Appellant was convicted by a jury of rape and burglary, and appeals the denial of his motion for new trial.
The victim testified that she was awakened one morning by appellant pulling at her clothes and holding a knife to her throat. The victim further testified that appellant raped her, then went downstairs to lie on her couch for a couple of hours. When the victim saw appellant on her couch she recognized him as someone who used to come around her house. Later that day the victim related to her niece what appellant had done and that evening her daughter took her to the hospital where she recounted the events for the treating physician. The physician called the police, and the victim told the officer *534 that appellant had raped her.
1. Appellant contends that the trial court erred by allowing the prosecutor, during closing argument, to ask the jurors to put themselves in the place of the victim. Appellant objected to the following closing argument of the prosecutor: “When you are deliberating, when you are thinking about this case, try to put yourself in Mrs. Wright’s shoes, in her clothing, in her dressing, in her sleeping gown that morning, and what was the circumstance that she described to your [sic] folks?” The challenged remarks must be examined in the context in which they were made. See
Baker v. State,
2. Appellant’s second enumeration of error is that the trial court allowed, over objection, excessive hearsay testimony. At trial, three witnesses testified, over objection, that the victim told them that appellant had raped her. We find that the trial court properly admitted the evidence under well-established exceptions to the hearsay rule.
(a) The emergency room physician testified that the victim told him she had been raped by a black man named Miller. The physician’s statement was admissible as a statement made for the purpose of describing medical history. OCGA § 24-3-4;
Johnson v. State,
(b) The investigating officer testified that during his interview with the victim at the emergency room she told him that appellant raped her. The court, after overruling the objection, explained to the jury that the “officer’s (c)onversation may be admitted under [OCGA § 24-3-2] to explain conduct and as such is not considered hearsay. (Cit.)”
Little v. State,
(c) After the victim’s niece testified that the victim told her appellant raped her, the court instructed the jury that the testimony did not prove that the rape happened, but was admitted for the purpose of showing that the victim told her niece that she was raped. The veracity of the victim was at issue on the question of whether appellant raped her. Her out-of-court statement made to her niece was consistent with her in-court testimony given under oath and subject to cross-examination, thus the concerns of the hearsay rule are not present.
Brannon v. State,
Judgment affirmed.