Opinion ID: 2548547
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Colorado's Rape Shield Statute

Text: Rape is among the most intimate and personally-devastating invasions a person may experience in his or her lifetime. [3] It typically produces emotionally-destructive reverberations for the victim and the victim's family long after its occurrence. It can destroy the ability of a person to enjoy his or her sexuality with another. The price of making a sexual assault victim's testimony available to courts of law historically exposed the victim to detailed questioning about his or her sexual relationships with others on the theory that a person who consented to a sexual relationship in the past was more likely to have consented in the case at hand. This tactic of putting the victim on trial attempts to characterize the accuser as a person who consented to the alleged unlawful sexual conduct. See People v. McKenna, 196 Colo. 367, 371-72, 585 P.2d 275, 277-78 (1978). Due to the likelihood or possibility that this defense will be invoked, exposing the victim's most intimate life history to public view, victims often are deterred from reporting the crime, or having reported it, from following through in the role of complaining witness. Id. at 372, 585 P.2d at 278. At the time the Colorado General Assembly enacted the rape shield statute, many sexual assaults were never reported because victims of rape were often ashamed, humiliated, or terrified about the specter of their most private hurt being publicly revealed. [4] Therefore, the offenses could not be prosecuted under the state's criminal laws. In 1975, the FBI reported that forcible sexual assault was one of the most under-reported crimes, with the estimated actual rate of occurrence ranging from 80% to 350% more than the number reported. [5] M. Ireland, Reform Rape Legislation: A New Standard of Sexual Responsibility, 49 U. Colo. L.Rev. 185, 186 n. 4 (1978) (citing Fed. Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports 22-24, 37, 42 (1975)). Rape crisis centers tend[ed] to support ... that at least 90 percent of actual rapes [were] never reported. N. Gager & C. Schurr, Sexual Assault: Confronting Rape in America 91 (1976). The FBI acknowledged in its Uniform Crime Reports that law enforcement administrators recognize that their sexual assault statistics are low because fear and/or embarrassment on the part of victims deter them from reporting the crime. N. Gager & C. Schurr, supra, at 1 (citing excerpt from a Uniform Crime Report from 1968-1973). One of the main reasons why so few sexual assaults were reported was fear of court harassment and embarrassing publicity. Id. at 93; National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Forcible Rape 21 (March 1978) (National Institute) (The victim who fears that her past sexual activities may be exposed in public is less likely to report her rape and pursue prosecution.). In addition, many victims have reported that involvement with the criminal justice system has been almost as bad as the sexual assault itself. National Institute, supra, at 34. Today, the issues of underreporting are still present. The United States Department of Justice reported in 2002 that [m]ost rapes and sexual assaults [are] not reported to the police.... Sixty-three percent of completed rapes, 65% of attempted rapes, and 74% of completed and attempted sexual assaults against females [are] not reported to the police. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Rape and Sexual Assault: Reporting to Police and Medical Attention, 1992-2000 (Aug.2002). Yet, to prosecute perpetrators of sexual assault and deter others from committing this crime, the state usually requires the victim's testimony to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Because a defendant may seek to inject irrelevant details about the victim's personal sexual conduct into the case, the Colorado General Assembly has enacted a carefully-crafted judicial mechanism that allows the prosecution and defense  in private, that is,  in camera   to explore and argue about the relevancy and materiality of evidence tendered to the trial judge for admission at the public trial of the case. McKenna, 196 Colo. at 373, 585 P.2d at 279; People v. Harris, 43 P.3d 221, 226 (Colo.2002); see § 18-3-407, 6 C.R.S. (2003). [6] This statute deems the prior or subsequent sexual conduct of any victim to be presumptively irrelevant to the criminal trial. See People v. Murphy, 919 P.2d 191, 195, 197 (Colo.1996). It sets forth a detailed procedure by which a defendant may request that a court make an exception to this general rule. According to this procedure, the defendant must submit a written motion stating that the defendant has an offer of proof of the relevancy and materiality of evidence of specific instances of the victim's ... sexual conduct. § 18-3-407(2)(a). The motion must be accompanied by an affidavit in which the offer of proof shall be stated. § 18-3-407(2)(b). If the court finds the offer of proof sufficient, it must hold an in camera hearing to determine whether the prior sexual conduct is relevant to a material issue to the case. During the in camera hearing, the parties may call witnesses, including the victim. To the extent that the court deems the sexual conduct relevant to the case, this evidence will be admissible at the public trial. McKenna, 196 Colo. at 370-71, 585 P.2d at 276. However, the statute contemplates that contents of the in camera hearing and any transcripts thereof will remain confidential and under seal in the future, with the possible exception of use at the trial to impeach a witness' credibility or for some other admissible purpose. In summary, Colorado's rape shield statute: (1) protects the sexual assault victim's privacy; (2) allows the accused person to explore facts, examine witnesses, present testimony, and challenge expert opinion to uncover material evidence potentially helpful to the defendant; (3) enables the trial judge in pre-trial proceedings to determine what shall be admitted or excluded at the public trial; (4) shelters all evidence in the in camera proceeding from being reported publicly; (5) keeps the evidence that is not material and relevant from being publicly reported in the future; and (6) serves the state's interest in prosecuting those accused of sexual assault and protecting the victims of sexual assault while affording defendants a fair opportunity to confront their accusers and hold prosecutors to the burden of proof at the public trial. See People v. Murphy, 919 P.2d at 194-95; McKenna, 196 Colo. at 372-73, 585 P.2d at 278-79.