State v. Rusk

Edward Rusk (defendant) met Pat at a bar and, after she agreed only to drive him home, took her car keys and kept them when she declined to come up to his unfamiliar-neighborhood apartment; frightened and unsure what to do, she complied. Inside, Rusk pulled her onto the bed and undressed her; she testified that, very scared, she asked whether he would let her go unharmed if she complied, he said yes, and he then lightly choked her before they had intercourse, after which he returned her keys. Rusk, by contrast, testified the encounter was entirely consensual. The jury convicted him of second-degree rape, but the court of special appeals, sitting en banc, reversed for insufficient evidence, and the Maryland Court of Appeals granted review.