State v. Grey

268 P.3d 1218, 46 Kan. App. 2d 988, 2012 Kan. App. LEXIS 6
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedJanuary 20, 2012
DocketNo. 103,234
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 268 P.3d 1218 (State v. Grey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Grey, 268 P.3d 1218, 46 Kan. App. 2d 988, 2012 Kan. App. LEXIS 6 (kanctapp 2012).

Opinion

Hill, J.;

Robert E. Grey appeals his 2009 rape conviction, for a crime committed in 1997, and raises, among other issues, prosecutorial misconduct as a reason to reverse. The record discloses three instances of misconduct by the prosecutor. First, prior to trial, the State failed to disclose to Grey any additions made to previously disclosed expert reports despite being required by law to do so. Second, having consistently represented to the court and [989]*989defense counsel that the victim could not identify Grey as her rapist, the State failed to notify the court and the defense that the victim could indeed identify him, once the State was informed of the change. Third, the prosecutor here made comments in closing argument that are not supported by the evidence. Considering all of these actions together, we hold such misconduct to be gross and flagrant and it deprived Grey of a fair trial. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

The victim is picked up in a dormitory parking lot.

While attending the University of Kansas, L.S. was living at Naismith Hall in Lawrence in May 1997. After watching a 9 p.m. movie, L.S. and her boyfriend drove back to flue dormitory in separate cars. When L.S. entered the parking lot, she circled around to be closer to the door of the dorm. As she got out of her car, a man with a gun approached and told her to get back in her car. The man entered the driver s side of L.S.’s car and backed out of the parking lot.

L.S. testified later that when the man got in her car, she got a good look at him. L.S. described him as a Caucasian with dark hair and facial hair. L.S. said the man had a “dirty” odor and a scar on his right cheek. The man told L.S. to place her head between her knees, and L.S. complied. The man then drove to the Lawrence High School parking lot and told L.S. to get out. L.S. was then raped in a dark area near the school.

L.S. and the man returned to the car, and the man resumed driving. At some point, he got out of L.S.’s car and walked away, telling L.S. she should drive in the opposite direction. L.S. locked her doors and drove back to the dorm — where her boyfriend was, along with law enforcement officers. L.S. was taken to the hospital, where a sexual assault examination was performed. The officers recovered fingerprint evidence from the driver’s side door of L.S.’s car. Later, L.S. helped create a composite picture of her rapist.

Almost 10 years later, in August 2007, the police received information from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation indicating one of the fingerprints found on the car matched the fingerprints of a person named Robert Edward Grey. Officers then secured a search [990]*990warrant and collected a DNA sample from Grey. The police then contacted L.S. and told her the man who committed the rape had been found. The officer told L.S. that a fingerprint found on her car matched the fingerprint of Grey, who had been picked up on another charge.

What occurred before and during the trial is critical here.

The State charged Grey with the rape of L.S. in violation of K.S.A. 21-3502(a)(l)(A).

Prior to the trial in the case, defense counsel was under the impression that L.S. was unable to identify her rapist. At a motion hearing held on October 10, 2008, defense counsel noted the only evidence against Grey was DNA evidence and there had been “no identification” in the case. At a status conference held on April 24, 2009, the court considered defense counsel’s motion to dismiss the case due to the passage of time. Defense counsel stated that the case was “going to boil down to a victim that can’t identify the perpetrator.” Prior to the prehminary hearing, defense counsel informed the court that L.S. had been shown a photograph of Grey but her understanding was that L.S. did not recognize Grey. The State responded that “there was never identification” and it did not “anticipate there will ever be any kind of identification in Court on this matter.” (Emphasis added.)

So informed, in her opening argument at trial, defense counsel claimed L.S. had never identified Grey as her rapist. Nevertheless, when the State asked L.S. on direct examination whether she had ever seen Grey before, she responded that she had seen him on the night of the rape and then later at the prehminary hearing. L.S. explained that when the law enforcement officer called to tell her the police had found the person that had raped her, the detective told her a fingerprint taken off her car matched those of the suspect. L.S. said that prior to the prehminary hearing, she and the prosecutor looked at Grey’s mug shot. L.S. said she recognized Grey just from the picture. However, L.S. did not identify Grey as her rapist at the prehminary hearing because she was not asked to identify him. L.S. said she did not tell the prosecutor that she could identify Grey because it never “came up,” and the first time she [991]*991told the prosecutor she could identify Grey was “[y]esterday” (i.e., the first day of trial).

After L.S/s testimony, defense counsel moved for a mistrial. Defense counsel argued the State never gave her any indication that L.S. could identify Grey. Defense counsel explained that if the State had given her this information, she would have consulted with an identification expert and prepared her defense differently. Defense counsel noted that she had been operating “all along” on the assumption that L.S. could not identify her rapist and her opening statement was based upon this assumption. Defense counsel argued the State knew about L.S/s ability to identify Grey the day before but allowed defense counsel to base her opening statement on evidence the prosecutor knew to be different than the evidence previously presented to defense counsel.

The prosecutor responded that the day before, over the lunch break and during voir dire, L.S. first told her she could identify Grey. The prosecutor said she had “no idea” that L.S. could identify Grey. The prosecutor indicated that she had no recollection of L.S. telling her she could identify Grey through the mug shot and she had no information about identification at the point of the preliminary hearing. The prosecutor explained that she only showed L.S. the mug shot because L.S. wanted to see what Grey looked like before she saw him in the courtroom.

The court denied the motion for mistrial.

The State then presented testimony that fingerprint evidence found on L.S/s car matched the fingerprints of Grey. The State also presented evidence that DNA extracted from L.S/s underwear matched Grey s DNA. The State also presented the testimony of Dr. Carol Moddrell. She was the medical director of the laboratory that reviewed the evidence in the case. Dr. Moddrell testified that sperm were found on the slides made from swabs taken during L.S/s physical examination. Dr. Moddrell explained that when she sees a lot of sperm on a slide, it means that sexual intercourse occurred not long before the specimen was collected. Dr. Moddrell testified that when she looked at L.S/s slide, there were sperm “everywhere.” Dr. Moddrell testified that this told her the speci[992]*992men was collected shortly after intercourse occurred — probably within a few hours as opposed to days or weeks.

Dr. Moddrelfs testimony was significant in light of Grey’s trial testimony. Grey testified that when he saw L.S.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Hunter
Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2021
State v. Genzel
Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2020

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
268 P.3d 1218, 46 Kan. App. 2d 988, 2012 Kan. App. LEXIS 6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-grey-kanctapp-2012.