Matthews v. State

MAXWELL, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Justin Matthews was convicted of sexual battery of a sixteen-year-old girl. While the State offered no physical evidence of the rape, the jury heard testimony from the victim and witnesses who corroborated her version of events leading up to and following the sexual encounter.

¶ 2. On appeal, Matthews claims the jury’s verdict was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. He primarily argues the jury should have been instructed on an evidentiary inference that, had the State conducted forensic testing on the victim’s clothing, the test results would have…