State v. Jordan

CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedJanuary 12, 2018
Docket116669
StatusUnpublished

This text of State v. Jordan (State v. Jordan) 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. Jordan, (kanctapp 2018).

Opinion

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

No. 116,669

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,

v.

STEVEN TERRY JORDAN, Appellant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appeal from Barton District Court; RON SVATY, judge. Opinion filed January 12, 2018. Reversed and remanded with directions.

Samuel Schirer, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant.

Douglas A. Matthews, assistant county attorney, Näna N. Brammer, assistant county attorney, Amy J. Mellor, county attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, for appellee.

Before ARNOLD-BURGER, C.J., LEBEN and POWELL, JJ.

POWELL, J.: Steven Terry Jordan was convicted by a jury of his peers of rape, aggravated burglary, and criminal damage to property. Jordan now appeals his convictions and sentences, arguing that (1) the district court violated his constitutional right to present his theory of defense by excluding relevant evidence, (2) the State committed prosecutorial error, (3) the district court erred in calculating his criminal history, and (4) cumulative error deprived him of a fair trial. Because we agree that Jordan was denied his right to present his defense, we reverse his convictions, vacate his sentences, and remand for a new trial. We need not address his other issues on appeal.

1 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Around 1:30 a.m. on February 6, 2013, in Great Bend, Kansas, A.W. was preparing to go sleep. She had worked at a nearby gas station that evening and had just sent her cousin home because it was late. About 10 minutes after getting into bed, A.W. heard footsteps on her front porch and a loud banging at her front door, as if someone was kicking it in. A.W. turned on her light, picked up her cell phone, and dialed 911. As the operator spoke, she hung up her phone because she saw a black male standing in her house.

The man wore a hooded jacket that covered most of his face; he had on sweat pants and carried a knife in his hand. He asked A.W. for money, and A.W. asked him who he was and why he was in her house. The man did not answer but entered her bedroom and told her to get on the bed. A.W. complied because she was scared. The man got on top of A.W. and placed the knife above her head. A.W. could see some of his face and thought she recognized him as someone who came to the gas station. The man took his pants off, penetrated A.W. with his penis, and groped her breasts. When he was done, he covered her face with a blanket, picked up his knife, and walked out of the room. The man told A.W. not to look at him and not to call the cops. A.W. did not move until she heard him exit the front door. Then, A.W. dressed herself; grabbed her purse, phone, and car keys; went out the back door; and got into her truck. She locked the doors and dialed 911.

Earlier that night, the Great Bend Police Department sent Officer Adam Hales to investigate a 911 call which was abruptly terminated—it was characterized as a "hang up"—at an address associated with the phone number around 1:35 am. The current occupants of the house located at the address associated with the phone number told Hales that the police were mistaken because no one there dialed 911. At 2 a.m., Corporal Joseph Johns responded to a 911 call. Hales arrived at A.W.'s home about five minutes

2 later. Johns stated that when he arrived, A.W. was seated in the locked truck and did not want to get out. Once A.W. exited the truck, Hales described her demeanor as sluggish, dazed, and as though she had been crying. He also noted that she was bent over, walking slowly, and kept her arms around her stomach. Johns spoke with A.W. briefly and noted that she appeared nervous, scared, and did not want to talk about what had happened. She told Johns that an unknown black male broke into her house, forced her into the bedroom with a knife, told her not to look at him, and raped her. She described him as 6-foot tall, wearing black sweatpants and a zip-up hooded sweatshirt.

While Johns completed the interview with A.W., Hales went into the house to make sure the suspect was not there. He described the door and doorjamb as heavily damaged. Although the door itself was old, Hales stated that the damage to the dead bolt lock appeared recent and that the lock looked completely splintered and destroyed. Hales also saw a small piece of wood lying in the middle of the living room about 8 or 9 feet from the door. After speaking with A.W., Johns also investigated inside the house and collected a pair of women's underwear, a pillowcase, a comforter, and bed sheets as evidence.

Meanwhile, A.W. was driven by ambulance to the hospital where she met with Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Debra Higgins. The SANE nurse examined A.W. and described A.W. as upset, crying, and anxious. The purpose of the SANE exam was to obtain A.W.'s medical history, identify any injuries from the alleged assault, and collect evidence. A.W. told Higgins what happened and stated that the man who assaulted her did so by penetrating her with his finger and penis. She also told Higgins that she had not had any consensual sex within the last 72 hours and that she was pregnant. Higgins noted a small bruise on A.W.'s left thigh, an abrasion on the outside of her genital area, and noted that her genitals appeared very red, swollen, and tender; she described A.W.'s injuries as resulting from a blunt object. Higgins could not conduct an exam with her speculum—a medical tool used to inspect a woman's vaginal canal—because A.W.

3 started to cry and complain of pain. However, Higgins was able to use a vaginal swab to collect evidence from inside A.W.'s vagina.

A.W. spoke with Hales at the hospital. He described her demeanor as shocked and dazed. She told Hales that because the man had covered his face with his hooded sweatshirt, she did not recognize him. A.W. also stated to Hales that as she was going to bed around 1:30 a.m. she heard loud banging at the front door. She went to the living room to see what was happening and saw the door moving violently. She became scared and called 911 from her bedroom. When she looked up, she saw a dark-skinned black male in her bedroom, and he had what looked like a kitchen knife in his hand. Hales collected the completed SANE kit and took A.W.'s pants and underwear for further testing.

A.W. spent the night at her father's house then went back to the house later in the day to move out. While at the house, A.W. talked with two of her neighbors about what happened. A.W. told her friend and neighbor, Justina, that the man looked like a guy she had seen at the gas station and that her ex-boyfriend, Brandon Rogers, was friends with the man's cousin, Edward. Justina mentioned that the man A.W. described was nicknamed Dewey. A.W. also spoke with her neighbor Shirley and asked about the guy who lived down the street with Rogers' friend Edward. Shirley told A.W. she was describing Edward's uncle, Dewey.

A.W. called dispatch that afternoon to report that she knew the man who attacked her was nicknamed Dewey and lived on her block. Later that day, A.W. met with Detective Heather Smith and told her that she did not know Dewey personally but that her neighbors had told her his nickname. Smith showed A.W. a photo lineup of six individuals, and A.W. picked out the photo of Jordan, also known as Dewey. A.W. met again with Smith in May 2013. At that meeting, Smith collected A.W.'s DNA. That same month, Smith collected Jordan's DNA. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) tested

4 the DNA evidence, the results of which revealed that the seminal fluid only matched two DNA profiles: Jordan and A.W. At trial, the KBI witness stated that seminal fluid tends to lose the DNA profile after 48 to 72 hours.

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State v. Jordan, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jordan-kanctapp-2018.