The Court of Appeal provides graphic details about what happened on this particular date, after the two met on a dating website. The victim went to his house, the (alleged) perpetrator made dinner, they shared some wine, they got in his hot tub, they made out, they went to his couch and watched television, and then: [Warning -- This is where it gets graphic]
"While on the couch, they touched one
another and had consensual vaginal sex. Defendant stopped after a few minutes. Doe
was “confused” when he stopped and “was questioning why.” Defendant testified that he
and Doe attempted to have vaginal sex but stopped because he was unable to maintain a
sufficient erection.
Defendant positioned himself behind Doe on the couch and touched her anus with
his finger. After she told him to stop and pulled his hand away from her anus, he told
her, “It’s okay, just relax.” Doe described what happened next: “After that it’s just all of
a sudden I felt a big pressure pull me down and my face was facing the TV, then became
facing down to the pillow, and a huge force on me and I couldn’t move. And there was
enormous pain just came to something was in my butt. It was really, really painful and I
was so scared. And first I couldn’t breathe at the beginning because my face was in the
middle of pillow and I had to struggle to – to get to breathe first, and then – then trying to
get him off of me.” She believed defendant’s penis was inside her anus because she did not think the “enormous pain” she felt could have been caused by a finger. Doe struggled
and screamed, but defendant continued for several minutes.
Doe eventually got away and went into the bathroom. Her anus was bleeding. (A
forensic examination conducted later that night revealed tearing in Doe’s perianal area.)
Doe then stood outside the bathroom, attempting to get defendant’s attention, but he did
not notice her. After gathering her belongings, she approached defendant and told him
she was bleeding. Doe asked defendant, “you don’t understand what no means?” She
left the house and called 911 from the driveway."
Defendant gets tried for forcible digital penetration, is convicted, and is sentenced to three years in prison. (The opinion doesn't mention this, but from the Megan's Law website, seems like he's already served his entire sentence at this point.)
The Court of Appeal reverses the conviction. At trial, there was a ton of evidence introduced regarding memes that the defendant had forwarded to his friends. As Justice Grover explains: "The challenged evidence conveyed to the jury that defendant is crude, sexist, and
racist. And therein lies the problem. With two possible exceptions, the evidence of defendant’s communications has no legal relevance to the legitimate issues of his
truthfulness, use of force, or intent to commit sexual assault. The communications as a
whole reflect defendant’s apparent enthusiasm for sharing demeaning jokes about women
and people of certain races, but they shed no light on the issues being tried."
It would be interesting to see what happens on remand. (Though I doubt I'll ever actually find out.) The defendant has already done his time in prison. So you might think both sides might be fine if he simply pleaded guilty at this point, since it doesn't really doesn't matter. But he's also a registered sex offender, and I'm sure he doesn't want that, so maybe he takes a shot at getting an acquittal at a retrial? But that'll cost him attorney's fees, etc. The state, meanwhile, has gotten its pound of flesh, but might want to both save money (and hence not re-prosecute) and yet simultaneously probably wants to keep the defendant on the sex offender registry. And the victim? Does she want to go through yet another trial?
Maybe he pleads down to a lesser offense at this point? Who knows.
Regardless, one lesson remains: Be careful what you send to others. Even your friends. Even if you trust them, there's always the possibility that someone else will get a hold of them.
Including but not limited to the authorities.
(Of course, the appropriate lesson might also be not to send racist and sexist memes in the first place.)
