Opinion ID: 1316209
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Rape of Zelda C.

Text: Zelda C. testified that in the fall of 1985, she occasionally allowed Howard, the drug dealer, to conduct business in her Bates Street apartment in exchange for free cocaine. Late one night, Howard and his associates departed, leaving Zelda and her two young daughters alone in the apartment with defendant, a stranger. Although Zelda asked defendant to leave, he followed her into the bedroom and displayed a knife. He pushed Zelda onto the bed, cut her nightgown with the knife, and held the knife against her throat while engaging in a nonconsensual act of sexual intercourse. When she refused to orally copulate defendant, he masturbated and ejaculated on her. Throughout the incident, Zelda feared for herself and her children, who were asleep in another bedroom. Zelda testified that she promptly told her sisters and Howard about the incident  testimony corroborated by these individuals in the penalty trial. Ashamed and afraid, Zelda soon moved from Bates Street, and never contacted the police. While she had difficulty identifying defendant from photographs before trial, she positively identified him as the rapist in court.