HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — An erroneous jury instruction has resulted in a partially successful appeal for a man serving 15 years for raping 16-year-old girl.
On Wednesday, the justices of the Supreme Court of Guam issued their decision on an appeal by Vianney Hosei, who was found guilty of first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct for raping a 16-year-old girl during a night of drinking alcohol after his high school graduation.
Hosei, who was sentenced to 15 years after being found guilty during a 2021 trial, argued before the Supreme Court of Guam in April this year that his conviction should be overturned for several reasons because the victim getting “intentionally intoxicated” did not mean she was “physically helpless.”
Hosei also argued the prosecution was “vouching” in its closing arguments and there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction.
The Supreme Court justices agreed with the argument of there being an error in a jury instruction, resulting in the reversal of Hosei’s first-degree criminal sexual conduct conviction.
The instruction, in particular, related to whether Hosei, who was one of three individuals involved in the rape, was “aided or abetted by one or more other persons.”
Justices said the instruction regarding aiding and abetting was not complete and not correct and the prosecution did not prove the element of the first-degree criminal sexual conduct charge.
Thus, the Supreme Court justices determined reversing the conviction was required to prevent a “miscarriage of justice.”
“Our analysis suggests that if Hosei’s conviction is allowed to stand, it would relieve the prosecution of their duty to prove every component of the alleged crime beyond a reasonable doubt. This would undeniably taint the reputation and trust in judicial proceedings,” the justices wrote in their decision.
Hosei’s third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge is not affected by the reversal and justices explained the prosecution could either retry Hosei in an attempt to prove the charge or seek a judgment for the third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge.
Conviction
Hosei was found guilty in April 2021 of first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct.
According to Post files, the 16-year-old victim was at a barbecue when Hosei and co-defendants Burton Borja and Dwayne Piyelit sexually assaulted her and filmed the assault. Hosei and Piyelit were 18 years old at the time of the crime.
The recording of the assault was later spread on social media by another co-defendant, Joleen-Lee Rankin.
Borja and Piyelit pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct and are serving four and six years in prison, respectively. Rankin was spared from having to serve any time in prison after prosecutors received input from the victim, Post files state.
All the co-defendants testified against Hosei.
Piyelit appealed his sentence to the Supreme Court, but the justices later decided the sentencing judge made no error.
Vianney Hosei, right, one of three men accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl, was found guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct during his trial in April. His co-defendants in the case took plea deals.
