Opinion ID: 3012227
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Stevens’ Trial

Text: To defend Stevens, his mother, Peggy Lane, hired Dennis Reardon. Because Stevens has no memory of what he did after leaving Mr. D’s, he could not affirmatively deny engaging in sexual intercourse with Auterson. Instead, Reardon’s trial strategy was to argue that Stevens did not have sexual intercourse with Auterson, but, in the alternative, to argue that if he had sex with her, it was consensual. In support of the latter, Stevens testified that he does not get violent when he is drunk. That testimony was corroborated by the testimony of Maureen Stokes, a former girlfriend of Stevens. Reardon suggested to the jury that Auterson must have lied to Lindsay about being raped in order to cover up having consensual sex with Stevens. Reardon also tried to elicit from Stokes a confirmation of Stevens’ explanation of the mark on his genitalia. At trial, the prosecution argued that this mark corroborated Auterson’s claim that she scraped her attacker’s genitalia. According to the prosecution, her claim was further corroborated by the blood found on her skirt. In the prosecution’s view, the mark on Stevens’ genitalia undermined the defense’s consensual sex theory. Stevens testified that he had a history of herpes and that the mark on his scrotum was a herpes sore, not a scratch. Reardon attempted to corroborate Stevens’ history of herpes by testimony from Stokes. Reardon had apparently failed to discuss with Stokes his intention to question her on this subject, because Stokes testified that she was unaware that Stevens ever had herpes. Despite the prosecution’s emphasis of this point on cross-examination of Stokes, Reardon continued to press the issue on redirect. Stokes again denied ever knowing that Stevens had herpes, despite having been in a close and intimate relationship with him for about a year. Reardon also called two witnesses who were present at Mr. D’s on the evening of the rape. Kathy Theodorakos, the 6 owner of Mr. D’s, testified that before she left the bar that evening, between 9:00 and 9:30 p.m., she saw Stevens and he was not drunk. Karen Cates, a friend of Stevens, testified that she saw him dancing that evening with a group of people that included Auterson but she did not see him dancing with Auterson one-on-one. She also testified that when she saw Stevens dancing at approximately 10:00 p.m., he appeared to be drunk or high but was not falling down or stumbling. Cates also testified that when she was driving home at about 11:00 p.m., she saw Stevens walking by himself in a direction toward his home, which was in a different direction than the apple orchard. Stevens was convicted of first-degree unlawful sexual intercourse3 by a jury in Delaware Superior Court in February 1991 and he was thereafter sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or the reduction of his sentence for twenty years. In June 1992, Stevens’ conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Delaware Supreme Court on appeal. Stevens v. State, 610 A.2d 727 (Del. 1992).