State v. Page

750 S.E.2d 623, 406 S.C. 272, 2013 WL 5929096, 2013 S.C. App. LEXIS 254
CourtCourt of Appeals of South Carolina
DecidedNovember 6, 2013
DocketAppellate Case No. 2012-208632; No. 5182
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 750 S.E.2d 623 (State v. Page) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Page, 750 S.E.2d 623, 406 S.C. 272, 2013 WL 5929096, 2013 S.C. App. LEXIS 254 (S.C. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

GEATHERS, J.

This appeal follows the conviction of James Lamarcus Page (Appellant) for kidnapping, second degree criminal sexual conduct, second degree assault and battery, and possession of a knife during the commission of a violent crime. Appellant argues the trial court erred by (1) denying a motion to join his trial with that of his alleged accomplice, and (2) finding a witness’s proffered testimony was not relevant and, as a result, not allowing Appellant to call that witness as part of his case-in-chief. Although the trial court did not err in denying joinder, the trial court did err in finding the witness’s proffered testimony was not relevant and, in turn, not allowing Appellant to call that witness. Hence, we reverse and remand for retrial.

FACTS

Victim 1 and Victim 2 (collectively Victims) alleged Appellant and Appellant’s brother, Lentavis Baxter, sexually assaulted them within the apartment of Victim 1. Notably, the [277]*277Victims’ version of events contrasts greatly with that of Appellant.

According to the Victims,1 on the evening of September 22, 2010, they encountered Appellant and Baxter. Victim 1 alleged that after she returned to her apartment following a quick run to the store with Victim 2, she entered her apartment and left the front door ajar, as Victim 2 was retrieving a bag from the car. When Victim 2 entered the apartment, two males, one “large” and one “skinny,” appeared from behind Victim 2 and followed her inside. When the dog of Victim 1 began barking, the “skinny” male yelled, “Get your dog, or I’m going to kill it.” Victim 1 quickly placed the dog in a bedroom and turned on a television to keep the dog from continuing to bark.

After Victim 1 tended to the dog, the “skinny” male brandished a knife, took Victim 1 to the bathroom, faced her toward the mirror, choked her, and stated “this wasn’t no fing joke.” The “skinny” male repeatedly placed the knife near the throat of Victim 1 and then dragged Victim 1 out of the bathroom. As she was being dragged, Victim 1 could see the “large” male picking Victim 2 up by her neck; Victim 2 was no longer fully clothed — she wore only a shirt and underwear.

When Victim 2 began to fight back against the “large” male, the “skinny” male again placed his knife upon the throat of Victim 1 and ordered her to instruct Victim 2 to stop kicking. When Victim 2 continued to fight, the “skinny” male struck Victim 2 in the mouth, causing blood to “start pouring” out. Because the “bleeding was so bad,” all four individuals proceeded to the bathroom to clean Victim 2’s injuries; her nose and a cheekbone were broken, and her lip was split. The “large” male then removed Victim 2 back to the living room, and the “skinny” male forced Victim 1 into a small bedroom that lacked a bed. Upon entering the small bedroom, the “skinny” male instructed Victim 1 to prepare a bed on the floor. Although Victim 1 claimed she did not want to have sex with the “skinny” male, she told him that he did not have to hurt her because she “would do anything he wanted.” While the knife sat alongside the makeshift bed, the “skinny” male [278]*278engaged in sexual intercourse and oral sex with Victim 1. The “skinny” male also forced Victim 1 to smoke a presumably illicit drug. Throughout this encounter, Victim 1 could hear Victim 2 “hollering” from the other room.

When Victim 1 and the “skinny” man later emerged from the small bedroom, Victim 1 observed the “large” male engaged in sexual intercourse with Victim 2. The “large” male then demanded Victim 1 perform oral sex on him. Victim 1 responded, “No,” turned back toward the “skinny” guy and pleaded, “don’t make me, I want to be with you;” as Victim 1 would later explain, she “wanted” to be "with the “skinny” male because the other was “so enormous,” as the record suggests Appellant was overweight. Undeterred, the two males made Victim 1 and Victim 2 enter the small bedroom and further sexually assaulted them. This time, however, the two males switched Victims.

Early the next morning, Victim 1 resourcefully provided the “skinny” male with a drink for him to give to the other male. With both the “large” and “skinny” males distracted, Victim 1 sneaked over to the front door, disengaged the locks, and ran naked across the street to a neighbor’s house. Victim 1 then used a phone at that location to dial 911, and the police arrived shortly thereafter. The “skinny” male was subsequently identified as Baxter and the “large” male as Appellant.

The following day, Appellant turned himself in; Baxter was arrested later. While in custody, Appellant acknowledged his Miranda rights, waived them, indicated that he could read and write, and provided his version of the encounter through a signed statement.

Appellant’s version of events stands in stark contrast to that of Victims 1 and 2. According to Appellant’s signed statement, he and Baxter were driving to a relative’s apartment. Outside of the entrance to the apartment complex, two females motioned for them to stop. The females indicated they had recently been partying with two other men, smoking crack cocaine, and ingesting other drugs. The females asked Baxter if he had any crack, and Baxter replied he would provide some. In response, the females indicated their intent to make a quick run to the store before meeting Appellant and Baxter back at a nearby apartment.

[279]*279Upon arriving at that apartment, Baxter and Appellant were invited inside; Baxter went in first.' Appellant conceded that, upon entering the apartment, he observed Baxter holding a knife and placing an arm around the neck of one of the women. Despite this precarious circumstance, Appellant contended the other female then asked him for sex, but he declined because he would not cheat on his girlfriend. Thereafter, one of the women mentioned the recent death of the brother of Appellant and Baxter, and that his death was deserved because it occurred during a failed robbery attempt. Baxter responded by punching her. Nonetheless, that female later started kissing Appellant and they engaged in consensual sexual intercourse on the floor. Thereafter, Appellant and Baxter switched partners and again engaged in sexual intercourse with the women.

The next morning, one of the women asked Baxter for the promised crack. When Baxter admitted to her that he did not have any, she ran outside, yelling “rape.” The next day, Appellant was arrested.

Prior to Appellant’s bond hearing, Marsh Curtice, an on-again-off-again boyfriend of Victim 1, left Victim 1 a voicemail:

[Victim 1], you have no right to call the law on me for something I haven’t done. I didn’t touch your car — didn’t touch you — some [inaudible] got spilled [inaudible]. But you have no right to make up this sh[* *] to try to get me in trouble. So in recourse, I go back and tell the police what you told me the last three weeks about your case — and I mean that’s the word on the street anyway — that you guys invited them in to smoke crack, smoke crack, trade sex all night and then got mad at y’all selves in the morning. So if something comes from this, I will contact the defense attorneys, and the solicitor, and public defender offices, and tell my story. And that will put a lot of doubt in a lot of people’s minds. You know, and that’s going by what you told me. I’ll tell the truth. You’re making up sh[* *]. I didn’t touch you; I didn’t touch your car. So if you’re gonna cause me trouble for something I didn’t do, I’m gonna cause you trouble for something you did do.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
750 S.E.2d 623, 406 S.C. 272, 2013 WL 5929096, 2013 S.C. App. LEXIS 254, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-page-scctapp-2013.