Thursday, October 12, 1995: Testimony of Carla Anthony
The State calls Carla Anthony:
Prosecution:
Sterling: Where do you live?
Anthony: Aransas, Pass, TX.
Sterling: Where do you work?
Anthony:The emergency room.
Sterling: What do you do?
Anthony:I am a Registered Nurse.
Sterling: Have you handled patients that were sexually assaulted?
Anthony:Yes.
Sterling:Were you working on March 24?
Anthony: Yes.
Sterling:Did you see Yolanda Saldivar?
Anthony: Yes.
Sterling: How did you see her?
Anthony: That morning I was busy with several other people, and two women came into the area. Another Nurse said one of the women had been sexually assaulted.
Sterling: Do you recall at about what time?
Anthony: About 10:00 am.
Sterling:What was the first thing that you did on this case?
Anthony: Basically, she was taken back to the private room.
Sterling:Who does the exam?
Anthony:The doctor will usually do a vaginal exam.
Sterling:Who was the patient?
Anthony: Yolanda Saldivar
Sterling: What was Ms. Saldivar doing when you entered the room?
Anthony:She was depressed and she was in the room with a blanket on her.
Sterling: How did she appear to you?
Anthony: She looked kind of depressed
Sterling: What did she do then?
Anthony: She stayed in the chair until I asked her to take her vital signs.
Sterling: Did you take her vital signs?
Anthony:Yes.
Sterling: What did you see?
Anthony: She had some bruised marks around her neck.
Sterling: What does the patient usually wear?
Anthony:Ms. Saldivar was in her gown.
Sterling:Who was with Ms. Saldivar?
Anthony:Selena.
Sterling: Did you know at that time that this was Selena?
Anthony:No.
Sterling: Did you start questioning Ms. Saldivar?
Anthony: Yes.
Sterling:On this that day, did you talk to the police?
Anthony:I did. I told the police that the rape had happened in another country.
Sterling:What did the police say?
Anthony: To talk to the Detective.
Sterling:What did he say?
Anthony: He said because the rape happened in another country, there was not much that we could do.
Sterling: What did you do?
Anthony: We made arrangements for Ms. Saldivar to go to San Antonio because the rape was out of our jurisdiction.
Sterling: What happened next?
Sterling:The doctor asked her what happened?
Anthony: She started talking to the doctor with encouragement from Selena.
Sterling:What did Ms. Saldivar say happened?
Anthony:She said she was assaulted by two men from somewhere near Monterrey, and that they had beat her with a bat in the back repeatedly.
Sterling:Did the doctor do an examination?
Anthony:Yes, just a routine examination. He didn't do an vaginal exam.
Sterling:Why did he not do that?
Defense Objected.
Judge Overruled.
Sterling:If Ms. Saldivar would be sent to San Antonio for an exam, would this affect this vaginal area?
Anthony: Yes.
Sterling: What was Selena doing?
Anthony:Occasionally, Selena would reach over and touch my arm.
Sterling: Did you talk afterwards?
Anthony:I asked her if she had had any vaginal bleeding.
Defense Objected.
It was sustained by the Judge.
Anthony: Saldivar said she had a little bit of bleeding.
Sterling:What did Selena do at that time?
Anthony: She went over and picked up Saldivar's clothing one by one.
Sterling: Asked to approach to have Ms. Anthony to identify the clothing.
Anthony:Identified the clothing. Exhibit 8a, 8b.
Sterling: What clothing did Ms. Saldivar have on when she left the hospital.
Anthony: The light green hospital clothing pants. Scrubs.
Sterling:What did Selena and Ms. Saldivar do at that time?
Anthony:Selena signed the paperwork and then took Ms. Saldivar to San Antonio.
Sterling:How many sexually assaults have you seen?
Anthony:About 30 or several.
Sterling: In your opinion have you seen clothing like these from an assault?
Anthony: No.
Sterling:The Prosecution Rest.
Defense:
Hagans: Who was the doctor?
Anthony:Claudio Sanchez?
Hagans: In your opinion, would you be able to give out this kind of information?
Anthony:Yes.
Hagans: Didn't the doctor note on the chart that Ms. Saldivar did have bruises?
Anthony:Yes.
Hagans: You made a statement that she did didn't you?
Anthony:Yes.
Hagans: When you looked at the clothing in the bag can you say that they are Ms. Saldivar's clothing?
Anthony:Yes.
Hagans: Did your mark them with a special mark or tag?
Anthony: No.
Hagans: Then how can you tell?
Hagans: Did you say Ms. Saldivar was examined routinely in a GYN Room?
Anthony:Yes.
Hagans: Didn't you say that you saw her in a fetal position?
Anthony:Yes.
Hagans: And you say that she was depressed?
Anthony:Yes.
Hagans: You said she walked over to the examining table didn't you?
Anthony:Yes.
Hagans: Did she look like she was in pain?
Anthony:Yes.
Hagans: I want to go over your testimony. How many times did you get in touch with the police?
Anthony:Once in Corpus and once here.
Hagans: How was Ms. Saldivar talking?
Anthony:Shaky.
Hagans: Would you agree that her voice was tearful and shaky?
Anthony:Yes.
Hagans: You told Selena that no evidence would be done in this hospital, right?
Anthony:Yes.
Hagans: Is it customary for someone else to sign the consent form?
Anthony: Sometime, in unusual cases. We don't have a policy. Anyone can sign.
Hagans: Is it customary for someone else to sign that patient's name?
Anthony: No.
Hagans: Didn't Selena sign Yolanda's name?
Anthony:Yes. We never write that in our notes.
Hagans: Defense rest.
Prosecution:
Sterling: What was Ms. Saldivar in when she left the hospital?
Anthony:Light green shrubs that we gave her to put on.
Sterling: Prosecution have no more questions.
Trinidad Espinoza also testified Thursday, but his testimony is not included here.