State v. Rusk

289 Md. 230, 424 A.2d 720 (1981)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Pat met a girlfriend, Terry, at a high school alumni meeting. After the meeting, they agreed to drive in their respective cars to Fells Point to have a few drinks. They went to a bar where each had one drink. They walked several blocks to a second bar, where each of them had another drink. After about thirty minutes, they walked two blocks to a third bar known as E. J. Buggs. They were leaning against the wall, Rusk (D) approached and said 'hello' to Terry. Terry, who was then conversing with another individual, momentarily interrupted her conversation and said: 'Hi, Eddie.' D then began talking with Pat and during their conversation both of them acknowledged being separated from their respective spouses and having a child. Pat told Rusk that she had to go home because it was a week-night and she had to wake up with her baby early in the morning. D requested a ride to his apartment. Pat did not know D. She thought that Terry knew him. She thereafter agreed to give him a ride. Pat cautioned D on the way to the car that ''I'm just giving a ride home, you know, as a friend, not anything to be, you know, thought of other than a ride;'' and he said, ''Oh, okay.'' After a twenty-minute drive, they arrived at D's apartment. D asked Pat to come in, but she refused. He invited her again, and she again declined. Pat testified that D reached over and turned off the ignition to her car and took her car keys. He got out of the car, walked over to her side, opened the door and said, ''Now, will you come up?'' Pat testified that at that point she was scared because D had her car keys and she didn't really know the area she was in. She feared that D would rape her from the way he looked at her. Pat accompanied D across the street into a totally dark house. She followed him up two flights of stairs. She neither saw nor heard anyone in the building. Once they ascended the stairs, D unlocked the door to his one-room apartment and turned on the light. She sat in a chair beside the bed. D sat on the bed. D talked for a few minutes and left the room for about one to five minutes. Pat remained seated in the chair. She made no noise and did not attempt to leave. She said that she did not notice a telephone in the room. D returned, and turned off the light and sat down on the bed. Pat asked if she could leave. D said he wanted her to stay and was still in possession of her car keys. D pulled her by the arms to the bed and began to undress her, removing her blouse and bra. He unzipped her slacks, and she took them off after he told her to do so. Pat removed the rest of her clothing, and then removed D's pants because 'he asked me to do it.' After they were both, undressed D started kissing Pat as she was lying on her back. She begged him to let her go. She eventually said, 'If I do what you want, will you let me go without killing me?' She started to cry; and D put his hands on her throat, and started lightly to choke her. Pat testified that D made her perform oral sex and then vaginal intercourse. She asked permission to leave, and D gave her the keys. D then walked her to her car and asked if he could see her again; and she said, 'Yes;' and he asked for her telephone number; and she said, 'No, I'll see you down Fells Point sometime,' just so I could leave.' She reported the incident to the police at about 3:15 a.m. Pat took the police to D's apartment, which she located without any great difficulty. An officer testified that Pat was sober, and she was taken to City Hospital for an examination. The examination disclosed that seminal fluid and spermatazoa were detected in Pat's vagina, on her underpants, and the bed sheets recovered from D's bed. Two of D's friends testified that they saw D with a woman that night who was hanging all over D. D's story is very different. D said that Pat was asked if she wanted to go home with him. On the drive over she talked about being raped once before and also beaten by her husband. She asked if he would rape her or beat her. She explained about being raped before and her husband beating her. When they arrived at the apartment, they were necking in the car. D denied switching off the car and claims that Pat when willingly to his apartment. Once inside his room, D left Pat alone for several minutes while he used the bathroom down the hall. Upon his return, he switched the light on but immediately turned it off because Pat, who was seated in the dark in a chair next to the bed, complained it was too bright. They then voluntarily proceeded to have intercourse after which Pat started to cry, and D tried to calm her down. Rusk said that he sat on the bed across from Pat and tried to calm her down and she got in her car and left. D denied placing his hands on her throat and denied using any force. D was convicted and appealed. The Court of Special Appeals overturned the conviction noting that, 'Force is an essential element of the crime [of rape] and to justify a conviction, the evidence must warrant a conclusion either that the victim resisted and her resistance was overcome by force or that she was prevented from resisting by threats to her safety.' It concluded that the way he looked at her was insufficient. P appealed.