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.