A Queens Criminal Lawyer said that, defendant has applied for an order granting him ‘permission to inspect the minutes of the Grand Jury, or, in the alternative dismissing’ a three-count indictment accusing him, and a co-defendant, of (1) Assault, 2d Degree, committed July 17, 1965, ‘by willfully and wrongfully using a knife against’ the throat of a named female, ‘that being an instrument or thing likely to produce grievous bodily harm’; (2) Assault, 2d Degree, committed July 17, 1965 ‘by use of their clenched fists’ upon said female ‘thereby willfully and wrongfully wounding and inflicting upon her grievous bodily harm, to wit: Multiple bruises of the face and body’; and (3) Felonious Possession of a Dangerous Weapon, i. e., a dangerous knife, on July 17, 1965, with intent to use it unlawfully against another.
A Queens Sex Crime Lawyer said that, the basis of the motion is that ‘there was no testimony before the grand jury, or evidence, sufficient as a matter of law, to warrant a finding of the indictment’. The predicate for this conclusion is that since the criminal acts here charged were committed prior, but as direct steps leading, to the rape testified to by the prosecutor the indictment lacks a sufficient evidentiary foundation in view of the fact that no corroboratory proof of the rape was submitted to the grand jury.
A Queens Sex Crime Lawyer said that, the facts disclosed by the grand jury minutes are that the victim of the assaults was forcibly abducted in an automobile by two male persons–later identified by her as these defendants–and, while being carried away in the car, was given a choice of either participating in sodomy or submitting to rape, but refused either alternative. After having been ‘slapped around’ and frustrated in an attempt to escape, she was raped by each defendant, in turn, while the other held a knife-point to her throat and threatened to cut her if she didn’t stop screaming. Nevertheless, she resisted, but in vain. She was not examined by a doctor until August 10, 1965, and the police were not notified until August 12, 1965. She made no immediate disclosure to her parents although, within a day or two after the event, she told a neighbor about it. Other than her own testimony there is no evidence that she was abducted by anyone, or that she was in the company of these defendants on the occasion in question or that at or about the time of the occurrences narrated by her, she bore visible marks of recent physical violence or ravishment. When apprehended and questioned, the defendants denied having been in the girl’s company on the evening in question and specifically denied the charges made. There was no evidence that any knife was found or that either of the defendants had been known to possess one.