State v. Abejide

The victim testified that a man she knew (Abejide's brother) invited her over as she walked by his group, on the sidewalk drinking beer. The victim briefly talked and drank beer with them. As the victim was leaving, Abejide pulled her into an alley, where he started choking her and stated he was going to “knock [her] out.” The victim testified that she thought that Abejide was going to kill her and was trying to rape her. She screamed; a police officer arrived and handcuffed Abejide. The officer testified that he saw woman’s pants pulled down and Abejide’s penis exposed; the woman appeared “fearful” and said, repeatedly, “‘He’s trying to rape me.’” Two officers testified that Abejide appeared to be intoxicated. Abejide did not present any defense during his trial for first-degree sexual assault and terroristic threats. The court refused Abejide’s proposed instructions: to include attempted third-degree sexual assault as a lesser-included offense; to require the jury's unanimous agreement regarding whether Abejide acted with the intent to terrorize or whether he acted in reckless disregard of the risk of causing terror; and setting forth an intoxication defense. The court instructed the jury that it could not consider Abejide’s voluntary intoxication in deciding whether he had the required intent. The jury found Abejide guilty. He had three prior convictions, including for sexual assault and violation of the Sex Offender Registration Act. The court sentenced Abejide to imprisonment for 10-20 years for attempted sexual assault and for 10 years for terroristic threats, to be served consecutively. The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed, rejecting challenges to the jury instructions and the sentence. View "State v. Abejide" on Justia Law