Terry v. State

Rape; twelve years.

The prosecutrix testified that in April of 1981, she lived with her two small children in an apartment complex in Oxford, Alabama. Around 4:00 or 4:30 A.M. on April 30, 1981, she was awakened by a noise which she thought came from the complex. When she heard the noise again, she turned over and saw a man standing in front of her bed. She screamed and the man put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her if she was not quiet.

Although there was no light on in the bedroom, there was a street lamp at the corner of the prosecutrix' building which shone into the bedroom.…