Opinion ID: 844200
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Terry Garrison

Text: Terry Garrison testified concerning her four-year relationship with defendant.4 Garrison met defendant in 1975 when he was 19 years of age, had recently moved from California to St. Louis, Missouri, and was living with his uncle across the street from the restaurant where Garrison worked. They began dating, eventually moving in and living together until January 1979. Over the course of their relationship, defendant and Garrison had three children together, two girls and a boy, in addition to the two daughters Garrison had from a prior relationship.5 Sometime in 1977, the relationship between defendant and Garrison deteriorated, and defendant became physically and verbally abusive. The mistreatment began with pushing and slapping, and eventually escalated to punching and kicking. The violent encounters between defendant and Garrison were often, but not always, alcohol related, and appeared to occur whenever defendant ―had had a bad day.‖ On one occasion, defendant hit Garrison in the head with an ax handle. During another argument, defendant grabbed Garrison by the neck and threw her across the bed, asking, ―Why don‘t you understand that I 4 On cross-examination, Garrison testified that she knew defendant was facing the death penalty and admitted that she was biased against him. She said she ―despised‖ defendant and, when asked to rate the intensity of this feeling on a scale of 1 to 10, she rated it an 11. She also confirmed, however, that she would not testify falsely about defendant in order to ensure that he received the death penalty. 5 In 1981, all of Garrison‘s children were removed from her custody, and thereafter her three children with defendant were adopted by three different families. 23 love you?‖ Following a separate incident, Garrison had to go to the hospital for treatment for injuries to her head, an eye, and ribs inflicted by defendant. In addition to the physical abuse, defendant also threatened Garrison, telling her that if she ever left him, ―he would come and kill [her].‖ Defendant told Garrison of other acts of violence he had committed, such as when he was in the ninth grade and one of his teachers ―made him mad so he stabbed her 21 times in the back with a paperweight,‖ and also that he had been accused of trying to strangle a former girlfriend‘s mother. Defendant and Garrison finally ended their relationship in January 1979. Defendant moved out of their residence and told Garrison he was moving back to California. He returned a month later to stay with Garrison for two or three weeks while she was five months pregnant with their son. One night during his stay, defendant shoved Garrison, face first, into a wall in the bedroom, then followed her into the bathroom and pushed her into the bathtub. He did not appear to Garrison to be using drugs or alcohol at the time, but rather was just ―in one of his moods.‖ Garrison went into labor and was taken to the hospital, where she prematurely gave birth to their son, who then remained in the hospital for several months. Garrison delivered their third child, a daughter, after she and defendant had separated. After the relationship ended, Garrison received information from the department of family services that defendant might have molested her oldest daughter, Angela C. She called defendant and confronted him about these allegations. Defendant asked Garrison if she ―really thought he was capable of something like that,‖ to which she replied, ―yes,‖ and he laughed. Prior to this time, Garrison had never suspected defendant of abusing any of her children, because in her view, he was always a good father in her presence. 24