State v. Cuni

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

HANDLER, J.

In this case, defendant was convicted of the sexual assault of a mentally defective person. At trial, defendant attempted to introduce evidence of the victim’s past sexual experiences through the cross-examination of the State’s expert psychologist. The purpose of that evidence, according to defendant, was to demonstrate that the victim had the capacity to consent to sexual relations despite her mental condition. The trial court ruled that defendant could not elicit the evidence.

The issue posed by this appeal is whether, in a sexual assault…