Newell Rector v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, 2024-CA-0199

Newell Rector was convicted of first-degree sexual abuse in Wayne County Circuit Court in December 2023 and sentenced to one year in prison.
The victim, A.S., was 13 years old at the time of the incident in 2017, which occurred at a church fall festival where Rector was present as the janitor.
A.S. and two other witnesses testified that Rector pressed his pelvis against her buttocks and grabbed her hips, describing the contact as forceful and not accidental.
Rector denied any inappropriate contact occurred.
On appeal, Rector argued the evidence was insufficient to support a finding of "sexual contact" or intent for "sexual gratification" as required by statute.
The Court of Appeals reviewed whether the trial court erred by denying Rector’s motion for a directed verdict.

Issue	Appellant's Argument	Appellee's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence of "sexual contact"	Only touched A.S. on hips, not buttocks; no sexual contact under statute	Multiple witnesses, including victim, described clear sexual contact; not an accidental brush	Sufficient evidence; jury could reasonably find sexual contact
Evidence of intent for "sexual gratification"	No proof of sexual gratification intent	Jury can infer intent from nature of conduct and circumstances	Sufficient evidence for jury to infer intent

Commonwealth v. Benham, 816 S.W.2d 186 (Ky. 1991) (outlines standard for reviewing denial of directed verdict—jury must find guilt to be clearly unreasonable under the evidence)
Bills v. Commonwealth, 851 S.W.2d 466 (Ky. 1993) (clarifies that sexual contact can include touching through clothing if done for sexual gratification)
Tungate v. Commonwealth, 901 S.W.2d 41 (Ky. 1995) (upholds jury's wide latitude in inferring intent for sexual gratification from actions and circumstances)
Boone v. Commonwealth, 155 S.W.3d 727 (Ky. App. 2004) (intent can be inferred from conduct and circumstances surrounding the act)