Commonwealth v. Oquendo (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-016-13)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us 11‑P‑1605 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. JUNNO OQUENDO. No. 11‑P‑1605. Essex. October 2, 2012. ‑ January 29, 2013. Present: Kantrowitz, Sikora, & Rubin, JJ. Rape. Practice, Criminal, Sentence. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on August 27, 2008. The cases were tried before Richard E. Welch, III, J. Samuel B. Goldberg for the defendant. Catherine Langevin Semel, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. RUBIN, J. After a jury trial in the Superior Court, the defendant, Junno Oquendo, was found guilty of rape, see G. L. c. 265, § 22(b), and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person fourteen years of age or older, see G. L. c. 265, § 13H. He now appeals. 1. Background. Because the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, this court must view the evidence presented at trial in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth. See Commonwealth v. Latimore, 378 Mass. 671, 676-677 (1979). Under that standard, the jury could have found the following facts. The victim, Jane,[1] went out with a coworker, Vallejo, on the night of March 28, 2008. The women first drove to the Lynn apartment of one Matos, Vallejo’s boyfriend. Jane had a couple of cocktails there, and the three drove to a nightclub at approximately 10:30 or 11:00 P.M. At the club, they encountered the defendant, a friend of Matos. Jane had another drink and danced with the defendant for a few songs. She then began feeling ill, so she sat at the bar with Vallejo, Matos, and the defendant. While sitting at the counter, the defendant attempted to flirt with Jane. Soon, feeling even worse, Jane ran outside and vomited. Vallejo followed her and suggested that they return to Matos’s apartment. Dizzy and nauseated, Jane agreed, and the defendant rode next to her in the back seat of Matos’s car. The group left the club at approximately midnight. Jane did not remember the car ride, but did recall that she vomited again as she got out of the vehicle and a third time near the front porch outside the apartment. Once inside the apartment, Jane went directly to the bathroom without removing her coat. She stood bent over the toilet, holding onto the tank and throwing up into the bowl. At first, Vallejo, Matos, and […]