State v. Ferdinand

371 S.W.3d 844, 2012 WL 1677038, 2012 Mo. App. LEXIS 678
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 15, 2012
DocketNo. WD 73610
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 371 S.W.3d 844 (State v. Ferdinand) 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. Ferdinand, 371 S.W.3d 844, 2012 WL 1677038, 2012 Mo. App. LEXIS 678 (Mo. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

CYNTHIA L. MARTIN, Judge.

Rickey Ferdinand (“Ferdinand”) appeals from the trial court’s judgment convicting him of forcible rape after a bench trial. Ferdinand contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss for violation of his right to a speedy trial and his motion to dismiss for violation of his due process rights in that (1) he was brought to trial seventeen years after his initial arrest, and' after the State had twice dismissed and re-filed the charges against him; (2) he demanded a speedy trial after the second and third filings of charges [847]*847against him; and (B) the State’s decision to twice dismiss and re-file the charges against him was an intentional device to gain tactical advantage. Ferdinand also claims that as a result of the delay in his ultimate prosecution, his ability to demonstrate the Victim’s motivation to lie was prejudiced because he was unable to locate a witness, and that he was required to serve more prison time because he was deprived of the opportunity to serve a concurrent sentence at an earlier point in time. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural History1

The material facts are undisputed. On August 19, 1993, Ferdinand was indicted and charged with forcible rape and sexual assault for events that occurred on March 18, 1993 (“the First Filing”). The Victim identified Ferdinand as her attacker. As part of the investigation, vaginal swabs were taken from the Victim in an effort to obtain DNA evidence. The trial court granted multiple trial continuance requests from both Ferdinand and the State in anticipation of obtaining DNA test results. The State’s final application for continuance was denied approximately two weeks prior to trial. On the day of trial, March 28, 1994, the State dismissed the charges.

On April 11, 1994, less than a month later, Ferdinand was again indicted and charged with forcible rape and sexual assault for the events that occurred on March 18, 1993 (“the Second Filing”). On July 29, 1994, Ferdinand filed a request for speedy trial. On August 1, 1994, the charges were dismissed after it was determined that the DNA test results were inconclusive.

The remainder of the DNA sample was archived and stored in the Kansas City Police Crime Laboratory’s freezer. In 2009, the sample was tested using new technology that was not available in 1993 or 1994. The test results identified Ferdinand as the source of the semen collected by the vaginal swabs.

On May 28, 2010, a third indictment was filed charging Ferdinand with forcible rape with a weapon, and sexual assault in the first degree, for the events that occurred on March 18, 1993 (“the Third Filing”). On June 4, 2010, Ferdinand filed a motion for change of judge. On July 9, 2010, a new judge was assigned. At a pre-trial conference on August 6, 2010, the cause was set for trial on February 14, 2011. On December 15, 2010, Ferdinand filed “Defendant’s Re-Assertion of His Right and Request for Speedy Trial” alleging that he had originally asserted this right on July 29, 1994 in connection with the Second Filing. Approximately one month later, Ferdinand filed a motion to dismiss on due process grounds and a motion to dismiss on speedy trial grounds.2

On February 9, 2011, the trial court held an evidentiary hearing on Ferdinand’s motions. Dawn McClinton (“McClinton”), an investigator with Ferdinand’s attorney’s office, testified that she tried to locate witness Donald Collier (“Collier”), as the Victim reported that the alleged rape had occurred at his home. McClinton testified that in an effort to locate Collier, she contacted Jackie Ferdinand (“Jackie”), [848]*848Collier’s ex-girlfriend3 and Ferdinand’s sister, on two occasions. Jackie informed McClinton that she still saw Collier from time to time. McClinton gave Jackie her card and instructed her to have Collier contact her if Jackie saw him. McClinton never heard from Collier. McClinton stated that she searched Collier’s name in Case.net but multiple “Donald Colliers” came up. Since McClinton did not have any other identifiers such as Collier’s date of birth or his middle initial, her search ended there. McClinton stated that if she had located Collier, she would have asked him if he remembered whether the Victim and Jackie had spent the night at his house on the night of the incident,4 and if he remembered anything else about the night of the incident. Ferdinand’s counsel also informed the trial court that if Collier had been found, McClinton would have asked him about an allegation that the Victim stole money from Collier on the night of the alleged rape. Ferdinand argued that the Victim may have fabricated the rape allegation solely to deflect blame from her alleged theft.

Jackie testified during the hearing on Ferdinand’s motions that she remembered nothing about the events of March 18, 1993. Jackie testified that she did not remember the Victim, the Victim accusing Ferdinand of rape, Ferdinand going to jail, or talking to the police about the incident. Even after reading the police report where she purportedly gave the police consent to search her bedroom and reported that she believed the Victim stole money from Collier and lied about the alleged rape, Jackie did not recall anything about the incident. Jackie testified that she had been using marijuana and PCP on a regular basis from some time prior to 1993 through the present.

Rick Knight (“Knight”), an assistant prosecuting attorney, testified that he had been assigned Ferdinand’s case in 1993 and handled it in 1994. Knight testified the First Filing was continued multiple times by both the State and Ferdinand while the parties awaited DNA results. Knight testified that DNA evidence would make the ease stronger if it identified Ferdinand and believed it was needed to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Because the DNA evidence was not available by the date of trial, the First Filing was dismissed.

Knight testified that after the Second Filing, the DNA test results came back “inconclusive.” At that point, the State’s evidence was limited to the testimony of the Victim. Ferdinand denied that he even knew the Victim. Knight thus testified that without DNA evidence, he felt there was not enough evidence to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. He conceded that the decision to dismiss is a matter of prosecutorial discretion, and noted that “You want to proceed on a case where you feel you have sufficient evidence to not only get to the jury, but prove [guilt] beyond a reasonable doubt.” Knight testified that in deciding whether to proceed with a case, he considers “whether the evidence will get a convic[849]*849tion, will satisfy the community, and will be fair to the defendant.”

Frank Booth (“Booth”) testified that in August 1993, he was a chemist with the Kansas City Police Crime Laboratory and reviewed the evidence collected (a rape kit containing the vaginal swabs and a condom). Booth tested the DNA twice. Both tests resulted in no conclusive DNA profile. The testing that Booth used in 1993 was referred to as “RFLP,”5 the original DNA testing available in the scientific community. RFLP was still considered a new science in 1993.

Booth testified that the remaining DNA sample was archived in the laboratory freezer in the event future technology might be able to derive further information.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
371 S.W.3d 844, 2012 WL 1677038, 2012 Mo. App. LEXIS 678, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ferdinand-moctapp-2012.