State v. Gomez-Alas

Summary

The Idaho Supreme Court affirmed Klaus Nico Gomez-Alas’s convictions for battery and an infamous crime against nature. The court held that Idaho Code sections 18-6605 and 18-6606 encompass nonconsensual cunnilingus, that sufficient evidence supported penetration and lack of consent, and that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying a motion for a new trial based on an allegedly improper dynamite instruction.

Holdings

1. Cunnilingus constitutes an infamous crime against nature under Idaho Code sections 18-6605 and 18-6606 because those statutes encompass all unnatural carnal copulations committed per os or per anum, not merely acts involving male sexual organs.
2. Substantial evidence supported the jury's finding that Gomez-Alas's tongue penetrated the victim's vaginal opening, however slightly.
3. For purposes of Idaho Code sections 18-6605 and 18-6606, an act committed against a person's will is synonymous with an act committed without consent; force, violence, duress, or threat is not additionally required.
4. The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying a new trial because the record did not establish that the jury was definitively deadlocked and the court's comments did not coerce or exhort the jury.

Questions Presented

1. Whether cunnilingus constitutes an infamous crime against nature under Idaho Code sections 18-6605 and 18-6606.
2. Whether substantial evidence supported findings of slight penetration and that the act was committed against the victim's will.
3. Whether the district court abused its discretion by denying a new trial based on alleged jury coercion from an improper dynamite instruction.

Disposition

affirmed