Tex S. v. Karen Pszczolokowski, Warden

778 S.E.2d 694, 236 W. Va. 245, 2015 W. Va. LEXIS 993
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 8, 2015
Docket14-0920
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 778 S.E.2d 694 (Tex S. v. Karen Pszczolokowski, Warden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tex S. v. Karen Pszczolokowski, Warden, 778 S.E.2d 694, 236 W. Va. 245, 2015 W. Va. LEXIS 993 (W. Va. 2015).

Opinions

WORKMAN, Chief Justice:

This ease is before the Court upon the [248]*248appeal of Tex S.1 (“the Petitioner”) from the August 22, 2014, order entered by the Circuit Court of Morgan County, West Virginia, denying the Petitioner’s motion for reconsideration of the circuit court’s order denying his petition for habeas corpus relief that was entered on June 6, 2014. The. Petitioner argues that the circuit court erred: 1) in failing to grant an evidentiary hearing on the habeas petition; 2) in failing to find ineffective assistance of counsel; 3) in determining that the Petitioner was not wrongfully convicted by the introduction of scientifically invalid expert testimony that the victim was sexually abused; and 4) in failing to grant leave for discovery regarding the forensic testing performed by the State.2 Based upon a review of the record, the parties’ briefs and arguments, and all other matters submitted before the Court, we affirm,,the circuit court’s decision.

I. Factual and Procedural History

A. Underlying Trial

This matter arises from the January 2, 2007, indictment of the Petitioner on one count of sexual assault in the first degree and one count of sexual abuse, by a parent or guardian. As a backdrop to the majority of the Petitioner’s habeas claims, it is important to explain at the outset that as result of the indictment, the Petitioner retained attorney Paul Lane to represent him. Prior to trial, Mr. Lane was involved in a motorcycle accident and he suffered a head injury. The West Virginia State Bar suspended his license to practice law and appointed other local attorneys to represent his clients.3 Christopher Prezioso was appointed to represent the' Petitioner. Three months after the accident, 'upon a showing that he had recovered from his injuries, Mr.'Lane’s law license was reinstated,4 and he was retained by the Petitioner to continue with his representation of the Petitioner at the Petitioner’s request.5

The Petitioner’s trial began on November 18, 2008, and lasted two days. The evidence at trial showed that between the hours of 10:00 p.m. on April 6, 2006, and 5:00 a.m. on April 7, 2006, the Petitioner was taking care of his three step-children while their mother was working. The Petitioner’s then four-year-old stepdaughter, who is the victim, was asleep on a couch in thé living room of her home awaiting her mother’s return from work.' The two older stepsons were asleep in a bedroom that they shared, which was located in the basement of the home. After the two older children left for school on the morning of April 7, 2006, the victim told her mother that during the night “Tex put his pee pee in my mouth and peed and kept it there until I swallowed.”6

[249]*249■ The 'mother, who préviously sustained a traumatic brain injury in a car accident, did not immediately take the child to the hospital that day. During the day, she testified that she struggled with what her daughter had told her. She stated that she. called the pastor at their church during the afternoon and spoke with him about it. As a result of that conversation, later that afternoon the mother took her child to Winchester .Medical Center where the child was examined by Cynthia Leahy, a nurse who works in the hospital’s forensic nurse program.

Ms. Leahy testified that the child told her: I was asleep on the couch. Something came out of it and went down- my throat. It had- a yucky taste. I was still asleep while he was doing that. I remember it. I still have a yucky taste from it. I cried this morning because I still had that taste.

Ms. Leahy also stated that she collected samples from the child’s mouth using lip: swabs, oral rinse, dnd floss.

Corporal Tony Link of the Morgan County Sheriffs Department investigated the crime. He testified that he was dispatched to Winchester Medical Center whére he met Ms. Leahy. The officer took possession of the evidence obtained from the victim by Ms. Leahy so that forensic testing' could be done. Corporal Link also contacted the Petitioner and asked him if he would come into the Sheriffs Department to speak to the officer about the alleged crime. According to Corporal Link, the Petitioner voluntarily came in to speak with the officer. The officer testified that he gave the Petitioner his Miranda7 rights and that the Petitioner understood that he did not have to speak with the officer. The Petitioner also signed a waiver of rights form before voluntarily giving the officer a statement in which the Petitioner denied any wrongdoing. The officer testified that the Petitioner told him that

due to his wife’s mental problems, he did not doubt if his wife had did [sic] something while he was sleeping_[The Petitioner] ... stated that he woke up one morning. His wife was down there playing with it. Upon trying' to clarify what he was getting at, I just more or less basically asked ... [the Petitioner] — I stated 'so you’re telling me you woke up one morning and your wife was jacking you off, collected semen, kept it and gave it to her daughter to drink. And ... [the Petitioner] stated, yes, but I don’t know what she did with it.

The record indicates that the samples that were collected at the hospital by Ms. Leahy were tested at the West Virginia State Police Laboratory. David Miller, an expert in forensic science, testified to receiving not only the samples obtained from the victim, but also a pillow that was taken from the victim’s home that the victim was sleeping on the night of the incident. Mr. Miller stated that regarding the two lip swabs he examined,

We ... performed what’s called a presumptive test for seminal fluid. A presumptive test for seminal fluid when positive indicates that seminal fluid may be present but is not an' identification1 test. There are other items other than seminal fluid such as yeast and bacteria that can cause a' positive reaction with this presumptive test..
In this case, the lip swabs were positive .with the presumptive tests_ Having that result, we then proceeded to a confirmatory test for seminal fluid. That particular test involved testing for a protein [250]*250that’s produced in the prostate gland of males called P30. It’s also known as PSA or prostate-specific, antigen. It’s the protein that’s tested in prostate cancer.... This test was also positive allowing me to say that seminal fluid was identified in the lip, lip area swabs.

Angela .Gill, an expert in the field of forensic science with a specialty in DNA, testified that although the presence of seminal fluid was found on the swabs, she did not find any Y chromosomes present. Ms. Gill stated that because there were no Y chromosomes, she could not isolate the male DNA that would be located on that Y chromosome. The Y chromosome would have been found on sperm cells, but there were no sperm cells present in the seminal fluid, which carries the cells. There was testimony from Mr. Miller that there were a number of situations where sperm cells might not be found in seminal fluid including “vasectomized males, there can be males that are aspermic or do not produce sperm cells[,] ,.. [or] there could just be so few a number of cells that we do not identify them.” Without the DNA, Ms.

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

Related

State of West Virginia v. Campbell
West Virginia Supreme Court, 2022
Frank A. v. Donnie Ames, Superintendent
West Virginia Supreme Court, 2021
State of West Virginia v. Billy Edward Evans
West Virginia Supreme Court, 2020
Nathan S. v. Tom Harlan, Interim Superintendent
West Virginia Supreme Court, 2020
Daniel Slonaker v. Donnie Ames, Superintendent
West Virginia Supreme Court, 2019
Tony Bethea v. Donnie Ames, Superintendent
West Virginia Supreme Court, 2019
Ronald S. v. Donnie Ames, Superintendent
West Virginia Supreme Court, 2019
Steve Wayne Bailey v. Ralph Terry, Superintendent
West Virginia Supreme Court, 2018
James Jones v. Ralph Terry, Acting Warden
West Virginia Supreme Court, 2018
Joshua J. v. Ralph Terry, Acting Warden
West Virginia Supreme Court, 2018
Scott B. v. Ralph Terry, Acting Warden
West Virginia Supreme Court, 2018
Ralph Terry, Acting Warden v. Phillip A. Ward
807 S.E.2d 311 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 2017)
Commonwealth, Aplt. v. Maconeghy Jr., K.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2017
Flack v. Ballard
803 S.E.2d 536 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
778 S.E.2d 694, 236 W. Va. 245, 2015 W. Va. LEXIS 993, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tex-s-v-karen-pszczolokowski-warden-wva-2015.