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State legislators to act on rape decision
Monday, May 14, 2007
By DAN RING
The Republican

BOSTON - Outraged over a ruling by the state's highest court in a Hampden County case, state legislators are crafting a bill to broaden the definition of rape to include sex obtained with a fraudulent identity.

The state Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday threw out a rape charge against a Westfield man, Alvin Suliveres, 44, who was accused of duping his brother's girlfriend into having sex by impersonating his brother during the night.

The court said it is not a crime when consent to sex is obtained through fraud or deceit. The court said that in order to convict someone of rape, the act must be by force and against the will of the victim.
Marianne Winters, director of the Everywoman's Center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said the court decision was archaic.

"It seems so backward to think that you could defraud someone in such an intentional way and it wouldn't be considered rape," said Winters, whose organization runs a rape crisis center and hot line to report sexual assaults.

Two former assistant district attorneys, Sen. Stephen J. Buoniconti, D-West Springfield, and Rep. Peter J. Koutoujian, D-Waltham, said they will file a bill that would change the definition of rape to include sex obtained through an impersonation or possibly through other frauds.

The legislators are working with Jane Doe Inc. on the language for the proposed bill.

In the Westfield case, Suliveres on Jan. 13, 2005, got into the bed of his brother's girlfriend about 3 a.m. in a dark basement. Suliveres didn't respond when she addressed him by his brother's name.
She recognized Suliveres when he left the bedroom and stepped into a hallway light. She said she was never fully awake during the incident.

"Here, we have a rape of a victim - sex not consented to - and we can't pursue that," Koutoujian said. "It simply doesn't make sense."

Buoniconti, a Hampden assistant district attorney from 1996 to 2001, said he was appalled by the court ruling.

"I don't think anybody thought there was a loophole like that in the statute," he said.

The case against Suliveres went to a Hampden Superior Court jury, but jurors could not reach a decision. Suliveres maintained that the sex was consensual.