Opinion ID: 2197367
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The July Trial

Text: Appellants' first trial, resulting in the conviction of Hagins alone for assault with intent to commit rape, concerned events of September 4, 1990. Shortly after midnight, three young women stood on a street corner looking for a taxicab to take them to a particular dance club. Appellants pulled up in a car and Hagins, in the driver's seat, began to talk to the women, claiming he knew them from his old neighborhood; he offered them a ride to the dance club. The women agreed and did not protest when Hughes, who was driving, explained that the men first had to make a detour to get rid of some drugs. Hughes eventually stopped the car in a secluded area behind a school and pulled a handgun, telling the women you know what it is. One of the women ran away and hid in nearby trees. Another ran but was caught by Hughes, while the third was detained in the car at gunpoint by Hagins. As Hagins ordered the two women to lie down and spread 'em, Hughes went looking for the third. Hagins meanwhile fondled one victim's genitals and made her touch his penis. When Hughes returned unable to find the third woman, expressing fear that she had gone for the police, the men left the scene in the car. The two women found their companion in the woods and eventually flagged down a police cruiser. At trial both defendants conceded identification, but contended the women had agreed to go with them in the car to smoke marijuana, until Hughes's gun (which he used in his job as an animal control officer) accidentally fell to the floor and the women ran from the car screaming.