Jeffory L. Supreme Court of Vermont. William H. Peter F. Defendant Jeffory Hammond appeals his convictions for sexual assault and lewd and lascivious conduct. Defendant argues that: 1 he was entitled to a judgment of acquittal based on the complainant 's contradictory and otherwise incredible testimony; 2 alternatively, he is entitled to a new trial for the same reasons; 3 the court 's jury instructions were erroneous; 4 the court erred under Vermont's Rape Shield statute , 13 V.
We affirm. In October , defendant lived in Colchester with his wife, daughter, and two stepdaughters, complainant and her sister. On the night of Saturday, October 4 , defendant was at home alone with complainant. Complainant , then an eighteen year old high school student, had run a cross-country race and complained that her legs hurt.
Defendant offered to give her a leg massage. At trial, complainant described what happened next as follows. Defendant sat on the couch, and she lay across the couch on her stomach with her legs across his. Defendant began massaging her calves. Defendant then moved his hands up her legs, reached under her shorts, and began massaging her lower buttocks.
Complainant was uncomfortable but said nothing. Defendant moved one of his hands toward her inner thigh and then penetrated her vagina with one or two of his fingers, up to the second joint, for about two minutes.
Scared, complainant remained silent. After defendant stopped, complainant went to her room. Shortly afterwards, her friend M. Complainant testified that after M. Complainant said she had not, and defendant then said not to tell her mother. When her mother returned home, complainant did not tell her what happened. Over the following months, complainant began reporting what took place during the massage. Two or three weeks later still, complainant told her friend J.
