Opinion ID: 1248901
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Offenses Relating to Audrey Marie Hall

Text: As to Audrey Hall, defendant was charged with and convicted of first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. Audrey Hall had used crack cocaine off and on since 1985 and was actively involved in using crack in May 1996 while living in Raleigh. On various occasions, she exchanged sex for money. Hall had a friend, Jerry Jones, who lived in southeast Raleigh. Occasionally, when Hall visited Jones at his home, she would use crack. On Saturday, 25 May 1996, Hall went to Jones' house about 5:00 p.m. Hall had been smoking crack that day and got high later that night from smoking crack at Jones' house, where she stayed overnight. Defendant arrived at Jones' house around 10:00 or 11:00 on Sunday morning and asked if Hall was in the house. Jones woke Hall up to tell her defendant was looking for her. Defendant came into the house and sat down beside Hall. Defendant then asked Hall if she wanted to smoke some cocaine, to which Hall responded affirmatively and proceeded to do so. Eventually, defendant asked Hall if she knew where he could buy some cocaine. Hall agreed to take defendant to a crack house, so they left Jones' house about 3:00 p.m. Hall intended to take defendant to a crack house that was about two blocks from Jones' house, but defendant said he still had some cocaine and asked if there was some place where they could smoke it. Hall took defendant to a wooded area that is adjacent to South Wilmington Street near some railroad tracks. When they got to the woods, Hall took a hit from defendant's cocaine. Defendant motioned for Hall to walk in front of him, and when she did, defendant grabbed her by the throat, squeezed tightly, and threw her on the ground. Defendant began choking Hall and told her to take her clothes off. Defendant also threatened Hall with a box cutter and made her walk farther into the woods and get on her knees. Over a relatively short period of time, defendant made Hall put his penis in her mouth as she was on her knees. He told her to do exactly what he said to do if she wanted to get out of those woods alive. Then, defendant pushed Hall on her back, stuffed his penis down her throat and ejaculated. Defendant continued to choke Hall, while holding the box cutter and raping her. Raleigh Police Officer Kevin Carswell and two other officers were dispatched to the wooded area. The officers found, among other things, some items of clothing, a purse, a watch, and a gold necklace along a path. When the officers eventually found Hall, her arms were stretched over her head, and she was nude except for a dirty white sock on her right foot. Officer Carswell testified that it was apparent that Hall was dragged to the place where she was found. Hall was able to describe her attacker to an officer as a black male with black jeans and a black shirt and carrying a backpack. She also said that defendant was at Jones' house at 203 Bragg Street. Hall was taken to Wake Medical Center, where she described her assault and her attacker to a nurse. Hall's injuries included cuts on her hand and face and abrasions on her back. She also had some very obvious scratches and bruises on her neck. Vaginal swabs, collected from Hall, and subsequent blood samples from defendant were later subjected to DNA analysis. The analysis by the SBI lab revealed a DNA banding pattern that was consistent with a mixture of the DNA profile for Hall and defendant. Additional DNA testing by another lab revealed that sperm from the vaginal swabbing had genetic characteristics that were consistent with characteristics possessed by defendant. Ultimately, this testing excluded 99.99% of the population from having the same DNA which was found in the sperm taken from the vaginal swabs.