State v. Ervin

723 S.W.2d 412, 1986 Mo. App. LEXIS 4899
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 4, 1986
DocketNo. WD 37151
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 723 S.W.2d 412 (State v. Ervin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Ervin, 723 S.W.2d 412, 1986 Mo. App. LEXIS 4899 (Mo. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

BERREY, Presiding Judge.

Appellant Kevin C. Ervin, defendant below, appeals his conviction for forcible rape.

The facts are these. On March 28, 1984, the fifteen (15) year old victim, A.P., overslept and missed her school bus. She lived at 47th and Prospect and had to get to her school on east 23rd street. She caught an ATA bus on Prospect and got off at 23rd [414]*414street. She walked west toward Lincoln Academy located at 2012 East 23rd Street, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri. She was accosted by defendant along the way. The defendant said “you dropped something by the pole” and when she looked around he said, “Don’t you see it?” A.P. responded in the negative, at which point defendant grabbed her and put something in her back. He told her to not make a scene and he started pushing her. Though she never saw a knife, she testified defendant said he was going to cut her up if she said anything. He asked for her name and she gave him a fictitious one. He then went through her wallet and got her name and took two dimes from her. Throughout A.P. was begging defendant to release her. He next forced her into an alley, removed her cheerleader skirt, her panties and raped her. He picked up a board and hit her on the head and she became dizzy. He struck her on the face with his hand or fist. Officer Rose Mitchell of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department responded to the area by a call from the dispatcher reporting a disturbance at 23rd and Brooklyn involving a black male and white female. When the officer arrived she saw a black male and white female walking westbound on 23rd between Park and Brooklyn.

The couple was stopped and the officer asked where they were going and got no response. A.P. looked down and then at the black male. The officer then saw a red mark on A.P.’s face and A.P. looked upset as her eyes were watery “as if she were going to cry.” Officer Oliver, backup for Officer Mitchell, took the negro male away and A.P. then told Mitchell what had happened. A.P. took the officer to the spot where she stated the rape occurred.

Willa Majors, a secretary at Lincoln Academy, testified she called the police in response to a citizen who came hurriedly into the office and reported that a black man and white girl were going down 23rd street; the black man had grabbed this girl’s arm as they were moving down 23rd street. Majors was asked to call the police and she did.

I

The first point raised by defendant alleges the trial court erred in denying the introduction of evidence showing the victim had gonorrhea at the time of the alleged rape. This evidence, according to defendant, would tend to prove that he did not rape the victim because he did not contract the disease. He further contends he was unable to effectively cross-examine Dr. Mike Weaver, the examining physician at St. Luke’s rape center, who testified to the victim’s symptomologies of tenderness and inflamation of the vaginal area often associated with aggressive sexual behavior; defendant states he could produce evidence showing these symptoms could also be consistent with gonorrhea. Thus, he asserts the refusal of the evidence of the victim’s gonorrhea amounts to a violation of his rights to compulsory process and to confront witnesses against him guaranteed by the United States and Missouri Constitutions.

A pretrial hearing was held concerning the admissibility of this evidence, and the judge denied defendant’s motion to allow the admission of the evidence. Defendant sought a writ of prohibition but it was denied by this court. The trial judge adopted the earlier decision made at the suppression hearing and the case was heard without the admission of the evidence.

Defendant alleges the evidence is admissible pursuant to § 491.015, RSMo 1978, known as the Rape Shield Statute. The pertinent statutory provisions urged by defendant read as follows:

1. In prosecutions for the crime of rape, ... evidence of specific instances of the complaining witness’ prior sexual conduct ... is inadmissible except where such specific instances are:
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(2) Evidence of specific instances of sexual activity showing alternate source or origin of semen, pregnancy or disease; and
[415]*415[[Image here]]
2. Evidence of the sexual conduct of the complaining witness offered under this section is admissible to the extent that the court finds the evidence relevant to a material fact or issue.

In the Supreme Court’s most recent pronouncement concerning the construction of these statutory provisions, the court re-examined its prior decisions in State v. Ray, 637 S.W.2d 708, 709 (Mo. banc 1982) and State v. Brown, 636 S.W.2d 929, 933 (Mo. banc 1982), holding the statute creates only a “presumption” that evidence of a victim’s prior sexual conduct is irrelevant, and found this was an erroneous statement of the law. State v. Jones, 716 S.W.2d 799 (Mo. banc 1986). The court stated that:

[S]ection 491.015 provides that evidence of specific instances of a victim’s prior sexual conduct is inadmissible except as provided in (1), (2), (3) and (4). In our view, Subsection 2 is directed only at the exceptions set forth in (1), (2), (3) and (4). Evidence offered under (1), (2), (3) and (4) is admissible only “to the extent that the court finds ... [it] relevant to a material fact or issue.” Insofar as they hold to the contrary, Brown and Ray should no longer be followed. If all “relevant” evidence were admissible, there would be no reason for (1), (2), (3) and (4).

(Emphasis added.) Thus, subsection 2 of paragraph 1 of the statute has no applicability to this case unless it is relevant to a material fact or issue.

In State v. Terry, 582 S.W.2d 337, 341 (Mo.App.1979) this court found the provision appropriate only when the victim claims the rapist gave her a certain disease; the subsection allows proof of alternative sources of the disease. The victim here made no allegations that she contracted the disease from the defendant.

Like the defendant in State v. Terry, supra, 582 S.W.2d at 341, defendant Ervin attempts to show the relevancy of this evidence by stating that his failure to contract this disease lends support to his claim of innocence; he asserts the defense that no intercourse took place. Unlike Terry, however, the defendant sub judice produced evidence that his test for gonorrhea taken six weeks after the rape occurred was negative. Whether this evidence is relevant within statutory provision is dependent upon whether its probative value outweighs its inflammatory and prejudicial nature; the decision of the trial court in answering this question will not be disturbed unless there is a abuse of discretion. State v. Ray, supra, 637 S.W.2d at 709.

Although relevant to a degree, its probative force does not transcend the “compounding of the unfortunate woman’s humiliation.” Terry, supra, 582 S.W.2d at 341. The evidence shows defendant was not tested for the disease until six weeks after the rape.

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Bluebook (online)
723 S.W.2d 412, 1986 Mo. App. LEXIS 4899, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ervin-moctapp-1986.