Williams v. United States

385 A.2d 760, 1978 D.C. App. LEXIS 503
District of Columbia Court of Appeals·Decided April 25, 1978·No. 10643·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinions

NEBEKER, Associate Judge:

Appellant was convicted of assault with intent to commit rape while armed (D.C. Code 1973, §§ 22-501, -3202); armed robbery (D.C.Code 1973, §§ 22-2901, -3202); and sodomy (D.C.Code 1973, § 22-3502). He appeals his convictions on two grounds: (1) the trial court did not impose the sanction of striking the victim’s identification testimony under the Jencks Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3500 (1970), when the government could not produce a copy of a statement of the victim which contained an initial description of her assailant; and (2) the trial court failed to give a corroboration instruction to the jury on the assault with intent to rape and sodomy counts of the indictment. The trial court refused to impose Jencks Act sanctions because of its finding that the destruction of the notes of the initial description was not intentional or negligent, but rather occurred under circumstances which indicated that the victim was uncooperative and would decline to prosecute. The trial court refused the corroboration instruction on the understanding that such was not legally mandated. We affirm.

The victim’s initial encounter with appellant, a stranger, occurred as she was walking home after a day of shopping. Appellant approached her, displayed a handgun, and instructed her to continue walking. Appellant then directed her behind a building, to'ok her money and the packages which she was carrying, and ordered her to remove her pants and underwear. After an attempt by appellant at intercourse failed, appellant forced the victim to perform fellatio. Finally, after gathering some of the items which the victim had purchased that day, appellant moved her pants some distance away in an attempt to delay her dressing, threatened her if she followed him, and then fled the scene. The victim dressed, waited for several minutes, and went home to call the police.

Upon the arrival of Officer Coffey and her husband, the victim gave a description of her assailant. That description was noted on a PD-251 offense form prepared by Officer Coffey. Shortly thereafter, the investigation was taken over by two detectives who accompanied the victim to D.C. General Hospital for the purpose of having her undergo a medical examination. It was [762]*762not then clear whether some vaginal penetration had occurred. However, at the hospital, her husband, who had been agitated and impatient since notification of the crime, took her away before any examination could be performed. He became incensed at the manner in which the hospital staff treated his wife. The following day, the victim was interviewed by yet another officer to whom she gave a description of the assailant.

Several days later, and quite fortuitously, tbe victim and her husband encountered appellant in a drug store. It was the same drug store in which the victim had shopped immediately before the assault. She pointed out appellant to her husband, who then sent her home and left to arm himself with a knife. Upon his return to the drug store, appellant was gone. The victim and her husband thereafter identified appellant from police department slides and at a lineup. Appellant, whose defense was alibi, lived within five blocks of the scene of the offense.

I.

As to the Jencks Act issue, the following is relevant. After detectives had assumed control of the investigation, Officer Coffey left the premises with a still-to-be completed PD-251 form and with the investigation still in an uncertain state. Later that same evening, one of the detectives contacted Officer Coffey and told him of the hospital episode and of the refusal of the victim and her husband to remain for her medical examination. Both officers concluded from the couple’s leaving the hospital that no complaint would be filed. Therefore, the detective told Officer Coffey not to file the PD-251 but instead to file a PD-253 incident report. The officer thereupon discarded the PD-251, filed the PD-253, but failed to transfer the complainant’s description of the assailant to the PD-253 form although there was space designated for such information. Officer Coffey was not directed to destroy any notes or reports already filled out, but decided on his own to do so. He was aware of police regulations requiring preservation of recorded descriptions of suspects.

Appellant argues that the destroyed description was a statement adopted by the complainant and thus clearly within the ambit of a portion of the Jencks Act. See 18 U.S.C. § 3500(e)(1) (1970). This contention is based solely on the fact that the officer read the description back to the complainant, who then stated that it was correct. Appellant also argues that the statement was not incorporated into any other document. However, our reading of the record discloses that a transcript of Officer Coffey’s broadcast description was made available to defense counsel. Considering that the broadcast followed immediately after Officer Coffey was given the description, we are inclined to view the record as reflecting that the broadcast incorporated the initial description.1 See Reed v. United States, D.C.App., 383 A.2d 316 (1978); Moore v. United States, D.C. App., 363 A.2d 288 (1976).

Since the trial court did not make a specific finding one way or another on this point — having concluded only that the destruction of the PD-251 was neither negligent or intended to prejudice the accused— we cannot decide the issue on the basis of whether the evidence supports a finding of incorporation. We do, however, give considerable weight to this part of the record in our evaluation of the total circumstances behind the refusal to strike the victim’s identification testimony.

Finally, appellant asserts that regardless of the degree of negligence, which he contends was extreme, the loss resulted in severe prejudice to the defendant by limiting his opportunity to impeach the complaining witness’ identification testimony as well as her in-court repetition of the description of her assailant which she said she gave on the night of the offense.

[763]*763As in related areas of identification testimony, we think the “totality of circumstances” approach to the issue of admissibility is the only rational course to take in assessing appellant’s arguments. Our reading of previous cases dealing with the Jencks Act in this jurisdiction reveals that that is what has been done — weighing the relative good faith and judgment of the officer, the degree of prejudice inherent in the absence of a bona fide “statement,” and the impact of the imposition of any meaningful sanctions in the quest for truth. See, e. g., Fields v. United States, D.C.App., 368 A.2d 537 (1977); March v. United States, D.C.App., 362 A.2d 691 (1976); Hardy v. United States, D.C.App., 316 A.2d 867 (1974); Banks v. United States, D.C.App., 305 A.2d 256 (1973). The Supreme Court recently applied this “totality of circumstances” approach in the context of suggestive procedures used in obtaining identification evidence. See Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977).

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

Williams v. United States, 385 A.2d 760, 1978 D.C. App. LEXIS 503 (D.C. 1978).

385 A.2d 760 (Williams v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Card v. United States
776 A.2d 581 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2001)
Bartley v. United States
530 A.2d 692 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1987)
Curry v. United States
498 A.2d 534 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1985)
Fitzgerald v. United States
412 A.2d 1 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1980)
Williams v. United States
385 A.2d 760 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1978)