The man was charged with kidnapping in the second degree, two counts of assault in the second degree, attempted rape in the first degree and attempted sexual abuse in the first degree. The man was also charged with similar counts previously involving another woman but was later dismissed.
Evidently, the only proof of the man’s alleged criminal acts was the testimony of the complainant, who first reported the incident to the police when the police came to interview her in connection with the reported attack on the other woman. The complainant specifically testified that one afternoon, she brought her three children to her neighbor’s apartment because she intended to go to a hospital to fill a prescription. On that event, the man was also there and volunteered to go downstairs to call a taxicab for her. It was about 4:15 P.M. or 4:30 P.M. when the complainant entered the taxicab. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the man then suddenly climbed in behind her and told the driver to pull off and keep driving. The ride lasted more than 10 minutes and maybe about two hours. At the cab, the man told the complainant that she was going to pay for what everyone had done to him. When the complainant responded that she didn’t know what the man was talking about, the man kept repeating that she was paying for what had happened to him and she should shut up. The man then began to hit the complainant about her face with his fists. The man continually assaulted the complainant throughout the ride. At one point, the man struck her in the back of her head with a gun and stated that he would kill the complainant because she was paying for what everybody did to him.
Afterwards, the man also asked the taxicab driver if he wanted to watch him killing the complainant. At another point, the man told the complainant that if she told anyone about what happened in the taxicab he would kill her son. As darkness set in, the ride ended at a vacant parking lot and the complainant could not recall the lot’s exact location but estimated that it was about two miles from her home. At the parking lot, the man pulled the complainant out of the taxicab. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the man again threatened to kill the complainant’s son if she screamed and he invited the taxicab driver to punch the complainant. The taxicab driver punched the complainant in her mouth with his fist. The man continually screamed at the complainant and again struck her in the back of her head with the gun. The man also punched the complainant in her stomach causing her to fall to the ground. As she passed into unconsciousness, the man told the complainant that he was going to rape her. The complainant woke up the next morning and the only clothes left on her was her shirt and socks. She had a lump on her head, her stomach and genitals felt sore, and her legs felt sore, wet and sticky. She found the rest of her clothes strewn about the parking lot.
The complainant claimed that someone might done something to her and that she was raped based on her physical condition when she awoke. She conceded that she did not see or feel the man, the taxicab driver, or anyone else touch her in a sexual way although the complainant was four months pregnant at the time of the alleged incident. Despite the alleged violent nature of the attack, there was no evidence presented that she sought any medical treatment for her injuries. Further, the complainant’s former sister-in-law, who saw the complainant at the morning after the alleged incident, testified that the complainant only had a lump on her head, its size was undisclosed, and a bruised lip.
At the end of the case, the trial court dismissed the counts of assault in the second degree for lack of proof and declined to submit attempted sexual abuse in the first degree to the jury because there is no view of evidence other than attempted rape. Moreover, the jury acquitted the man of attempted rape in the first degree, and convicted him solely of kidnapping in the second degree, based on the alleged felonious removal of things and detention of the complainant during the ride in the taxicab.
Consequently, a judge in the appellate division accordingly voted to reverse the decision appealed by the man and further order a new trial on the count of kidnapping in the second degree.
The judge further state that in his view a new trial is necessary because the man suffered undue prejudice when the prosecutor presented and allegations of another, unrelated series of crimes. Additionally, a New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said the charges were two separate criminal transactions committed against two different women, on different dates.
The victim testified that she and a friend lived in the same apartment house. She went to her friend’s apartment and asked the friend to babysit for three of her children so that she could get a prescription filled for her son. She intended to take a cab to the hospital for that purpose but the man heard the conversation and offered to call for a cab. When the cab arrived, the security guard, using the intercom buzzed the apartment and the victim went downstairs and got into the cab. At that moment, the man also entered the cab unexpectedly from the other side and ordered the driver to start driving. Based on record, the two was totally stranger to each other and beyond from calling a cab and recognizing the complainant to the man from around the building, the man was a total stranger. The victim was four months pregnant on the time of the incident.
Based on the statement, the judge stipulates that it was an abduction and it meets the definition of abduction and, hence, kidnapping in the second degree. Moreover, at the conclusion of the evidence, the court dismissed the assault counts, holding that the injury criteria were not met. A New York Drug Possession Lawyer said at the pre-charge conference the court also declined to submit the attempted sexual abuse count for the reason that there is no reasonable view of the evidence could the man have committed attempted sexual abuse in the first degree without also committing attempted rape in the first degree. This was designed to simplify the charge to the jury, which then had to decide only two counts, attempted rape in the first degree and kidnapping in the second degree. The court also declined to charge unlawful imprisonment in the first degree or unlawful imprisonment in the second degree. The defense asked the court not to submit the attempted rape count on the ground that the victim was unconscious and could not have witnessed any attempt on the man’s part to rape her. According to the victim’s testimony, she regained consciousness, while nearly unclothed, and inferred that she must have been raped, adding that she felt sore and sticky, but when pressed to say what she actually observed, she acknowledged that she did not observe the man rape her or touch her in a sexual way.
It was ordered that the judgment is reversed and the charges are dismissed, and the matter is submitted to the Supreme Court for the purpose of entering an order in its discretion and no questions of fact have been raised or considered.
It is hard to seek for justice if no witness to the tragic incident is willing to testify. If you need legal advice, the NY Sex Crime Lawyers are always equipped with expertise to guide you with your legal actions.