## Facts

- The State charged A. J. Davies with attempted aggravated rape under Louisiana attempt and aggravated rape statutes.
- In the early morning of March 13, 1976, Davies, the victim, and her friends were at a nightclub; Davies asked the victim to have sex, and she refused.
- When the victim and her friends left, Davies followed them into an alley where they were attempting to avoid him.
- Davies grabbed the victim by the neck, pulled her away from her friends, and threatened the friends to “back off” or he would “blow [her] head off,” while reaching toward his waistband, causing the friends to flee.
- Davies pinned the victim against a house, choked her as she resisted, and stated he was going to “have her” and that she would be with him “whether she liked it or not.”
- Davies choked the victim until she lost consciousness for several minutes; as she regained consciousness, police arrived, and Davies fled by jumping a fence and running through alleyways.
- In the hours after the incident, Davies moved among multiple locations and was later apprehended after police were contacted.
- At trial, the court admitted testimony describing Davies’s post-incident conduct, which the defense characterized as suggesting separate criminal acts (e.g., a possible burglary or assault) charged in a separate proceeding.
- A jury found Davies guilty, and the trial court sentenced him to 45 years at hard labor.

## Issues

1. Whether testimony about Davies’s post-offense conduct—though suggesting separate criminal acts—was inadmissible “other crimes” evidence or was admissible as relevant evidence of flight and consciousness of guilt.
2. Whether the trial court committed reversible error under Davies’s remaining assignments of error challenging the conviction and sentence.

## Decision

- The Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and the 45-year hard-labor sentence.
- The court held the challenged testimony about Davies’s post-offense conduct was admissible because it was relevant to show flight and efforts to evade arrest soon after the charged offense.
- The court rejected Davies’s remaining assignments of error and found no basis for reversal.

## Legal Principles

- Evidence of flight and attempted evasion of arrest is admissible as circumstantial evidence tending to show consciousness of guilt.
- Conduct occurring after the charged offense may be admitted even if it also suggests other criminal acts, when it is closely connected in time and circumstance and explains a continuous sequence of flight or evasion.
- “Other crimes” concerns do not bar evidence offered for a non-character purpose (such as showing flight, identity, intent, or consciousness of guilt) when its probative value justifies admission in context.

## Conclusion

The court upheld Davies’s attempted aggravated rape conviction, ruling that testimony about his subsequent actions was properly admitted as relevant flight evidence showing consciousness of guilt rather than impermissible propensity evidence.


State v. Davies, 350 So. 2d 586 (La. 1977)