Background
A jury convicted Devon M. Stewart of Class A gross sexual assault after a January 2025 trial in Somerset County. The evidence, viewed favorably to the verdict, showed that Stewart pushed the sixteen-year-old victim against a railing on a railroad trestle, pulled down her clothing, and penetrated her while she said “no” and screamed for him to stop. The victim testified that she froze because she was afraid. She called 9-1-1 shortly afterward, and later testing identified Stewart’s DNA in her vaginal area.
The trial court sentenced Stewart to twenty years’ imprisonment, with all but eleven years suspended, followed by six years of probation. On appeal, Stewart challenged the evidence of compulsion, admission of the victim’s 9-1-1 call and testimony that he said he was not supposed to be around minors, and the sentence.
The Court’s Holding
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the conviction. The victim’s testimony that Stewart pushed her against the railing, penetrated her despite her verbal protests, and caused her to freeze in fear was sufficient for a rational jury to find compulsion. Stewart waived appellate review of the 9-1-1 issue by repeatedly agreeing to admission and playback of the call while the victim briefly left the courtroom; he then cross-examined her immediately afterward.
The Court also found no obvious error in admitting the victim’s one-time testimony that Stewart said he was not supposed to be around minors. The statement was ambiguous and not developed further at trial. But the Court vacated the sentence because six years of probation exceeded the four-year statutory maximum for a Class A crime and no exception applied. It remanded for resentencing, directing the trial court also to clarify that any finding of lack of remorse or failure to accept responsibility rests on affirmative record evidence rather than Stewart’s exercise of his right to trial.
Key Takeaways
- Evidence of physical restraint, verbal resistance, fear, and freezing can support gross sexual assault by compulsion without a victim’s physical resistance.
- A defendant who affirmatively agrees to admission and playback of evidence waives a later appellate challenge to that procedure.
- For this Class A conviction, probation could not exceed four years absent a statutory exception.
Why It Matters
The decision reinforces that Maine’s compulsion definition imposes no duty on a sexual-assault victim to physically resist. It also underscores the distinction between an unpreserved objection and affirmative consent to a trial procedure, which forecloses appellate review.
At sentencing, the opinion emphasizes that courts may not treat a defendant’s decision to go to trial, or silence about remorse, as an aggravating factor. Any adverse finding on remorse or acceptance of responsibility must be grounded in affirmative evidence in the record.