Rouse found guilty of raping, beating elderly woman

Tony Pernell Rouse Sr. was ordered serve more than four consecutive life sentences without parole after being convicted of six counts Wednesday.

Rouse was on trial for the March 11, 2007, rape and assault of a then 69-year-old woman in her home.

In addition to the life sentences, the 40-year-old man faces two consecutive sentences of 133-169 months - or more than 11 years to more than 14 years - for being convicted of common law robbery and a lesser charge of assault inflicting serious injury.

The jury was told to consider the charge of assault inflicting serious bodily injury, but came back on the lesser included charge.

The difference between the two charges has to do with the extent of the victim's injuries. Lenoir County Superior Court Judge Paul L. Jones explained to the jurors what the differences were.

For assault inflicting serious bodily injury, he said, the prosecution must prove two factors. In this case that Rouse attacked the victim by "intentionally pushing her down to the floor and dragging her" and that the injuries that result from the assault are permanent or long-term and they cause "extreme pain."

By contrast, assault inflicting serious injury must have two different factors involved: The suspect attacked the victim and the injuries caused "great pain or suffering."

Because of this, even though the jury came back with a guilty verdict on the first-degree kidnapping charge, one of the elements required for that charge was assault inflicting serious bodily injury. Jones, then, was law-bound to change the verdict to second-degree kidnapping. The charge still resulted in a life sentence.

In addition, Rouse was charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree rape and first-degree sexual offense. He also pleaded guilty to being a habitual felon and a violent habitual felon, charges that influenced his sentences.

The jury charged Rouse with these crimes though they were unaware of his previous record, which consists of 10 convictions ranging from second-degree kidnapping to felony breaking and entering.

Jones had some words for Rouse before imposing his sentence.

"It just appears that you have not been able to conform yourself to the laws of society," he said. "... It just seems to be a pattern that obviously it's just not safe on the street to have you running around.

"The state has to impose its most severe punishment."

Defense attorney Mark Herring of White & Allen, P.A., of Kinston, said his client planned to appeal his convictions.

After the trial, juror Anne Albritton called sitting on this trial "the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

"I feel sick to my stomach," she said of how the trial affected her. "I had to go home and just sit."

In the jury room, she said, there was very little discussion. The jury reached its verdicts in 35 minutes. Albritton said the reason it even took as long as that is they had a question about the difference between assault inflicting serious bodily injury and assault inflicting serious injury.

Even though she said she felt she and the 11 others in the jury had done the right thing - especially after she heard his record during the sentencing phase - she understood the implications of what they'd sentenced Rouse to.

"You see a person like that," she said, gesturing to the victim. "You're holding their lives in your hands as well. But he needed to be put away. I feel sorry for him."

Assistant District Attorney Imelda Pate said after the trial that she was "very relieved" that Rouse was going to prison for life, especially knowing his record.

"I'm just very pleased," she said.

Rouse's attorney did not respond to a call seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, Pate finished up interviewing her witnesses, including Kinston Detective M.T. Elliott and North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations Special Agents Jody West and Kristin Meyer, who processed and analyzed some of the evidence against Rouse.

Elliott, when he resumed the stand, continued to explain the many photographs he had taken during the investigation, including several of the bomber-style jacket and red toboggan with what appeared to him to be blood.

He said he used an alternative light source to make the blood more visible on the dark brown coat.

"Blood, a lot of times, will appear black (to the naked eye)," Elliott said. "If you have something that's a different color (like the light), it might bring it up."

Elliott said he used the alternative light to confirm that the dark stains on Rouse's jacket were, in all likelihood, blood. He said soon after the test, he sent on several items to the SBI for further analysis.

Herring asked Elliott during his cross-examination if the light was a conclusive measure of the presence of blood or other bodily fluids.

"I believe you could probably call it an indicator," Elliott said. "It's not definitive."

Herring also got Elliott to admin the tread on the Nike sneaker is fairly common. Elliott had taken a photograph of a bloody partial shoe print, which - according to the state - is the same pattern as Rouse's blue and white Nike tennis shoes.

West, an SBI forensic serologist, took the stand to explain the testing he did on some of the material sent to him from the KPD. A serologist tests evidence for the presence of a bodily fluid, such as blood, semen or saliva.

The special agent testified as an expert witness, which means he was allowed to express an opinion in his field. He said he tested the red toboggan and the sexual assault kit.

"I start with the item of evidence that is more intimate to the victim," he said of why he didn't test everything KPD sent him. "In this case, the sexual assault kit was the most intimate because it was closest to the body."

He said he tested the vaginal swabs and smears found in the rape kit for the presence of semen and sperm and the toboggan for blood. He said he found what he was looking for on both pieces of evidence.

Meyer, an SBI forensic DNA analyst, said she analyzed the toboggan and the vaginal swabs to determine whose blood and whose sperm was on them.

Meyer, who was deemed an expert in her field, said DNA is the "genetic blueprint" of every living thing.

"No two people have the exact same DNA profile, except for identical twins," she said.

Pate then produced Rouse's birth certificate, which stated his was a single birth.

Meyer said she used a four-step process to extract and replicate the DNA in order to test it.

She said on the toboggan there was a mixture of blood. Most of it belonged to the victim, though Rouse couldn't be excluded as a contributor. The toboggan was found hanging from Rouse's headboard in his bedroom.

On the vaginal swab from the victim's rape kit, Meyer said she found Rouse's DNA.

In what some jurors said was some of the most convincing evidence, Meyer said the DNA found on the vaginal swab from the victim's sexual assault evidence kit was several hundred thousand trillion times more likely to be from Rouse than any other Caucasian, African-American, Lumbee Indian or Hispanic person in the state when compared to a database kept by the SBI.

"In my opinion," Meyer, who had been designated an expert witness, said, "the DNA found from (on the vaginal swab) is from Tony Rouse, more than any other person in North Carolina."

In total, Pate put on 15 witnesses and introduced nearly 100 pieces of evidence.

Herring, by contrast, presented no evidence in his client's defense. He then made a motion to dismiss all charges in the case, citing insufficient evidence. Jones denied the motion.

In her closing statement, Pate asked jurors how safe they felt in their homes and what their nightly routines were, trying to draw similarities between themselves and the elderly victim.

She went over what happened March 11, 2007, shortly after midnight, when Rouse broke into the victim's home and assaulted her.

"And you know, if he just wanted some money, he could have stopped in the kitchen," Pate said. "What money she had was there on the hot water heater. Nine dollars. Nine dollars. But he didn't stop."

As Pate recounted the victim's rape, she began to cry, leaning on those who came to support her. She recapped the fear the victim felt as Rouse bound her hands and feet as she lay face-down on her couch.

She said the trail in this case lead directly to Rouse, and Pate asked the jury to convict him.

"I'm asking you on behalf of the victim to find Tony Rouse guilty," she said.

Herring followed with his closing statement. He went over the evidence and tried to create reasonable doubt in the jurors' minds.

"First of all, I'm not going to come up here and try to convince you that nothing bad happened to (the victim)," he said. "... But the question is, we've got to take it one more step: Who did it?"

Herring said the track run by KPD K-9 Officer Kevin Canady and his canine Ringo didn't make sense for a suspect fleeing the scene of a crime. Why, Herring asked, would Rouse have made that circuit around his neighbor's house before heading home?

"If Mr. Rouse committed this crime, his No. 1 goal would've been to get home and get off the street immediately," he said. "Why would he have gone next door, jumped a chain-link fence and then go back to his house? It doesn't make any sense."

Herring also said police couldn't be sure whose shoe made the bloody imprint in the victim's kitchen, the glass could have come from anywhere and DNA evidence isn't always right.

"Science can make mistakes," he said. "Scientists can make mistakes."

Despite Herring's attempts to poke holes in the prosecution's case, the jury still came back with a quick conviction.

Vanessa C. Shortley can be reached at (252) 559-1076 or vshortley@freedomenc.com. Check out Vanessa's blog at http://vclarke.encblogs.com.