If you were on my jury...

In My Humble Opinion
1

Defendant (D) is 18, prosecuting witness (PW) is 12. D is charged with rape, defined as having sex with someone forceably and against her will; statutory rape, having sex with someone under the age of 16, consent notwithstanding (if you’re under 16, you’re legally unable to give consent); and sexual battery, the touching of another’s sexual organs without his / her consent.
Here is what I expect the state to present:

a) D was staying at PW’s house because he didn’t have anyplace else to stay.

b) PW said that she woke up naked with D on top of her, wearing condom, having sex with her. He bit her breast, leaving a bruise or hickey.

c) PW said that she voluntarily left the house with D to run away, they wound up next to the railroad tracks, where police caught up with them after PW’s mom called the police.

d) PW said that D left the condom on, and discarded it next to tracks. The police fould a condom, put it in evidence.

e) Rape kit done on PW, sent to crime lab. Included swabs taken from PW’s breast.

f) At hospital, PW stated that bruise/hickey inflicted through her clothes. See b), above.

g) No DNA ever taken from D. He’s been in jail since September, and no one has bothered to take a DNA sample from him. Crime lab will only do tests when asked to do so by the state.

h) The condom has never been tested, not that it matters, as there’s nothing to compare it to, see g), above.

i) DNA done on swabs taken from breast shows “presence of male DNA”.

j) PW has been busted lying about her mother hitting her.

Would you convict D?

Would it make a difference to you if you knew that D would get a mandatory 25 year, no parole sentence for rape?

Would it make a difference to you if you knew that D would have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life if he got convicted of anything he’s charged with?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

2

I would be agog that DNA testing wasn’t immediately done when a sample was readily available. It’s impossible to tell until you’ve sat through a trial and heard all the testimony and evidence, but based on what you’ve told me my visceral reaction is that I’d hang that son of a bitch up like a phone (the jury, not the defendant).

3

What is the Defendant’s story? Was the rape kit positive for fluids? Can the defense request and pay for DNA testing? If it’s allowed, why hasn’t it been done?

StG

4

The only evidence you’re going to have is what I’ve outlined. The state has the burden of proof, and if they haven’t met it, you have to find D not guilty.

5
  1. What were the results of the rape kit?
  2. Can they be more specific than just “male DNA” found on the breast (from watching crime shows I understand that the DNA is not always identifiable beyond male DNA - is this true or bogus)
  3. If it wasn’t D then who was it?
  4. If he had just raped her, why did she run away with him? (or did they run away together before the rape?)
  5. More to the point, if he had raped her, why did he leave the “rape location” wearing a condom?
6

Then if the PW has said he did it, and he doesn’t deny it, he’s guilty as far as I’m concerned.

StG

7

What exactly is your relationship to this case? Are you empanelled on a jury with a trial underway?

8

Sounds like the OP is affiliated with the defense.

Asking how we would hypothetically decide is meaningless. If I hypothetically believed the girl, then I’d vote to convict. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t. It’s all gonna come down to the victim’s credibility and whether the jury believes her or not.

9

I’m asking as a hypothetical attorney, either prosecution or defense. There is no DNA match, only “male DNA” on the breast. The condom, while found and sent to the crime lab, was not tested.

10

As Wargamer says, it’s hard to say, because even with the facts you’ve given, the credibility of a witness is something that people tend to make judgments about based on how they speak and act, not just the information they give.

That said, given only the evidence presented in the OP’s list, i’d vote Not Guilty on all counts.

11

If I was defending, I’d be trying to suppress the condom evidence. Without DNA to link it to the defendant, it’s arguably irrelevant and unduly prejudicial.

Without that, the prosecution has the testimony of an impeachable 12 year old as to the attack and identity of her attacker, evidence that a sexual incident happened, and evidence that one of the participants was male.

Not given, but I have to assume that the jury would hear evidence regarding who was present in the home at the time of the incident. More than one male in the home gives the defense some room to argue reasonable doubt.

A jury could convict on those facts.

12

I’d say the State sucks at putting together a case - no rape kit evidence? no test on the condom?! - and I’d either (mentally) accuse them of incompetence or of hiding evidence that they know will exclude their only suspect.

I’d also be excluded from the jury during voir dire, however.

13

What does the defendant say? Does he admit to having sex but says it’s consensual or does he deny ever having sex with her?

14

If he has any brains at all, he says nothing and obtains counsel.

15

I have to say I wouldn’t. There isn’t any evidence tying the defendant to the assault. I can’t believe no DNA testing was performed and I can’t even begin to understand why it wasn’t done.

16

I’d abstain because the condom hadn’t been tested - or at least expect some really, really good reason as to why that hadn’t been done. Sometimes rape can be a case of one person’s word against another’s, and you have to go on that, but where there’s physical evidence, that has to be part of the case.

If he admitted having sex with her, however, then I’d convict hm on statutory rape charges because, well, he’d admitted being 18 and having sex with a 12-year-old; pretty hard not to say ‘guilty’ on that one. You haven’t stated whether he admitted having sex with her.

I wouldn’t take item J into account and I’m surprised that a court would allow it to be submitted.

Why’s he in prison now? Why didn’t he get bail?

17

On those facts I wouldn’t convict on any charge.

18

There is the testimony of the alleged victim. She’s impeachable on the different versions of the story she’s told, and possibly for filing a false report against her mother depending on local rules of evidence and the definition of “busted”. The jury could still choose to believe her testimony that the defendant attacked her.

19

I meant there’s none absent her own testimony. I’m not calling testimony worthless, but I’d probably want physical evidence and there doesn’t appear to be any. Were I on the jury (or for that matter, related to the accuser) I’d be flabbergasted that there is evidence available that hasn’t been tested.

20

I defended a sleeping beauty rape matter, and ended up putting the visiting judge to sleep. At the end of the trial, he stood up, and instead of exiting the dias through the door behind him, he stepped down off the dias, and walked across the room into a wall, knocking himself down on his ass. Apparently that was where the door was in his home courtroom.