State Of Washington, V. Cristian Manuel Amador

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedMarch 22, 2022
Docket54594-2
StatusUnpublished

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State Of Washington, V. Cristian Manuel Amador, (Wash. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

Filed Washington State Court of Appeals Division Two

March 22, 2022

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

DIVISION II STATE OF WASHINGTON, No. 54594-2-II

Respondent,

v. UNPUBLISHED OPINION

CRISTIAN MANUEL AMADOR,

Appellant.

MAXA, J. – Cristian Amador appeals his conviction of second degree rape based on the

victim being incapable of consenting to sexual intercourse because she was physically helpless

or mentally incapacitated. The conviction arose out of an incident in which Amador had sexual

intercourse with ED in her house while she was intoxicated and partly asleep. ED stated that she

had no memory after taking tequila shots at a bar until she woke up in her bed to Amador having

sex with her. Amador claimed that ED consented to sexual intercourse by her actions.

We hold that (1) the trial court’s exclusion on relevance grounds of evidence that Amador

and ED had sex three years earlier and that ED had bragged to a friend about that sexual

encounter on the night of the incident was not an abuse of discretion and did not violate

Amador’s constitutional right to present a defense; (2) the trial court did not err in excusing a

juror for bias who had attended high school with Amador and knew him; and (3) although we

believe that the trial court’s jury instruction that it was not necessary that the testimony of the

victim be corroborated in order to convict may have constituted an unconstitutional comment on No. 54594-2-II

the evidence, we are constrained by a 1949 Supreme Court case to hold that the trial court did

not err in giving this instruction. Accordingly, we affirm Amador’s conviction.

FACTS

Background

ED met Amador in high school. They had been messaging each other off and on since

then. They reconnected in person about a week before the incident. On the morning of February

7, 2018, ED’s 22nd birthday, Amador and ED worked out together at a gym. They made plans

to go out to a bar after Amador got off work that evening. That night, ED picked up Amador at

his house and drove to a bar. Later, ED’s friend River Petramalo joined them.

ED drank beer and liquor at the first bar. The three then went to a different bar, with

Petramalo driving because ED was intoxicated. ED drank two or three tequila shots at the

second bar.

After the tequila shots, ED and Amador were flirting and touching each other in the bar.

Petramalo let Amador and ED use her car to continue being physical. When Petramalo later

went out to the car, she saw Amador and ED making out with ED’s shirt pulled down to expose

one of her breasts. Petramalo got into the car and drove away with ED and Amador in the back

seat. ED then threw up. Petramalo drove to ED’s house, where she helped ED up to her room,

helped get ED’s clothes off, and put her in bed. Petramalo thought that ED was pretty drunk.

ED asked Amador to come inside with her, but he declined.

Petramalo then drove to her house with Amador. Amador told Petramalo that he was

going back to ED’s house to check on her. Petramalo paid for an Uber so that Amador could go

to ED’s house, and she told him which room was ED’s. Amador arrived at approximately 3:30

AM, went into ED’s room, and got into bed with her.

2 No. 54594-2-II

ED did not remember what happened after she drank the tequila shots or how she got

home. The next thing she remembered was being in her bed with Amador on top of her. He was

having sex with her and kissing her. ED was conscious for about a minute before she passed out.

When ED woke up the next morning both she and Amador were naked and in the bed together.

She woke Amador up and took him home.

ED reported the incident to law enforcement, and officers interviewed both ED and

Amador about the incident. The State charged Amador with second degree rape, alleging that he

engaged in sexual intercourse with ED when she was incapable of consent by reason of being

physically helpless or mentally incapacitated.

Motions Regarding Prior Sexual Encounter

Before trial, the State moved in limine to exclude any reference of prior sexual

encounters between ED and Amador. Amador filed a motion seeking to admit evidence of a

prior sexual encounter under RCW 9A.44.020(2), the rape shield statute. Amador’s motion was

supported by an affidavit from his attorney, who stated that (1) both ED and Amador had

indicated that they had slept together a few years earlier at ED’s parents’ house when Amador

was a virgin, and (2) on the night of the alleged rape ED was bragging about taking Amador’s

virginity. Amador’s attorney admitted that Amador did not hear ED’s statement about talking

his virginity. The prosecutor represented that the parties’ statements showed that the sexual

encounter occurred at least three years earlier.

The trial court ruled that evidence regarding the prior sexual encounter would not be

allowed at trial. The court stated that the prior encounter was too remote, and that “[t]he fact that

they had sex three years ago really doesn’t have anything to do with this case, that night.” 1

Report of Proceedings (RP) at 23. The court characterized Amador’s position as “arguing that I

3 No. 54594-2-II

should tell every man in the world that because I had sex with that woman . . . three years ago,

then she’s fair game today.” 1 RP at 27. The trial court also excluded ED’s statement about

taking Amador’s virginity.

Jury Selection

During jury selection, juror 13 stated that he knew Amador. Juror 13 and Amador went

to high school together and had some classes together, although Amador was a year or two older.

They were in a business marketing club together, and they were together once or twice for four

or five days at the state business marketing competition in Bellevue. Juror 13 stated that he

thought Amador was in the military, Amador was not a bad person, and this could happen to

anyone. He believed that Amador probably was not the kind of person who would rape

someone, but that did not mean that he could not have committed the crime. Juror 13 said that

he could not honestly say yes or no whether his relationship with Amador would affect his

outlook on the case.

The State moved to excuse juror 13 for cause because he knew information that the trial

court had specifically excluded, specifically Amador’s military service. The State also was

concerned that juror 13 already had a preconceived idea that Amador was a good person and that

juror 13 liked him. And the State emphasized that juror 13 had never indicated that he could set

those thoughts aside.

The trial court granted the for cause challenge based on juror 13’s bias. The court stated:

You know, and it’s been a lot of years since I’ve been in high school, but we kind of held out those people that were a couple years older with some reverence, some importance that wouldn’t attach to other people. And the reality is we carry that through the rest of our lives with us those people we knew in high school that were two years older than [us]. We always probably will think of them in a more favorable way. I think that in and of itself creates an unsurmountable bias for this particular juror.

1 RP at 157.

4 No. 54594-2-II

Trial

At trial, ED, Petramalo, and Amador testified to the events of the evening as stated

above.

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