Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 31, 1992 TAG: 9203310311
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Assistant Public Defender John Varney had said earlier that he may cite the woman's crack habit - including the possibility that she smoked the drug as an aphrodisiac on the night in question - to suggest she consented to sex with his client.
Varney represents Bertrum D. Saunders, who faces four life sentences on charges of rape, abduction and two counts of sodomy.
Over the woman's objections, Circuit Judge Diane Strickland ruled that portions of the records from her stay in a drug-treatment center are "appropriate for disclosure."
While Varney has argued that the documents are relevant to his defense, prosecutors have said it would be "blatantly unfair" to allow a defense attorney to comb through the woman's private medical records.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Hill said the woman, who did not attend Monday's hearing, asked her to tell Strickland that she objects to any release of the records.
But after having the documents subpoenaed and reviewing them privately, Strickland decided to release portions of them. The records are from Multi-Lodge, a Roanoke drug-treatment center where the woman recently was a patient.
It was unclear how prominently crack's use as an aphrodisiac may figure in Saunders' defense. But Varney has said the woman's drug use also could be employed in other ways to impeach her credibility.
At an earlier hearing, he outlined from literature how cocaine is often used to enhance sexual desire. It also causes hallucinations, decreases inhibitions and leads to a feeling of paranoia - all factors that could play into his defense.
But Hill has said there is no evidence to show the woman was affected by crack in the way Varney suggests. At a preliminary hearing last year, the woman admitted to using a small amount of the drug on the night of the alleged offense.
Saunders, 23, was arrested last August after the woman told police she was approached at night after finding herself locked out of an apartment on Melrose Avenue Northwest.
She testified at a preliminary hearing that Saunders then forced her some 13 blocks to the Lansdowne housing project, where she was raped and sodomized.
Saunders, who has been convicted once before of rape, has been held in the Roanoke jail since his arrest. He is scheduled to go on trial May 27.
by CNB