State v. Adefusika, 2007-192-C.A.

• Decision Date: 02 March 2010
• Docket Number: No. 2007-192-C.A.,2007-192-C.A.
• Citation: 989 A.2d 467
• Parties: STATE v. Kevin ADEFUSIKA.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

989 A.2d 467

STATE v. Kevin ADEFUSIKA.

No. 2007-192-C.A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

March 2, 2010.

Christopher Bush, Department of Attorney General, for Plaintiff.

Catherine Gibran, Office of the Public Defender, for Defendant.

Present: SUTTELL, C.J., GOLDBERG, FLAHERTY, and ROBINSON, JJ.

OPINION

Justice ROBINSON for the Court.

The issues before us in this appeal arise from an indictment charging an alleged sexual assault and the trial thereof. The defendant, Kevin Adefusika, appeals from a judgment of conviction entered after a jury trial in the Washington County Superior Court. He alleges that the trial justice committed reversible error on multiple occasions—viz., (1) in refusing to give a certain jury instruction requested by the defendant; (2) in permitting a court reporter to read back a particular portion of the complaining witness's trial testimony; (3) in allowing a rebuttal witness to comment on the demeanor of two defense witnesses; and (4) in denying the defendant's motion for a new trial. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court.

I Facts and Travel

On June 9, 2006, a Washington County grand jury indicted Mr. Adefusika on one count of first-degree sexual assault (sexual penetration), in violation of G.L.1956 §§ 11-37-2 and 11-37-3, and one count of second-degree sexual assault (hand to breast contact), in violation of §§ 11-37-4 and 11-37-5. The charged offenses allegedly took place in the early evening of March 17, 2006. A jury trial was held on November 29, November 30, December 1, and December 4, 2006. We summarize below the most pertinent testimony from that trial.

A The Testimony at Trial

The prosecution presented three witnesses at trial: the complaining witness, an eighteen-year-old young woman whom we shall call Stephanie;¹ Stephanie's mother whom we shall call Jennifer; and Westerly Police Officer Christopher Peloso.

Stephanie testified that, on March 17, 2006, she received a telephone call at her Wakefield home from her friend Lisa. Lisa, a sixteen-year-old high school student, was calling to ask whether Stephanie wanted to "hang out"—something that the two young women did on an almost daily basis. Lisa offered to stop by Stephanie's home with a friend. Stephanie, who had known Lisa for several months, accepted her invitation and her offer of a ride. At approximately 4 p.m., Lisa arrived at Stephanie's home accompanied by Mike Adefusika, who was Lisa's friend and also the brother of defendant, Kevin Adefusika;² Stephanie had not met Mike before. Stephanie assumed that they would be driving to Lisa's home in Charlestown. Instead, Mike told Stephanie that they would be driving to his home in Westerly.

Once having arrived at the Adefusika home in Westerly, Stephanie, Lisa, and Mike all went to Mike's bedroom; they were joined there by Mike's brother, Kevin. Stephanie testified that she introduced herself to Kevin and that the group of four proceeded to talk and play videogames in Mike's bedroom. Stephanie further testified that, while they were in Mike's bedroom, everyone except her drank and smoked.

After about an hour, Lisa mentioned to the Adefusika brothers that Stephanie liked to dance and indeed had been asked to become a professional dancer. Stephanie testified that defendant then asked her to dance for him; she said that he repeated this request "[a] couple of times" over the course of about twenty minutes. Stephanie testified that she became uncomfortable and that she refused defendant's repeated requests for her to dance. Stephanie asked Lisa if she wanted to go outside to smoke a cigarette, and Lisa agreed.

Once outside, Stephanie told Lisa that she was uncomfortable and was ready to leave. Stephanie testified that Lisa accused her of being a racist³ and also said to Stephanie, "[L]et me do my thing with Mike first." After Stephanie had finished her cigarette, the two young women went back inside the house. Lisa returned to Mike's bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Stephanie testified that at that point she heard loud music emanating from Mike's room.

Stephanie walked into the living room, where defendant was sitting on a couch. Stephanie testified that, because she felt uncomfortable in the presence of defendant, she sat on the arm of the couch at the opposite end from where he sat. After the two of them engaged in some small talk, Stephanie moved from the arm to the cushion of the couch (but still at the opposite end from where defendant was sitting). At that point, defendant began professing his admiration for Stephanie. Stephanie testified that defendant told her that she was "the perfect girl" and that he wanted to marry her, all the while continuing to move toward her.

Stephanie testified that, once defendant had moved "pretty close" to her, he "forced himself on top of" her, pushing her back on the couch and holding her hands above her head with both of his hands. Stephanie further testified that defendant then started kissing her neck and told her that he wanted to give her a "hickey" because he wanted "everybody to know that [she was] his." After Stephanie told defendant that she did not want a "hickey," he stopped trying to give her one.

Stephanie testified that defendant then removed one of his hands from hers, but he continued to hold both of her hands with his other hand. Stephanie further testified that defendant put his free hand inside her shirt and touched her breasts over her bra for "a little while." According to Stephanie, defendant then moved his hand down into the front of her pants; she said that he proceeded to slide his hand under her underwear and to insert his finger inside her vagina for several seconds.

Stephanie testified that she had never asked defendant to touch her breasts or vagina and that she did not want him to do so. She further testified that, while defendant was performing the above-described acts, she repeatedly told defendant "no" and asked him to stop. She testified that she also tried "lifting [her] body and moving [her] arms;" she added that she was unable to do so because she was much smaller than he was.

Stephanie further testified that, after defendant removed his finger from her vagina, he started moving his hand "toward [her] butt." She testified that, as defendant did so, he "let go of [her] hands a little bit;" she stated that she then slapped him in the face and climbed out from underneath him. It was Stephanie's testimony that, at that point, defendant "flipped out" and began to yell and scream and to call her names.

Stephanie testified that she then ran toward a nearby hallway, grabbed a cordless phone that she saw sitting on a table, and went into a small closet-like room, positioning her body against the door to keep it closed. Stephanie used the phone to call her mother, Jennifer, to ask her to come and pick her up.

After speaking with her mother, Stephanie left the room from which she had made the phone call and started to walk outside. By then, Lisa and Mike had moved from Mike's bedroom to the living room, and defendant was in the kitchen. According to Stephanie (testifying upon refreshed recollection), as she walked past defendant on her way outside, he told her that "he was going to hunt [her] down and rape [her]." Stephanie continued out of the house and walked to the end of the street on which the Adefusika home was located; she waited there for her mother.

After Stephanie had waited outside for fifteen to twenty minutes, Lisa and Mike drove up in a car and told her to get in. It was Stephanie's testimony that she agreed to get in the car because she "just wanted to get out of there." Stephanie testified that Mike apologized for defendant's behavior and that he let her use his cell phone to call her mother, who was having a difficult time finding the Adefusika residence. In that phone call, Jennifer (Stephanie's mother) agreed to meet Stephanie at a nearby restaurant in Westerly, and Lisa and Mike then drove Stephanie there.

When Stephanie and her companions arrived at the restaurant, Stephanie quickly exited the vehicle. Jennifer pulled into the parking lot moments later, and Stephanie departed with her. She testified that her mother then drove her to the home of her (Stephanie's) grandmother in Charlestown. There, Stephanie told her mother what had happened, and Jennifer called the Westerly police. Stephanie eventually called the police herself, and she then went to the Westerly police station to provide a statement.

Stephanie's mother, Jennifer, also testified for the prosecution. She stated that she had been home watching television on the evening of the alleged assault when Stephanie called her, crying. Jennifer testified that she picked up Stephanie at the above-referenced Westerly restaurant and then later drove her to the Westerly police station.

Westerly Police Officer Christopher Peloso testified that he went to the Adefusika residence at approximately 2 a.m. on March 18 (i.e., the morning immediately after the alleged sexual assault) in order to retrieve Stephanie's handbag, which she had accidentally left in the car that Mike Adefusika had driven. Officer Peloso testified that he spoke with defendant, who denied that there had been any women at his house on the previous night, although his brother (Mike) had admitted that women had been there.

Officer Peloso was also dispatched to Lisa's home. At approximately 4 a.m., he awakened Lisa and her mother, Victoria. He told the two women that he was investigating a sexual assault, and he questioned them for forty-five minutes.

The thrust of Kevin Adefusika's defense at trial was (1) that the alleged sexual assault did not happen and (2) that Stephanie was emotionally troubled and unstable. In support of the position taken by the defense, three witnesses were presented by Kevin Adefusika's attorney. (Mr. Adefusika did not testify at trial.)

The first of the defense...