Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Minneosta Girl, Take 4: Dominic Jones Not Guilty Of Rape, Guilty Of Unwanted Sexual Contact With A Physically Helpless Woman
Dominic Jones, the former University of Minnesota football player accused of sexually assaulting an intoxicated 18 year-old woman, has been found not guilty of rape, but guilty of unwanted sexual contact with a physically helpless woman. I have previously written about the Jones trial on three previous occasions (here, here, and here). As my third post indicated, the prosecution presented strong evidence that Jones had some sexual contact with the victim, but it failed to present evidence of "sexual penetration." which is likely why Jones was found not guilty of rape. Jones' attorney has vowed to appeal the verdict on the ground that the trial judge improperly excluded evidence of sexual contact that the victim had with other U Minn football players on the night of the alleged rape, but as I noted in my first post, the judge likely properly excluded this evidence pursuant to Minnesota's strict rape shield statute.
-CM
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/evidenceprof/2008/04/minneosta-girl.html