Goldberg v. State

41 Md.App. 58 (1979)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The eighteen-year-old prosecuting witness was a high school senior who worked part-time as a sales clerk in the Merry-Go-Round clothing store. D aged twenty-five, entered the store. D said that he was a free-lance modeling agent and thought she was an excellent prospect to become a successful model. They arranged to meet at 5 o'clock when she got off from work. D returned for her at 5:00 P.M. She asked him for 'any ID to show me if you are who you say you are'. He showed her his driving license with his picture on it. Despite some cautioning from her employer she drove off with D in a silver-grey Cadillac Eldorado. D was a student at Catonsville Community College and the car belonged to his mother. D told her he was taking her to 'a temporary studio.' When the 'studio' was found to be closed, they drove to a condominium. She stayed in the car while D went inside. D returned to the car and told her he had contacted a friend who said they could use his house for his 'studio.' When they arrived at the friend's house, she helped D find a door that was open. The door led to the kitchen which she described as 'very dirty' and she 'didn't understand why we were coming here'. They walked into the bedroom which by contrast was 'really made up really nice' with 'a queen sized bed, real big bed, with a red velvet bedspread, and a big backboard on the back.' She was 'pretty impressed by the room.' D 'motioned' her to sit beside him on the bed. She sat on a chair at the foot of the bed. D said it was hot in the room and took his shirt off. She then stood up and D 'came over to me and he started unbuttoning my blouse. He said this is what I want you to do.' She pulled her blouse together and said 'No.' 'He just kept on smooth-talking me and saying I won't hurt you. This is what I do to all the models that I interview. ....' She removed her clothes because she 'was really scared of him.' 'There was nothing I could do.' 'Because he was -- he was so much bigger than I was, and, you know, I was in a room alone with him, and there was nothing, no buildings around us, or anything, and I mean wouldn't helped if I wouldn't -- help me if I didn't. It was like being trapped or something'. She said she was 'afraid' she was 'going to be killed.' After her clothes were removed, D 'pushed' her down on the bed and tried 'to move [her legs] in different ways, and [she] kept pulling them together, and telling him that [she] didn't want to do it, and just wanted to go home.' D kept telling her that he wouldn't hurt her 'and just to relax'. But she was 'just really scared' and she was 'shaking and my voice was really shaking' and she 'kept on telling him [she] wanted to go home', and that '[she] didn't want to do this'; that she 'didn't want to be a model, and [she] didn't want to do it anymore. Just to let [her] alone.' Eventually, D placed his penis in her vagina. She squeezed her legs together and got really tense, and I just started crying really hard. And she told him not to do that. After he ejaculated D got up and said if she can't enjoy it, then he can't enjoy it. D asked her to go to dinner but she declined and he drove her to her home. D gave her his telephone number which she wrote down on a piece of paper. At his request, she gave him her telephone number by writing it on a piece of paper with her lipstick. She said she gave him her correct telephone number because she 'didn't want to get him suspicious of me.' D said that 'girls act like they don't want to, but they really do.' She told him that he 'had the wrong impression of [her]'; that she 'didn't want him to do that.' D let her off at her home at 6:25 P. M., 1 1/4 hours after she left her place of employment with him at 5:10 P. M. She estimated that they had been at the house where the alleged rape took place for 30 minutes. A girlfriend and the girlfriend's boyfriend came to her house and after picking up her own boyfriend the four young people eventually went to the police station where the 'rape' was reported at approximately 9:00 P. M. The examining physician found 'no evidence of recent trauma' to any part of her body, including the 'perineal and genital' areas. D admitted having sexual relations but maintained that it was mutually consensual and that the prosecuting witness did not appear to be frightened at any time. D was convicted and appealed.