I-540 attack uncontested
Anne Warfield
Attack uncontested
BY SARAH FISHER Northwest Arkansas Times
Friday, May 9, 2003
Defense attorneys for 22-year-old Ben McCarter did not contest
Thursday that their client was responsible for attacking two women on
Interstate 540 in June.
In one of very few attempts to dispute the state’s evidence against
McCarter, W. H. Taylor made a motion that the case against his client
be dismissed because the state had not provided enough proof that a
19-year-old Fort Smith woman had been raped by McCarter. Circuit Judge
Kim Smith denied the defense’s request and said the corroborating
physical evidence was not required for the state to meet it’s burden.
The jury was responsible for judging the value of the testimony
provided, Smith said.
McCarter was arrested June 2 after three 911 calls led deputies to
I-540 near the Bobby Hopper Tunnel. Two women claimed McCarter
followed them on the freeway, forced them into a median and then
sexually assaulted them. One of the women claimed she was raped.
McCarter was charged with attempted rape, rape and aggravated assault.
Taylor’s focus during the trial was on McCarter’s state of mind at the
time of the incident. He questioned every one of the state’s witnesses
about whether or not McCarter appeared drunk to them. Although Taylor
acknowledged Wednesday that voluntary intoxication was not a defense
in Arkansas, he did imply to the jury that it may have affected
McCarter’s reasoning and intent at the time the incident took place.
While Taylor’s questions surrounded McCarter’s level of intoxication,
the state’s case played out before the jury. "The car started flashing
its lights at us," said a 20-year-old Fort Smith woman who had been
driving home to Fort Smith when she noticed someone was following her
closely on the highway. "Anyway, he was following us for a very long
time and he started getting really close, so close we couldn’t see his
lights and we were scared because he was bumping us and so (my friend)
called 911."
The women’s 2000 Pontiac Grand Am crashed and the 20-year-old told the
court McCarter pulled her out of the car and carried her to the side
of the road where he tried to push her pants down. "I said, ‘Don’t,
you’re hurting me,’ and he said, ‘ Yeah, I’m going to hurt you, ’" the
woman testified.
Both women testified McCarter returned to the car when he saw the
other woman using her cell phone. He reportedly ran back to the car
and attacked the driver. Struggling against the emotion of recalling
the event, the now 19-year-old Fort Smith woman said McCarter had
raped her. "He grabbed my arm and threw me down to the ground and
started to rip my clothes off," the woman said. "He told me he
wouldn’t hurt me if I did what he said and then the next minute he
told me he was going to kill me. He flipped me on my stomach and
pulled my pants down to my knees."
Taylor’s cross examination included questions only about if they
thought McCarter was drunk. "You said before that ‘ He wasn’t right’,
that there was something off about him, is that correct?" Taylor
asked. "The second time I was on the ground when he picked me up, I
was off the ground, and it wasn’t any normal strength in my opinion.
He had to be on some mindaltering drug or something."
Two men and a trucker passing by the accident site stopped and
detained McCarter until officers arrived. One of the men, Chris Evans,
who testified he chased McCarter across a fence and helped tie him up
with rope, said McCarter also acted strangely. "Did he ask you for a
cigarette?" Taylor asked pointing out that Evans and his friend
Jonathan Moll were sitting on McCarter who was tied up at the time.
"He did ask us for a cigarette," Evans said. "Did that seem odd to
you?" Taylor continued. "Yes, it did seem strange," Evans answered.
"So, did he seem all there to you?" Taylor asked. "No, he didn’t,"
Evans said.
Evans also testified about McCarter’s temper. Evans said McCarter
retrieved an expandable baton from his Honda and swung at him.
McCarter’s testimony also included no dispute that he was responsible
for the attacks. Taylor attempted to tell the jury about McCarter’s
family life, his abuse of drugs and alcohol and, despite the
prosecutor’s objections, introduced witnesses to testify about
McCarter’s character.
McCarter said he knew he had had several drinks that evening and taken
two to three Xanax pills when he got into an argument with a bouncer
at Buster Bellies, a bar on Dickson Street. Fayetteville police ended
up giving McCarter a ride to a friend’s apartment, but he returned
immediately to the bar to retrieve his car. He does not remember
driving on I-540 or attacking anyone. "It makes me sick," McCarter
said about his reaction to the thought that he may have victimized two
women. "I’m sorry it happened. I wish I could do something to take it
back, but I can’t. If I could do something to take it back, I would."
Washington County Chief Deputy Prosecutor John Threet called a witness
to demonstrate that perhaps McCarter’s inability to remember was
self-serving. Lori Schmidt, a jailer at the Washington County Jail,
booked McCarter into the jail after 6 a.m. on June 2. Schmidt
testified that after telling McCarter the charges, McCarter made a
statement that indicated he remembered what he had done. "He said, ‘
How can it be rape if I didn’t stick it in?’"
Ta ylor’s fiercest cross examination was of Dr. Paul Deyoub, the
forensic psychologist who evaluated McCarter at the state mental
hospital. Taylor attempted to have Deyoub verify that McCarter could
have suffered from a condition in which he had such an adverse
reaction to alcohol that his violent and aggressive behavior may have
been beyond his control. The condition would also account for the fact
that McCarter does not remember the attacks, Taylor said.
Deyoub said that although the temporary psychosis that Taylor
suggested was possible, it was "highly unlikely."
Both the state and the defense presented their testimony Thursday.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Friday morning.
http://www.nwarktimes.com/times/story_News.php?storyid=106655
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Anne Warfield
indigoace at goodsol period com
http://www.goodsol.com/cats/