Opinion ID: 1287539
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: failure of victim to identify assailant

Text: The most serious weakness in the State's case is the victim's inability to identify her assailant. The victim was never able to say: That is the man that I saw assaulting me. The victim's testimony makes it very clear that she was unable to identify the man with whom she had sexual relations on the night in question. She accused Washington, her half brother, after the fact, and solely on the basis of her having eliminated other possible assailants and by reason of Washington's having made the remark to her, Just don't tell anyone. Washington claims that he said this to his stepsister because they had been drinking beer together, and because he was afraid that she was going to tell their parents. If the victim in this case had ever been able to testify that she actually saw or heard or otherwise positively perceived Washington as the man who assaulted her on the night that she claims to have been assaulted, I would have no problem in affirming this conviction. [1] The victim, however, admits that at no time during her encounter with her assailant on that night was she able to see his face; and she certainly did not make any identification of her assailant until long after the event. In other words, she could not, at the time of the occurrence, identify her stepbrother as the person who assaulted her. The victim was never able to say that she saw or heard Washington on the night of the assault. It is quite clear that, at trial, the victim's testimony was based entirely on an array of assumptions and not on a recollection of an actual perception that it was Washington who had assaulted her. It is easy to understand why the victim was unable to identify Washington as being her assailant on the night in question. The victim was very intoxicated and was taking drugs at the time of the claimed sexual assault. In fact, she is not even sure that the event took place, admitting on a number of occasions that she may have been dreaming. The victim does remember that during the dream she asked her assailant, whoever he was, to don a condom. It is also important to add that there were serious questions raised about the credibility of the victim's testimony. She did not report the episode for several months after she claimed that it occurred; and the obvious parental opposition to her engaging in sexual conduct with her stepbrother gave her a strong motive to deny that she consented to the sexual activity. The victim had another, and perhaps stronger, motive to testify as she did. If she remained with her father, she would have had to attend Clark High School; but if she lived with her natural mother, then she would have been able to attend Cheyenne High School, where all of her friends were. Her father initially consented to her moving in with her natural mother, but he later told the victim that she could not do this because the natural mother's living arrangement was not stable. Because of her father's decision, the victim ran away from home. She eventually appeared at her natural mother's house. Knowing that the victim had been reported to the police as a runaway, the natural mother took her to the police station. At the police station the victim was informed that she would be able to remain with her natural mother if she had been abused at her father's house. It was at this time that the victim told the police that Washington had abused her at her father's home. Further, it should be noted that, according to the victim's stepmother, when the victim and her natural mother first mentioned the incident to the victim's stepmother, the victim described the sexual activity as being consensual. Finally, I would note that the victim's sister was sleeping next to the victim, in the same bed, at the time of the incident. The sister did not wake up and had no knowledge that her sister was being raped in the same bed. All in all, this is a very strange and weak case from the prosecution standpoint; and, in light of the several instances of prosecutorial misconduct in this case, the conviction calls for reversal and a new trial.