State v. Wakefield

SHERAN, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from the June, 1977, conviction of Dennis LeRoy Wakefield of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. Wakefield claims it was reversible error for the trial court to have admitted into evidence testimony by another woman that Wakefield had raped her, when Wakefield had been acquitted of that charge after a trial in 1971. We agree and reverse.

The factual dispute at trial centered solely around whether the complaining witness consented to Wakefield’s advances. Wakefield testified that on March 1, 1977, after drinking heavily most of the day, he went…