State of Maine v. Ramirez

CourtSuperior Court of Maine
DecidedNovember 9, 2005
DocketKENcr-04-213
StatusUnpublished

This text of State of Maine v. Ramirez (State of Maine v. Ramirez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of Maine v. Ramirez, (Me. Super. Ct. 2005).

Opinion

SUPERIOR COURT KENNEBEC, ss -- - ? ": 09 CRIMINAL ACTION " ] DOCKET NO. CR-04-213 - ,, , , .--.. , . P - " !

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STATE OF MAINE JUDGMENT AND ORDER ON MOTION TO DISMISS

MICHELLE RAMIREZ,

Defendant

The defendant is charged with Gross Sexual Assault and Unlawful Sexual

Contact. See 17-A M.R.S.A. §§ 253(1)(B) & 255-A(l)(E) (Supp. 2004). The offenses are

alleged to have occurred between 9 / 24 / 03 and 1/ 31/ 04. Jury-waived trial on the

indictment and hearing on the defendant's motion to dismiss were consolidated. See

17-A M.R.S.A. § 12 (1983). The hearings concluded on 10/31/05. For the reasons

discussed below, the court finds that the State has proved beyond a reasonable doubt

that the defendant committed Gross Sexual Assault as alleged in the indictment. The

court finds that the State has not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant

committed Unlawful Sexual Contact as alleged in the indictment. The defendant's

motion to dismiss the Gross Sexual Assault charge as & minimus is granted.

FACTS

The defendant presented three qualified and credible witnesses to describe the

relationshp between a mother and her young chdd in the Dominican Republic culture.

The State presented no witnesses on this issue.

There is no question on this record that the culture of the Dominican Republic

recognizes an extremely nurturing relationship among mothers and their young children. Children are a mother's most important priority and mothers are open and

affectionate in every way with their children. Mothers interact physically and

emotionally on a regular basis with their chldren. Touching and lussing all parts of a

child's body are common ways for a mother to express her love and affection.

Touching, lussing, and caressing a male or female child's genitals, including a male

chld's erect penis, are included in this common intimate interaction between a mother

and her chld. Placing a child's penis inside the mother's mouth is more sexual in nature

and is not considered part of the common interaction between mother and child.

Touching and lussing a child's genitals are not intended as sexual and are not

sexual. Dominican Republic society considers the mother's conduct as normal and not

harmful to the child. In fact, t h s behavior signifies the love and trust of a mother for

her child and is a method of making b a h n g and diaper changing an enjoyable occasion

for the chld.

Dominican mothers living in the United States interact with their h l d r e n

according to the traditions of their cultural heritage. There is no difference in the

behavior of mothers who have been in the United States for a long period of time and

those who have just arrived in this country.

The defendant is 26 years old and a citizen of the Dominican Republic. She

moved to the United States at age six and lived in Florida, New York, and

Massachusetts with her mother, brother, and sister and surrounded by relatives until

her junior year of h g h school. She returned to the Dominican Republic for her senior

year of h g h school and two semesters of college. She resided with a friend of her

mother's and with nuns at the Catholic college she attended. She returned to the

United States after finishing school in the Dominican Republic and lived again with

relatives. Just before the birth of her third chld, Isaac, she moved to Maine. During her childhood years, the defendant learned that physical intimacy

between a mother and her young child was appropriate and helpful to their

relationship. She observed her aunts interact with their children according to the

tradition of the Dominican culture.

The defendant's mother had taught the defendant about improper touchng.

The defendant knew that placing a child's penis in her mouth was wrong but she

believed that her contact with Isaac, which did not include placing his penis in her

mouth, was appropriate.

The defendant has two children with Kevin Francoeur, Taylor, born 9/13/99,

and Isaac, born on 7/14/02, the alleged victim of the charges pending against the

defendant. The defendant's oldest child, Abbey, is from a different relationshp.

The defendant could not recall every instance of her interaction with her son,

Isaac, whch forms the basis of the indictment, because such behavior was not her focus

until t h s court case began. She did not form lasting memories of her routine dady

mothering of Isaac as she did with h s first steps and first words. She chd recall lussing

Isaac's penis on two occasions, whch she could describe in detail. The first occurred in

her bedroom when Isaac was seven or eight months old. The defendant was changing

Isaac's dlaper and she and Mr. Francoeur were laughing about Isaac's erect penis. The

defendant touched her son's penis with a "wipey," cleaned her him, lussed his feet,

tummy, and penis, and put a diaper on.

The second occasion occurred in the living room when Mr. Francoeur, h s

brother Rodney Boisvert, Abbey, and Taylor were present. The defendant was again

changing Isaac's diaper. Mr. Francoeur commented that his son was not as well

endowed as his father. The defendant cleaned her son, held him up in her arms, and lussed h s penis and h s tummy, whch made Isaac laugh. The defendant placed Isaac on

the couch and put his diaper on.

The defendant did not place Isaac's penis in her mouth, which she knew was

inappropriate. She made no attempt to h d e her contact with Isaac and Qd not intend

through her contact to arouse or gratify sexual desire or to cause bodily injury or

offensive physical contact.

Eventually, the defendant's relationship with Mr. Francoeur deteriorated. In

2000, in a parental rights and responsibilities action, the court awarded the primary

physical residence of Abbey and Isaac to the defendant and visitation rights to Mr.

Francoeur. In late 2003, although the police were called to their residence, Mr.

Francoeur did not tell the police about any inappropriate sexual contact between the

defendant and Isaac, although he now alleges that contact had occurred prior to the

contact with the police.

The defendant ultimately left Mr. Francoeur and took the children to Arkansas.

Mr. Francoeur knew where the defendant was because he and his brother, Mr.

Boisvert, secretly placed a traclung device in her car. Contrary to Mr. Francoeur's

admission that he asked h s brother to install the traclung device, Mr. Boisvert denied

that he had been involved.

At a court hearing in Arkansas on January 26, 2004 on the defendant's request

for a protection order against Mr. Francoeur, attended by Mr. Francoeur and h s

attorney, the defendant admitted, as in this trial, that she lussed Isaac's penis. No

questions about the defendant's alleged putting the penis in her mouth or rubbing the

penis to acheve an erection were asked of the defendant by Mr. Francoeur's attorney.

In the complaint for protection from abuse filed against the defendant on

1/ 14104 in Maine, Mr. Francoeur did not allege any inappropriate sexual contact between the defendant and Isaac. Hearing on that complaint was held on 2/3/04, the

pivotal date in the history of this criminal case. At the 2/3/04 hearing, the District

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Related

State v. Kargar
679 A.2d 81 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1996)

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