Previous Story
OPD moves dismissal of sex assault charge vs 1 of 2 men
The Office of the Public Defender has moved to dismiss one charge against one of two men accused of raping a 52-year-old woman.
Assistant public defender Heather M. Zona asked the Superior Court to dismiss with prejudice count 2 of the third amended information charging Jaime Always with sexual assault in the first degree.
Dismissal with prejudice means the prosecution can no longer re-file the charge.
Zona asserted that the government failed to set forth facts sufficient to place Always on notice as to what it is he is alleged to have done to violate the law.
“Indeed, there is no indication that whatever Mr. Always is alleged to have done constitutes a crime,” the defense counsel said.
Zona said the purported basis for Always’ liability is that he allegedly told the woman to “listen and obey” when someone else’s supposed crime against her was already in progress.
Zona said there is no allegation Always was in a position of authority over the woman, and both were adults at the time of the alleged conduct.
Last March, Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho dismissed without prejudice the charges against the 46-year-old Always after finding that no probable cause to believe that the crimes of sexual assault in the first degree and sexual assault in the first degree were committed.
The Office of the Attorney General then re-filed the charges against Always.
According to police, officers responded to a house last Feb. 4 to investigate a report of a sexual assault incident. The officers said a woman alleged that two men raped her.
The woman identified Always and Sony, who were found by the officers sleeping inside the house where the rape allegedly happened.
Igitol said Always and Sony were interviewed and admitted to have had sex with the woman, but that it was consensual.
The case against Sony is still pending in court.
