State v. Brende
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of two counts of first-degree rape and two counts of sexual contact with a child under age sixteen. Defendant was sentenced to fifty years incarceration for each of the first-degree rape convictions and fifteen years for each of the sexual contact convictions, with the sentences to run concurrently. Defendant appealed, arguing, among other things, that the indictment was duplicitous, and therefore, his right to jury unanimity was violated. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the trial court did not commit plain error in failing to strictly comply with the "either or rule" by either requiring the State to specifically elect the acts it would rely on at trial or by giving a unanimity instruction because the jury was ultimately informed of the unanimity requirement; (2) sufficient evidence supported both of Defendant's sexual contact convictions, but the evidence presented at trial was only sufficient to support one of Defendant's first-degree rape convictions; and (3) the sentences imposed by the trial court did not violate Defendant's Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment.
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