State v. Kilgore
State v. Kilgore
Opinion of the Court
This Court granted certiorari to review the Court of Appeals’ unpublished opinion in State v. Kilgore, Op. No. 95-UP-105 (S.C.Ct.App. filed April 20, 1995), which upheld the defendant’s convictions. We affirm.
Factual/Procedural Background
Shawn Kilgore was indicted for one count of criminal conspiracy to commit a sexual battery and two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree by aiding and abetting. At Kilgore’s trial, Jennifer Buckle (“Victim”) testified that he invited her to a party at the home of Scott Reynolds on the night of November 8, 1991. She accepted the invitation, and Kilgore picked her up and took her to the party. Andrew Kelly King, John Marseglia, Jr., and Robert Parks also attended the party. Victim eventually left the party with Kilgore, King, Marseglia, Parks, and others. The group headed to Marseglia’s apartment to watch television.
Victim testified that when the group arrived at the apartment, Kilgore wanted to show her one of the apartment’s
Victim then left the apartment. On her way home, she saw lights on at a recording studio where a friend named James Sauls worked. At the studio, Victim tried to tell Sauls and his friend William Yeargin, who was also there, what had occurred. She eventually called a rape crisis center and was shortly thereafter picked up by the police and taken to a hospital.
Robert Parks testified for the State. His testimony was that he saw Marseglia having intercourse with Victim in a bedroom of the apartment, after which Marseglia emerged from the bedroom, and King went in. When Kilgore came out of the room, Parks asked him what he was doing, to which Kilgore responded, ‘We’re running the train on that girl.” After King came out, Parks heard Victim crying and went to her assistance. He found her shorts and pantyhose wrapped around her feet. He helped her put on some clothes. Parks testified that Victim appeared extremely upset.
William Yeargin testified that he was at the recording studio when someone began beating on the door. It .was Victim. She was extremely agitated, and she told him that some guys had hit her and raped her. James Sauls similarly testified that Victim arrived and was “hysterical.” She told Sauls she had been molested across the street. Sauls observed red bruising across her face.
Moreover, Scott Reynolds testified for the state. He declared that at the party on the night of November 8th, Kilgore told Reynolds that “they were going to pull the train” on Victim. Likewise, Jennifer Simmons gave testimony that Kilgore told her, after the night’s events, that “they had ran [sic] the train” on Victim.
The jury found Kilgore guilty on all charges.
Law/Analysis
Kilgore argues the Court of Appeals erred in determining that admission of Parks’s testimony was harmless error. We disagree.
Prior to trial, Parks had pled guilty to misprision of a felony in connection with the above-described events. Kilgore moved the court to bar introduction of Parks’s guilty plea. The court denied the motion, and the prosecutor on direct-examination asked Parks whether he had pled guilty to the offense. Kilgore argues he was prejudiced by introduction of Parks’s guilty plea, because this created an inference that a crime had, in fact, been committed. Even if we assume that the trial court erred in admitting Parks’s testimony, we find beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of did not contrib
There is overwhelming evidence of Kilgore’s guilt. He conspired in (and his friends engaged in) “running the train” or successively sexually assaulting Victim.
Based on the foregoing, the decision of the Court of Appeals is AFFIRMED.
. King was tried with Kilgore. King was convicted of criminal conspiracy, criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, and criminal sexual conduct in the second degree. Marseglia had previously pled guilty to criminal sexual conduct.
. At oral argument, counsel for Kilgore suggested that the meaning of the phrase "to run (or pull) a train" was unclear. The following sources provide definitions of the phrase:
Robert L. Chapman, New Dictionary of American Slang 340, 445 (1986):
“pull a train (or the train or the choo-choo) ... to do the sex act with several men serially: 'taking some dame in the woods and making her pull a train’ — Rockford Files (TV program)____’’
“train ... to do the sex act on a woman serially, man after man, in a gang.”
Eugene E. Landy, The Underground Dictionary 155 (1971):
"pull a train ... Engage in sexual intercourse (a female) with male members of a gang one after another.”
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The STATE v. Shawn Clifford KILGORE
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published