the rape or in declining jurisdiction. We affirm.

FACTS

The court entered extensive findings of fact. Gyau challenges only one of the findings. The other unchallenged findings of fact are verities on appeal. State v. O'Neill, 148 Wn.2d 564, 571, 62 P.3d 489 (2003).

On September 10, 2011, 19-year-old Y.P. arrived in the United States from Hong Kong on a student visa to attend Edmonds Community College (ECC). Y.P. had never been to the United States before and her English was "not very good."

On September 21, Y.P. encountered 17-year-old Amos K. Gyau at the ECC gym.

Gyau was enrolled in a GED1 program at ECC.

On September 23, Y.P. ran into Gyau again at the ECC gym. Y.P. mentioned she needed to buy a history book and a "driving book." Gyau told Y.P. he could loan her the books she needed. Gyau took Y.P. to his cousin Maxwell Anyimah-Mensah's house "under the pretense of loaning her [the books]." Anyimah-Mensah and his girlfriend were at home when Gyau and Y.P. arrived. Gyau and his cousin went into another room to talk while Y.P. sat on a couch and did homework.

After Anyimah-Mensah and his girlfriend left, Gyau called out to Y.P. to come upstairs so he could give her the books. When Y.P. got upstairs, she saw Gyau standing in the doorway of his cousin's bedroom wearing a grey terry cloth bathrobe. Y.P. tried to go back downstairs but Gyau grabbed her left arm and pushed her inside the room and onto the bed.

When Y.P. yelled for help, Gyau increased the volume on the television in the room. Gyau held Y.P.'s wrists over her head with one hand and used his other hand to pull up her skirt. Y.P. "struggled to get away" but Gyau was "significantly larger and General education development.

stronger than Y.P." Y.P. weighed approximately 100 pounds and was less than five feet tall. Gyau was "a weight lifter and a body builder" and was approximately five foot nine inches tall with a "muscular build."

Gyau told Y.P. to "keep quiet" and struck her with his free hand. Gyau moved Y.P.'s underwear to one side and put his penis in her vagina. Y.P. was breathing "very, very fast" and "decided to fake an asthma attack." Gyau eventually stopped and got Y.P. some water from a nearby table. When Y.P. took a couple of steps toward the door, Gyau grabbed her arm, pushed her back onto the bed, and continued to rape her. When Y.P. tried to yell, Gyau covered her mouth with his hand "very hard."

Y.P. began to have trouble breathing and could not move her arms or legs. Y.P.

was able to push Gyau's hand away from her mouth "a little bit." Y.P. told him she was having chest pains. Y.P. then pretended to be unconscious. Gyau tried to revive her by "pounding" on her chest. Y.P. told Gyau she needed her medication and pretended to pass out again. Gyau carried Y.P. downstairs and put her on the couch. Y.P. asked Gyau to call 911 and promised not to "tell people what [he] did to [her]." After Y.P. pretended to pass out again, Gyau called 911 and said that "his girlfriend was having an asthma attack."

Emergency medical personnel arrived approximately two minutes later. When paramedics entered the home, Y.P. was laying "face down, on the ground in between the couches and living room." Y.P. was "hyperventilating and crying." Y.P. was experiencing "carpopedal spasms," causing cramping of the hands and feet and the muscles in her body to go numb. While the paramedics were examining Y.P., she stopped breathing and lost consciousness. Once Y.P. was in the ambulance, she told the paramedics that "she had gone over to the house to get a book for school and that [Gyau] had forced her to have sex with him when she did not want to."

Gyau told the paramedics that Y.P. was his girlfriend and that they had been dating for several weeks. Gyau denied having sex with Y.P. The paramedics contacted the police.

At the hospital, Y.P. agreed to a sexual assault examination and spoke with Lynnwood Police Department Detective Josh Kelsey. Y.P. was "very emotional" but was eventually able to tell the detective that Gyau "promised to loan" her a book, and when he called her upstairs to give her the book, he "threw her on the bed and raped her." Y.P. provided a detailed description of the bedroom, including the fact that there were five mirrors in the room and that there were two beds, "but she thought one was a couch or sofa bed."

Detective Jacqueline Arnett and Detective Rodney Cohnheim interviewed Gyau and took a sample of his DNA.2 On November 1, Y.P. tried to kill herself. While in the hospital, Y.P. talked about other assaults. In early December, Detective Arnett interviewed Y.P. about the other assaults. Y.P. described being repeatedly followed and attacked by an unknown male while she was walking home from the bus in mid-October. Detective Arnett did not conduct any additional investigation regarding these alleged assaults because Y.P.

"seemed really confused and vague and couldn't give . . . any description on any level."

The State charged Gyau in juvenile court with rape in the second degree. The State filed a motion for a mandatory decline hearing to determine whether to transfer

jurisdiction of the charge against Gyau to adult court.

2 Deoxyribonucleic acid.

On January 18, 2012, the juvenile court held a decline hearing. The State submitted the certification of probable cause, Lynnwood Police Department incident reports, a "Decline of Jurisdiction Report" prepared by juvenile court probation counselor Aiko Barkdoll, and a "Forensic Psychological Evaluation" prepared at Gyau's request by licensed psychologist Dr. Brent Oneal.

Barkdoll recommended transferring to adult court. In the psychological evaluation, Dr. Oneal described Gyau's experience growing up in Ghana and moving to the United States in 2009. While attending high school in the United States, Gyau was suspended multiple times for fighting, bringing alcohol to school, and sexually harassing a female student. In April 2011, Gyau was expelled for sexually harassing a female student and threatening a school administrator. Gyau's juvenile justice history indicates he successfully completed a diversion for theft in the third degree in 2010 and a diversion for assault in the fourth degree in 2009 for being "physically aggressive toward a similar-age female student." Gyau also had a pending harassment charge related to the 2011 threats against the school administrator. Dr. Oneal concluded Gyau was "more sophisticated and mature than peer-aged youth" and while there were services available through the juvenile system for Gyau, he "is at a high risk for future violence and the likelihood that [he] would utilize said systems adequately is unclear."

The court entered extensive written findings of fact and conclusions of law and transferred jurisdiction of the charge against Gyau to adult court. After several continuances, trial was scheduled to begin on August 12, 2013. Before jury selection, Gyau waived his right to a jury trial.

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