State v. Sullivan

Citations

• 220 Conn. App. 403

Syllabus

Convicted of the crimes of unlawful restraint in the second degree, sexual assault in the fourth degree, attempt to commit sexual assault in the third degree and sexual assault in the third degree, the defendant appealed to this court. The defendant rented a basement apartment in his raised ranch home to K. One day, K texted the defendant to let him know that her daughter, C, would be staying in the apartment that night. C arrived that evening and stayed in K's apartment, where no one else was present. At one point that evening, before K arrived home, the defendant knocked on the basement door and invited C upstairs to meet his dogs. Approxi- mately one-half hour later, after C had returned to the apartment, the defendant again came downstairs and invited C upstairs to show her some sculptures he had made. After C had viewed the sculptures, C climbed over a dog gate on the stairway to return to the basement. At that point, the defendant grabbed C under her arms and lifted her back over the gate, placing her on a couch in the living room and laying on top of her. He rubbed C's breasts and genitals over her clothing. When the defendant shifted his position, C was able to slide out from under- neath him and off the couch, and she walked to the stairway with the dog gate. The defendant followed, and, using his leg to pin C against the gate, he undid his waistband, exposed his penis, and grabbed C's hand. As C attempted to climb over the dog gate, the defendant tugged at her shirt and bra, exposing her breasts, and proceeded to kiss and lick one of C's exposed breasts and neck. C was eventually able to get over the gate, after which she returned to K's apartment and locked the door behind her. On appeal, the defendant claimed, inter alia, that the prosecutor committed prosecutorial impropriety during rebuttal closing argument, specifically by her use of the phrase ''nuts and sluts'' in her statement that, ''[i]n sex cases, it's generally nuts and sluts is what they call