Opinion ID: 2391925
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Forelady Was Violent Crime Victim

Text: The record is undisputed that Smith was molested as a child by her paternal grandfather and was institutionalized for mental health treatment as a teenager as a result of that molestation. When Smith was asked on remand why she did not disclose that history in response to the violent crime question during voir dire, Smith answered: I never considered it, A, a violent act; B, it was never an issue for me. During my voir dire and questioning, I answered honestly and to the best of my ability, and at that point in my life ... I did not consider myself at all involved in a violent crime or a victim of a violent crime. The Superior Court report to this Court simply states that it accepts her explanations. However, the complete lack of veracity in Smith's subjective assertion that her grandfather's sexual abuse was never an issue is reflected in her objective medical records. Those records reveal four attempted suicides and six hospitalizations for psychiatric services as a result of her grandfather's sexual abuse. The expanded record on remand reflects that the forelady also testified she was raped by another individual as an adult and became pregnant as a result of this encounter. During the in camera inquiry on remand about her mental capacity, in response to a question about an interruption in her employment history, Smith testified, I had been assaulted and became pregnant, did not believe in abortion and I went through an open adoption with my son who is now eight. This disclosure by the former juror was not pursued with any further questioning by the Superior Court. Therefore, this Court remanded the matter a second time so that the Superior Court could ascertain why Smith did not disclose the sexual assault that resulted in the birth of her son in response to the voir dire question: Have you or a close friend or relative been a victim or a witness to a violent crime? Upon remand, the Superior Court found that Smith had mistakenly conflated a sexual assault in January, 2000, with the event involving the birth and adoption of her son some eight years prior to trial. In its report to this Court, the Superior Court stated: During the original remand hearing Smith mistakenly combined into one answer two separate events. The first event she referred to was a sexual assault in January of 2000, approximately 14 months after her jury service. The other event was the birth and adoption of her son. In that instance the sexual relationship was with her consent. The January of 2000 assault involved five men, one with a knife drawn, behind the Adams Four Shopping Center in Wilmington, Delaware. As a result of this assault by persons she could not identify by name, Smith became pregnant. This pregnancy ended in May of 2000 due to miscarriage. Following Banther's trial, but before this Court's remand, Smith was hospitalized at Christiana Medical Center from May 18, 2000 through May 22, 2000. These medical records were before the Superior Court and attribute the following history to Smith. She states that she had been struck from behind by 5 men unknown to her, but she remembered their faces. She does not remember anything after the attack incident until she awoke in the emergency room. She had a miscarriage one week prior to admission of a 4 month pregnancy. This was a result of the rape four months ago. The patient began bleeding on May 16, 2000. Other recent stressors includes the death of her younger brother, November, 1999, secondary to a motor vehicle accident with a drunk driver. The patient apparently missed the funeral of her older brother, because she was at the time being treated for spinal meningitis. Her mother committed suicide in March, 2000 with a gun shot wound. She also reported having divorced her husband of eight and a half years in September, 1999. She also reported she lost an older brother, also in a motor vehicle accident in November, 1996. She reported that she was raped two months prior to marriage, eight years ago, resulting in a child which was now up for adoption. The Superior Court's finding that Smith was confused in her prior testimony is contradicted by the medical records in which Smith clearly delineated the two assaults, characterized them both as rapes, and described the first rape as resulting in the birth of her child. In addition to the medical records that reflect a rape that resulted in the birth of Smith's son, a St. John's hospital psychiatric record dated January 4, 1988, describes another rape. According to those medical records, it occurred at the age of 12 by a black man on an elevator at knife point. The trial judge's report to this Court simply states I am not persuaded that actually happened.