Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 5, 1992                   TAG: 9203050332
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RAPE DEFENSE: CRACK MAY HAVE BEEN APHRODISIAC

Roanoke Assistant Public Defender John Varney argued this week that he is entitled to the records on behalf of his client, Bertrum D. Saunders.

Saunders - who two years ago was convicted of rape and spent about a year in jail - now faces a possible four life sentences on charges of rape, abduction and two counts of sodomy.

In preparing a defense to the current charges, Varney argued that the medical records might show that the crack she smoked the night of the alleged offense enhanced her sex drive.

"The alleged victim's willingness to participate in sexual intercourse is a major element of this case," Varney told Roanoke Circuit Judge Diane Strickland.

Arguing a discovery motion Tuesday, Varney said he was entitled to records from the Multi-Lodge Detox Center, a Roanoke drug and alcohol treatment center where the woman recently was a patient.

But Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Hill argued that it would be "blatantly unfair" to allow a defense attorney to comb through a woman's private medical records and then "pick and choose" certain information.

"For this particular victim, there is no evidence to show that [crack] affected her in that way," Hill said.

Strickland ordered that the records be subpoenaed to her chambers. After reviewing the records, the judge will determine if the information is relevant to Varney's argument and whether it should be turned over to him.

Until - and if - he is allowed to see the medical records, Varney is uncertain how prominently crack's use as an aphrodisiac might be used in his client's defense. "I'm just looking at it," he said.

However, the public defender read from literature on drugs as he told Strickland that crack is frequently used to enhance sexual desire. And he also could use the woman's drug use, which she admitted in testimony during a preliminary hearing last year, in other ways as "impeaching material" against her, he said.

Varney mentioned that crack causes hallucinations, decreases inhibitions, and leads to a feeling of paranoia - all factors that could play into his defense.

He mentioned that in experiments on animals, the addiction to crack is so strong that the test subjects chose it over food and water. In this case, the woman's addiction to crack also could become relevant if the encounter with Saunders started with an offer of drugs, as has been suggested.

"If the inducement was an offer of drugs, then she may very well have been willing to perform sex acts in exchange for drugs," he said.

At a preliminary hearing in November, the woman testified that Saunders, 23, approached her early last Aug. 29, after she found herself locked out of an apartment on Melrose Avenue Northwest.

She said Saunders then forced her 13 blocks to the Lansdowne housing project, where the rape and sodomy occurred.

Hill pointed out that testimony during the preliminary hearing showed that the woman had smoked only a small amount of crack among friends that night.

But Varney countered that her addiction to the drug was apparently so strong that an initial hearing in October had to be postponed because she was still a patient in the detoxification center.

Saunders is scheduled to go on trial March 24.