Portland man’s conviction overturned

A Portland man serving 30 years in prison for beating and raping a former girlfriend will be resentenced after the Washington Court of Appeals overturned his rape conviction Tuesday.

In May 2014, a Clark County Superior Court jury convicted Charles E. Paschal of first-degree assault, first-degree rape and unlawful imprisonment. He received a longer-than-normal sentence, in part because the crimes were committed in the presence of children.

Paschal, a former Oregon state wrestling champion, attacked a 32-year-old Clark County woman in March 2013. The victim described the assault as hours of torture. She said the children distracted Paschal long enough for her to escape. The seriously injured woman, wearing only a bra, scaled two fences in the dark and knocked on the door of a nearby home to summon help, according to testimony at Paschal’s trial.

However, on Tuesday, the appeals court ruled that prior domestic violence between Paschal and the woman was improperly admitted as evidence at trial.

The prosecution had argued that the evidence spoke to the victim’s credibility, why she didn’t fight back and her state of mind at trial. Establishing the victim’s credibility was important because Paschal had intended to argue self-defense.

On appeal, Paschal argued that the evidence prejudiced him and that all of his convictions should be thrown out. The higher court found just the rape conviction was affected, however, because the only evidence for the rape was the woman’s testimony and hearsay statements. It’s possible the verdict on the rape charge would have been affected by the evidence related to the woman’s credibility, the court ruled.

Efforts to reach Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik were unsuccessful Tuesday afternoon.

The appeals court said the case will be remanded to Superior Court for resentencing.