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Showing posts from February, 2011

Buttocks are Intimate some of the time, but not all of the time

State v. Silver (HSC February 2, 2011) Background. Barry Silver was charged with five counts of sexual assault in the third degree. HRS § 707-732(1)(b). At trial, the complaining witness, a boy, testified that he and his father visited Maui on vacation and stayed at the condominium of the Josefsbergs in Ka'anapali. Silver also was staying at the condo. The boy testified that one day he was playing in the swimming pool with Silver and his father. Silver and his father would throw him back and forth between them. Silver would hold the minor's buttocks to hoist him in the air and throw him. He could not recall Silver grabbing him, but he did testify that Silver touched his crotch and his buttocks. The boy's father testified that although there was a lot of physical contact in the pool, he described it as "horseplay" and he would not have known if Silver's hands were underneath the boy's buttocks. A few nights after playing in the pool,