Opinion ID: 2219110
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Gray's Testimony

Text: Gray testified that on the evening of May 10, 1978, she and her boyfriend, Kenneth Adams, sat listening to music in his car parked in the vicinity of her family's apartment located at 1525 Hammond Lane. Gray was 17 years old at the time and had not attended school past the ninth grade. After a while, defendant drove up in his red Toyota and asked the couple whether they wanted any beer. They declined and, shortly thereafter, defendant left the area in his car. Gray and Adams continued to listen to music, but after some time, Gray became tired and went home. While she was inside her apartment, however, she heard a strange noise which, under cross-examination, she acknowledged was conversation. Gray left her own apartment and went next door to a vacant, unlighted apartment. She looked out the window towards the front of the apartment (Adams' car had been parked in back). Gray saw defendant, Adams, Rainge and Jimerson around defendant's car, which was stuck in the mud. Defendant then saw Gray, came over to her and grabbed her arm, but she resisted. Defendant then told Gray to accompany him and she did. When they approached defendant's car, Gray saw two white adults, a male and a female, in the back seat of the car. The entire group of persons, two whites, defendant, Adams, Rainge, Jimerson and Gray then entered the building located at 1528 Cannon Lane. At the time, Gray saw no one trying to get defendant's car out of the mud, nor did she hear the car's motor running loudly, or running at all. When the group entered the building, the car was still sitting in the mud. Once the group entered the building, Rainge remained on the first floor with the white male while the others went upstairs to a back bedroom on the second floor. Once there, defendant ordered the woman to undress, and she complied. According to Gray, she was able to see what occurred because defendant had given her a Bic lighter to light the room. Gray observed defendant rape the woman, as did Jimerson and Adams in succession. Jimerson then went downstairs, relieved Rainge, and Rainge raped the woman. Defendant and Jimerson then raped the woman a second time. When defendant instructed Adams to also do so again, he declined at Gray's urging. Jimerson, however, relieved Rainge once more, and Rainge raped the woman again. Defendant then told the woman to turn over onto her stomach. He removed a big gun from his pocket, placed it close to the woman's head and shot her twice. The group then returned to the first floor where the white male was being watched by Jimerson. The entire group, with the exception of Adams who went home, then went outside near the creek. Despite being familiar with defendant, Rainge, and Jimerson for only one month, Gray testified, she was not afraid. Defendant then told the man to lie on his stomach. Gray was standing approximately 16 feet away in the unlit, darkened area and saw defendant shoot the man twice in the head. Defendant then gave the gun to Rainge, who shot the man once in the back. After Rainge returned the gun to defendant, defendant threw it into the creek. Defendant warned Gray that if she said anything, he would kill her and her family. Defendant's threat frightened Gray at the time. Following these events, Gray returned home. Gray's version of the events of the crime was not impeached under cross-examination, except that she stated that she did not remember or did not know whether she had gone immediately home after the shootings. Gray, however, denied ever lying under oath, but then acknowledged that she had changed her testimony at defendant's preliminary hearing. Gray also denied or could not remember previously testifying at the preliminary hearing to the effect that her grand jury testimony had been coerced. In response to most questions concerning previous inconsistent statements made during both defendant's preliminary hearing and Gray's first trial, Gray stated that she could not remember. Neither could she remember, among other things, events surrounding her protective custody; seeing Attorney Weston seated at the defense table during the preliminary hearing, or seeing him at all at that time; whether she had been previously tried; whether she had testified at trial; whether she had testified on other occasions, including the grand jury, even though transcripts were introduced; anything about her new trial other than that she would receive one; how she got inside the building that day before trial; whether she had a lawyer, or whether she had just testified that she had a lawyer, or that Weston had previously represented defendant. Gray did, however, testify that she had a problem remembering things. Gray also testified that while she was imprisoned, she had attempted to complete her high school graduation requirements, but was unable to do so. During cross-examination by codefendant's counsel, Gray was extensively questioned regarding whether the testimony she gave was prompted in hopes of receiving leniency. Although Gray did not understand the term leniency, she denied having any such expectations, denied discussing the issue with her lawyer, but said that her lawyer had told her to tell the truth. She further maintained that police had not beaten or verbally abused her when they had initially questioned her in 1978. The transcript of Gray's grand jury testimony was subsequently introduced as substantive evidence by the State. Likewise, the defense introduced Gray's entire preliminary hearing question-and-answer testimony as substantive evidence. Six statements of Gray, made during her first trial, defendant's death penalty hearing, and Jimerson's trial, were also introduced by the defense for purposes of impeachment.