Opinion ID: 196422
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Levasseur's defense

Text: 56 Levasseur's defense was misidentification, and it entailed his refutation of the charges and an alibi. Levasseur's alibi and his refutation testimony are weak exculpatory evidence, however, because Levasseur's alibi witness was sleeping during the time of the disputed event, and the district attorney impeached Levasseur's credibility. 57 Levasseur's wife, Judith Levasseur, was his alibi witness. She testified that on the night of the rape, she and Levasseur obtained take-out pizza (as was their custom on Thursday nights), drove home, ate it, watched television and went to bed around 10:00 p.m. On cross-examination, the district attorney elicited the following damaging information: Judith Levasseur is a heavier sleeper than her husband and she frequently does not awaken when he gets out of bed during the night. Even accepting Judith Levasseur's testimony as true, she was asleep during the hours surrounding the incident and could not consciously account for Levasseur's presence in bed at that time. The rape occurred sometime after midnight, leaving Levasseur ample time to get out of bed undetected, get dressed and reach the scene of the incident in nearby Lowell. 58 On direct examination, Levasseur resolutely denied that he had raped Doe and testified consistently with his wife that on June 30, 1988, the night in question, they had taken pizza home and gone to bed. On cross-examination, however, the district attorney impeached Levasseur's refutation. The district attorney elicited from Levasseur that on July 13, 1988, at the police station he had told Inspector Boutselis that at 9:00 p.m. on June 30, 1988, he could have been driving around downtown Lowell, but he was not sure. 11 Levasseur admitted that he only became sure about his whereabouts after he spoke with his wife and her immediate family. Levasseur conceded, however, that his in-laws were not with Levasseur and his wife on June 30, 1988. Therefore, their assistance in reconstructing his whereabouts is dubious. 59 In addition to the impeachment of Levasseur's testimony about the blond-girl incident, the district attorney also impeached Levasseur's credibility more generally with another logical inconsistency. Levasseur testified on direct that he had offered to give Inspector Boutselis a sperm sample while he was at the police station on July 13, 1988. On cross-examination, however, Levasseur conceded that as of July 13, 1988, the police had not specifically informed him that he was suspected of rape; they had only made vague references to abusing some girl and claims of sexual harassment. With this line of questioning, the district attorney implied that Levasseur disclosed a guilty mind by offering a sperm sample when all that was charged was battery and sexual harassment, neither of which necessarily involve the ejaculation of semen. 60 Given the inability of Levasseur's alibi witness to vouch for his whereabouts and the widespread impeachment of Levasseur's testimony, Levasseur's shaky defense case helped the prosecution's case more than it hurt it. After comparing the prosecution's case to Levasseur's defense, we conclude that the strength of the prosecution's remaining evidence of guilt, relative to Levasseur's defense, minimizes the impact of the improperly admitted evidence on the jury's verdict. 61 Having determined that the error did not permeate the record, the issue affected by the error was not central to the prosecution's case, and the prosecution's case minus the inadmissible evidence was strong, we find with fair assurance that, in light of the record as a whole, the Confrontation Clause violation did not substantially influence the jury's verdict, and therefore it was harmless. 62 We now turn to Levasseur's remaining arguments.