Washington County Man’s Rape Conviction Overturned
Posted on Sunday, 24 of August , 2008 at 11:57 am
ALBANY –In a 3-2 decision, the state Appellate Division has overturned the rape conviction of a Washington County man and ordered a new trial on other charges against him.
Webster L. Chapman, 41, of Hartford had been convicted in December 2006 of raping a 17-year-old girl when she was unconscious from drinking. He had been sentenced to 58 to 64 years in state prison.
But the court found that not only was there insufficient evidence that Chapman had forced the teenager to have sex but that he not been properly represented at trial by public defender Patrick Barber.
Chapman had also been convicted of burglarizing his ex-wife’s home, criminal mischief, sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. The court has ordered that he be tried again on those counts.
Chapman has been incarcerated at the Great Meadow Correctional Facility and will be returned to the Washington County Jail pending the new trial. He had been convicted of 11 charges including first degree rape, first degree criminal sexual act and second degree burglary and acquitted of five as a result of his first trial.
The court found that there was insufficient evidence that any force had been used against the girl nor did he threaten her. The majority opinion, authored by Justice Bernard Malone, held that while the testimony was sufficient to prove that the sexual contact occurred without the victim’s consent but not that force was used or that the victim was physically helpless, the elements needed for a conviction on first degree rape.
The court also held that Chapman had had ineffective assistance counsel.
“Alone, none of these errors or any of the other unexplained omissions including counsel’s waiver of an opening statement, waiver of cross-examination of certain witnesses, giving a cursory and unorganized closing statement and failing to object to inflammatory statements made during the prosecution’s closing argument (which included calling defendant a “slime ball,” labeling a bag owned by defendant as a “terrorist pack” and repeatedly stating that defendant “terrorize[d]” his wife and children) were sufficient to constitute ineffective assistance of counsel”, the court held. “However, considering the totality of the circumstances presented here, we are convinced that no legitimate trial strategy existed for counsel’s actions, which, when considered in the aggregate, deprived defendant of meaningful representation”.
Justice Anthony Carpinello wrote a dissenting opinion in which he was joined by Justice Edward Spain.
It is expected that the Washington County district attorney’s office will appeal the reversal to the Court of Appeals.
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/3dseries/2008/2008_06657.htm 8-24-08
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Category: Courts, Crime, New York State
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