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State v. Young5/2/2005
Heard December 7, 2004
AFFIRMED
Derringer L. Young was charged with possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, and kidnapping. He pled guilty to the possession charge, and a jury convicted him of kidnapping, and of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature as a lesser included offense of criminal sexual conduct. On appeal, Young argues (1) the trial judge erred by admitting evidence of his prior convictions for criminal sexual conduct and criminal domestic violence, and (2) the State improperly injected race as a motive. We affirm.
FACTUAL/PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Young was accused of kidnapping and raping the victim in the early morning hours of September 9, 2001, in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Following dinner the previous evening, the victim drove downtown by herself to purchase crack cocaine. She testified she had done this numerous times before. The victim bought crack cocaine on this particular night from Young because he "looked familiar to , like had bought from him before." After purchasing crack from Young, the victim smoked it and asked to buy more. He indicated he needed a ride to get more crack, and she agreed to drive him. Young became enraged when the victim informed Young she wanted more crack so that she could return home and smoke it with her husband. She alleges Young hit her, forced his way into the driver's seat, drove to a secluded area, and raped her.
At approximately nine o'clock a.m., Corporal Sherry Niblock spotted the victim's car parked and observed the victim fully reclined in the passenger seat with Young on top of her. When Young saw Niblock, he jumped into the driver's seat and sped away in the vehicle. Niblock testified that the victim looked exhausted, had been crying, and had bruises on her neck. Niblock stated the victim "rolled her head over at and said, 'Would you please just help me?'" Niblock dispatched information about the vehicle, which Officer Peter Hall located approximately ten minutes later. According to Hall, the victim looked exhausted and had marks on her neck and wrists. A rape exam was inconclusive as to whether sexual assault had occurred.
Young testified at trial and gave a much different account of his encounter with the victim on the night in question. According to Young, the victim was one of his customers. He stated the two of them drove around all night smoking crack and talking.
Throughout his testimony, Young conveyed his concernment for the victim's safety. He averred that he had previously sold drugs to the victim and on the night of the alleged rape, she returned to the place they had first met and asked for him. Young proclaimed he sold her $80 worth of crack, which the two of them smoked. After consuming the crack, the victim asked for more. Young recounted:
A: Right after that she said she aint had anymore money. So I said, well, I'll get the drugs for you. Just whenever, you know, you come back down the area, bring the money to me. Now I was able to trust her, because like I say before, once a person deal with you and we use the word and the term keep it real. She kept it real. And I was able to trust [the victim]. So any time that she would come down--and then I also told some people, said, If she come down, I don't want nobody talking to her. I don't want nobody selling her nothing. I don't want nobody bothering her. Leave her be whenever she come, because she's coming to me. . . . .
Q: Well, tell me what happened after she asked you for some more drugs. What did y'all do?
A: Well, we get the drugs.
Q: How did you
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