Cartera v. Commonwealth

Convicted by a jury of two counts of forcible rape and two counts of forcible sodomy, the defendant, Harold William Cartera, was sentenced in accordance with the verdicts to serve a total of 34 years in the penitentiary. On appeal, the dispositive question is whether the trial court erred in admitting into evidence certain portions of the testimony of a physician who examined and treated the rape victims after the offenses occurred.

The Commonwealth’s evidence shows that on November 7,1973, the victims, two 14-year-old girls, were hitchhiking in the Reston area of Fairfax County when they…