State v. Tatum

The defendant was charged with sexual assault in the first degree, found guilty by a jury, and sentenced to a term of not less than 8 nor more than 12 years imprisonment.

The victim testified that at approximately 1 a.m. on September 12, 1979, she was reading in bed in her apartment in the front portion of a house in Kearney, Nebraska. She got up and opened the door to the kitchen and saw a man standing in the kitchen smoking a cigarette and holding a knife. She moved toward the front door and the man stepped in front of her and blocked the way. The woman attempted to take the knife from the…