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

Heading: The October Trial

Text: This trial, resulting in convictions of both appellants for, among other things, armed kidnapping and two counts of armed rape, concerned events of September 19-20, 1991. According to the government's evidence, D.M. (we refer to the victims by initials) visited her boyfriend in the afternoon of September 19 and they had sexual intercourse. She then went with her friend, B.W., to visit others and they eventually met B.W.'s boyfriend, who invited them to his house. While there, B.W. and the boyfriend had sexual intercourse. Afterwards, he was unable to drive the women home but instead gave B.W. $10 for a taxicab and dropped them off at the corner of Florida and Georgia Avenues. As the women waited at about 1:00 a.m., Hughes and Hagins pulled up in a car and Hagins, the passenger, asked if they wanted a ride. When they refused the offer, Hagins got out of the car, put a gun to B.W.'s head, and told the women to get your ass in [the car]. Hughes drove to a park, where Hagins ordered the women out of the car. He told them to undress, and when they complied he took B.W. to a bench and had intercourse with her, while Hughes had intercourse with D.M. on another bench. [1] When Hughes complained that she was uncooperative, the men changed partners and resumed intercourse. Eventually Hagins forced D.M. to perform sodomy and Hughes forced B.W. to do the same. Following the assaults, appellants forced the women to sit undressed in the park for an hour, during which the men flipped a coin to decide whether to kill D.M. Before leaving, they threatened to blow up the victims' houses if they reported the rapes to the police. The women walked around for two to three hours trying to find their way home. Eventually police approached them, and they told the police they had been raped. DNA evidence was admitted at trial. [2] The FBI laboratory analyzed vaginal swabs and a pair of panties from B.W., and vaginal swabs, a pair of pants, and a pair of panties from D.M. DNA from the vaginal swab for B.W. matched Hughes but not Hagins. While there was only one male contributor to the semen on the vaginal swab, DNA from B.W.'s panties came from more than one male contributor, probably three (though none could be conclusively traced to Hughes or Hagins). Similarly, none of the DNA from D.M.'s vaginal swabs or clothing matched Hughes or Hagins. One person contributed to the semen on D.M.'s pants, and two to the semen on her panties (one of whom likely caused the semen on her pants). According to the government's expert, dried sperm can yield DNA suitable for analysis for weeks or months, unless deterioration has taken place. Of the two defendants, only Hughes took the stand, claiming that the women had willingly entered the car to provide sex for $75. Once at the park, he had sex with B.W., but Hagins declared that D.M. had refused and he took his money back from her. The women were left behind at the park, angrily yelling that you mother fuckers ain't shit.