State v. Lake

686 A.2d 510, 43 Conn. App. 715, 1996 Conn. App. LEXIS 576
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedDecember 10, 1996
Docket15151
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 686 A.2d 510 (State v. Lake) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Lake, 686 A.2d 510, 43 Conn. App. 715, 1996 Conn. App. LEXIS 576 (Colo. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

DUPONT, C. J.

The defendant, Gary Lee Lake, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of sexual assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-70 (a) (l)1 and unlawful restraint in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-95.2 The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on a count of kidnapping in the first degree. General Statutes § 53a-92 (a) (2) (A). The defendant claims that the trial court’s refusal to allow evidence of the victim’s prior sexual conduct and its refusal to admit an exhibit into evidence during the cross-examination of a particular witness violated his constitutional rights. We disagree and affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The jury reasonably could have found the facts that follow. On August 25, 1993, the victim left work and went to the home of her brother, Paul, to visit with her [717]*717sister-in-law. Paul and the defendant arrived shortly thereafter. The victim agreed to go to a lounge with Paul and the defendant to discuss the defendant’s relationship with the victim’s sister, Linda, whom the defendant had been dating. The victim drove the defendant to his mother’s house so that he could shower and change his clothes. They then went to the lounge and joined Paul, Linda, the defendant’s brother Jerry and another man, who were sitting together at a table. The defendant became upset upon seeing Linda with his brother and remained agitated for most of the evening. The victim tried to ignore the defendant and the arguments at the table by speaking with other people in the lounge. The victim had only one drink, while the defendant had several.

When the victim wanted to go home to receive an expected telephone call, the defendant insisted on getting a ride home with her. An argument ensued, and the victim finally agreed to drive him home after she received her telephone call. When they reached the victim’s apartment, the defendant followed the victim inside, even though the victim had asked him to wait in the car. The defendant grabbed the victim around the throat and started choking her. The victim could hardly breathe and her body felt numb. The defendant dragged her up the stairs, smashing her body into the wall and screaming at her to shut up. He threw her on the couch in the living room. When the victim asked the defendant why he was doing this, he responded, “This is the only way I can pay your sister back” for being with his brother.

The telephone rang several times during the night, and each time it rang the defendant would choke the victim and shove her head into the sofa cushions so that she could not breathe. The victim thought, at one point, that the defendant would kill her, so she lay very still. The defendant, thinking he had actually killed her, [718]*718said, “Good, that’s one fucking bitch down, now your sister’s the next one.”

The victim opened her eyes and the defendant grabbed her by the neck again. Then the defendant forced the victim to drink beer. When she resisted, the defendant told her, “I said drink the fucking beer. When they find you dead here, I’m gonna make it look like a suicide and that’s why you were drunk.” The defendant then drank several beers while the victim pretended to drink. The defendant again choked her and later threatened her with kitchen knives. The defendant dragged the victim upstairs and banged her head into a cabinet several times. He tried to open her bedroom door, but found it locked. He then dragged her into a bedroom, threw her on a bed, removed her clothing, and performed multiple acts of sexual intercourse, often choking and punching her in the process.

Afterward, the defendant dragged the victim downstairs to the living room, where he tied her wrist to his with a shoelace from one of her sneakers. He lay on top of her on the couch and fell asleep. While the defendant slept, the victim maneuvered herself out from under him and burned through the shoelace with a lighter she retrieved from an adjacent table. She then ran next door to her neighbor’s house, where she called the police.

The defendant testified at trial that the sexual intercourse was consensual, that he and the victim had gone on dates prior to that night, and that the victim had asked him to tie her hands together prior to the sex act. He testified that he fell asleep on the couch and was surprised when the police came to pick him up the next morning.

I

The defendant first argues that the trial court incorrectly applied General Statutes § 54-86f,3 commonly [719]*719known as the rape shield statute, when it granted the state’s motion in limine and refused to allow testimony regarding the victim’s prior sexual conduct. The motion was made pursuant to § 54-86f and included both the charge of sexual assault and the charge of unlawful restraint. The defendant argues that the excluded evidence was so relevant and critical to his defense that its exclusion violated his sixth amendment right of confrontation of witnesses4 and his fourteenth amendment due process right to call witnesses5 on his own behalf under the United States constitution and his right under the Connecticut constitution to confront the witnesses against him.6

[720]*720The evidence that the trial court excluded consisted of the testimony of two former boyfriends of the victim. A hearing was held out of the presence of the jury, as required by § 54-86f. The victim denied that she had suggested that the defendant tie her hands together during intercourse. She also denied that she had asked others to tie her up during sexual relations. The defendant testified that the sexual intercourse was consensual and that the victim “asked simply if I’d mind trying something new. . . . She asked that I’d tie her hands behind her back.” He testified that he tied her hands together with a shoelace.

The first witness, who had lived with the victim for more than one year, testified that the victim had asked on more than one occasion to be subdued, tied up, or held down during sexual relations. He stated that this had not happened until they had been dating for four to six months and living together. He stated that while she occasionally asked to be spanked during sexual relations, she never asked him to strangle her or to bang her head against the wall. He stated that he never used shoelaces to tie her up, and she never accused him of raping her.

The second boyfriend, who lived with the victim for three or four years, testified that the victim “liked to be dominated.” He stated that she had liked to be forced down and held by her hands during sexual relations, but he had never used anything to tie her down. He also stated that she did not ask him to dominate her until after they had known each other for a while and that she never asked him to beat or strangle her. He further testified that she never accused him of rape.

The trial court granted the state’s motion in limine, noting that the evidence did not establish “the necessary repetition of unique behavior that would be required to show that this testimony is so relevant as to implicate [721]*721the defendant’s constitutional right to confrontation.”7

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Njoku
Connecticut Appellate Court, 2016
Harrington v. United States
689 F.3d 124 (Second Circuit, 2012)
State v. Malon
898 A.2d 843 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2006)
State v. Kelly, No. Cr 1-52961 (Jul. 1, 1997)
1997 Conn. Super. Ct. 3068 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1997)
State v. Villafane
694 A.2d 802 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 1997)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
686 A.2d 510, 43 Conn. App. 715, 1996 Conn. App. LEXIS 576, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lake-connappct-1996.