E. Montpelier man guilty in sexual assault
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By Thatcher Moats Times Argus Staff - Published: February 13, 2009
BARRE – A jury has convicted an East Montpelier man of having sex with an intoxicated teenage girl against her will.
Christopher Cerutti, 26, was found guilty of "sexual assault-no consent" after a jury of six men and six women deliberated for about three hours in Vermont District Court in Barre on Wednesday.
The incident occurred in December 2006 at a South Barre apartment where Cerutti had sex with two women. The second woman was the victim in this case.
Cerutti's case was unusual, said Washington County State's Attorney Tom Kelly, because several people witnessed the crime.
"We had eyewitnesses to the sexual assault other than the victim," Kelly said. "That's absolutely unique."
According to the victim and witnesses, the 17-year-old victim drank about three beers and was intoxicated and vomiting.
Cerutti had consensual sex with his ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth Jacobs, that night, and Jacobs later passed out on the bed.
She woke up and saw Cerutti having sex with the victim, who later went to the hospital.
The victim told the police that Cerutti had undressed her. She told him "no" four or five times and said she was "kind of" conscious during the encounter.
Elizabeth Jacobs, Erica Jacobs, Christopher Jacobs and Sean Cochran were all at the apartment that night, and everyone but Cochran said they witnessed the actual incident.
Cochran said that just before the assault, Cerutti was helping the victim, who was sick from the alcohol. Cerutti then helped her into the bedroom.
Despite the eyewitnesses, one juror said the case still boiled down to the claims made by the defendant and the victim.
"It came down to a he-said-she-said, and we had to go according to the law," said Deanna Boucher, the foreperson for the jury, during a phone interview on Thursday.
"It was difficult to decide," she added.
After about an hour of deliberation, seven jurors favored a guilty verdict and five voted not guilty, Boucher said.
Ultimately, it came down to the question of whether the victim agreed to have intercourse.
"We were torn, because it came down to consent," said Boucher.
Boucher did not want to comment further.
Cerutti's story changed from when he first talked to the police.
The defendant's story began with: "I didn't have sex with anybody," said Kelly during his closing argument. Then Cerutti modified the story, Kelly said.
If he had believed in his heart that he had consensual sex with the victim, he should have just told police, but he didn't, Kelly said.
"That's why he told police this ridiculous story about crawling over her when he was naked and she was naked," Kelly said.
Cerutti also provided alcohol that night, and he was convicted of furnishing alcohol to minors on that charge after he changed his plea to no contest during the trial, and the judge found him guilty.
The jury found Cerutti innocent of another charge of possession of marijuana.
Cerutti faces a minimum penalty of three years in prison and a maximum penalty of life, but will be sentenced at a later date once the Department of Corrections finishes a pre-sentence investigation. He is currently released on bail and court conditions.
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