Opinion ID: 1894811
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: the mention of the term cunnilingus

Text: The defendant Cassey argues that the spontaneous remark of the trial justice in his charge to the jury in which he defined the term cunnilingus was confusing to the jury and highly prejudicial to her. This argument is illustrative of the great importance of viewing the instructions of the trial justice as a whole and not in segmented portions. E.g., State v. Ferola, 534 A.2d 173, 175 (R.I. 1987). It is true that the trial justice did purport to define the term cunnilingus as an aside in his description of the third count (which did not involve the offense of cunnilingus). In order to understand the trial justice's elucidation of the charges against defendant Cassey, it is necessary to set out this portion of his instructions in total. Now we have the three charges against Susan Lee Cassey. The first count charges first degree sexual assault; that the defendant Susan Lee Cassey took the penis of Ted Alan Cassey into her vagina. This is not technically anatomically correct because there are some female organs before the vagina, the vulva, and penetration, the least amount of penetration into that area is sexual penetration  even just barely into the lips of the vulva. Now if you find that the state has proved to you beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant Cassey forced her son or made her son place his penis, penetrating to any degree into her vaginal area, a child under 13 years of age, then your verdict must be guilty. If you find that the state hasn't proven sufficient penetration, then you can consider the alternative, second degree sexual assault; no penetration but a touching of the vaginal area of Susan Lee Cassey by her son, Ted Alan Cassey, with his penis for the purpose of Susan Cassey's sexual gratification or arousal. If you find that's been proved, then your verdict should be guilty. If you find that hasn't been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, then your verdict in the alternative is not guilty. Count 2 charges again first degree sexual assault against Susan Lee Cassey, and the charge specifically is that defendant forced or required her son to put his mouth or tongue into her vaginal area. Again there has to be penetration. If you find there wasn't any penetration, then your verdict should be not guilty, and you consider second degree sexual assault. If you find that the state has failed to prove penetration, but has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a touching of this young boy's lips or tongue in her vaginal area, then you can find the defendant guilty of second degree sexual assault, if she required him to do that for her sexual gratification or arousal. And again, the third alternative is of course not guilty on both the main charge and the alternative charge. Finally, the third count, a charge of first degree sexual assault against Susan Lee Cassey. The charge is there that the defendant took the penis of Ted Alan Cassey into her oral cavity. Incidentally, the placing of lips or mouth or tongue in the vaginal area of a woman is called cunnilingus. So there is a charge of cunnilingus here, whether or not there was penetration, it is cunnilingus. Now on the third count, as I indicated to you, if the state proves to you beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant Susan Lee Cassey took the penis of her son into her mouth, that's first degree sexual assault on a child under the age of 13, and your verdict should be guilty. If you find that there was no penetration into her mouth, but there may have been fondling or kissing of the child's penis, then you can consider whether or not that is second degree sexual assault. And for second degree sexual assault, as I've indicated to you, there need be no penetration, but a touching by the defendant of this child's male organ for the purpose of the sexual gratification or arousal of the defendant. So in essence here then on each count you have three alternatives  guilty first degree sexual assault, or guilty second degree sexual assault, or not guilty. (Emphasis of challenged portion added.) There is no question that the trial judge was accurate in his definition of cunnilingus, which is defined in Black's Law Dictionary, 343 (5th Ed. 1979) as [a]n act of sex committed with the mouth and the female sexual organ. However, it is also true that this defendant was not charged with cunnilingus but with first-degree sexual assault in the second count. It was this count under which Cassey was charged with forcing or requiring her son to put his mouth or tongue into her vaginal area. The trial justice had emphasized the requirement of penetration in his instructions. His definition of cunnilingus was, of course, mere surplusage and did not relate to the specific offense of which Cassey was accused, though it bore some similarity to it. However, in the event that any confusion might have resulted from this definition of cunnilingus, such confusion would have been totally dispelled by the specific verdict form that was submitted by the trial justice to the jurors and was taken by them into the jury room in order that they might make an accurate determination of the charges against each defendant. That portion of the verdict form relating to Susan Lee Cassey is set forth below.  State v. Susan Lee Cassey Count I Charge of First Degree Sexual Assault  that defendant took the penis of Ted Alan Cassey into her vagina. ALTERNATIVE 2nd ° sexual assault  no penetration, but a touching for the purpose of sexual gratification. Count II Charge of First Degree Sexual Assault  that defendant took the mouth or tongue of Ted Alan Cassey into her vagina. ALTERNATIVE 2nd ° sexual assault  no penetration, but a touching for the purpose of sexual gratification. Count III Charge of First Degree Sexual Assault  that defendant took the penis of Ted Alan Cassey into her oral cavity. ALTERNATIVE 2nd ° sexual assault  no penetration, but a touching for the purpose of sexual gratification. It may be noted from this verdict form that in regard to each count the form clearly set forth that in the absence of penetration, the jury could not find first-degree sexual assault but only second-degree sexual assault. In the clearest possible terms each lesser included offense included the phrase no penetration. This taken together with the principal instructions set forth above, made it abundantly clear that in the absence of a finding of penetration beyond a reasonable doubt, the jury could not find defendant Cassey guilty on any of the three counts of first-degree sexual assault. In each instance the jurors had apparently found that penetration had taken place. We are therefore of the opinion that the mention of the definition of cunnilingus viewed in the context of the entire charge and the verdict form that was submitted to the jurors did not cause any reasonable likelihood of prejudicial misunderstanding or confusion on their part. For the reasons stated, the defendants' appeals are denied and dismissed. The judgments of conviction are hereby affirmed. The papers in the case may be remanded to the Superior Court. FAY, C.J., did not participate.