Appeals Court Upholds Salem Man's Rape Conviction

SALEM, MA -- The Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld the conviction of a Salem man who was sentenced to six to eight years in state prison for raping a woman he met in a downtown bar in 2014. While the court agreed with Richard Sherman Jr. that Salem Superior Court Judge Joshua Wall had erred when giving certain instructions to the jury, those errors did not require a reversal of the conviction.

"She told you to stop, repeatedly," Wall told Sherman, 43, when he handed down a sentence in October 2017 that was greater than the one requested by prosecutors. "I've just never seen a case in which a victim said no so many times and in so many ways."

Sherman's appeal argued two points. First, Sherman said Wall should have instructed the jury that a defendant could not be convicted of rape after penetration in consensual sex unless penetration continued after the victim verbally withdrew consent. And, secondly, he argued because there was no expert testimony regarding the effect of cocaine on perception and memory, Wall should not have admitted evidence of cocaine use for the purpose of allowing the jury to assess the defendant's ability to perceive and recall events.

"We conclude that the judge erred in failing to provide the jury with an instruction regarding the withdrawal of consent and in admitting cocaine evidence for the purpose of assessing the defendant's memory, but that, in the circumstances of this case, neither error requires reversal of the defendant's convictions," the appeals court wrote in the 26-page opinion.

During the four-day trial, Sherman's victim, who was 28 at the time of the rape, said she was a lesbian and had made it clear to Sherman that she viewed him as a new, platonic friend after they met on Oct. 14, 2014 and found they had mutual friends and similar musical tastes.

The woman agreed to go to his apartment, where Sherman pinned her to the bed and, according to the victim, she repeatedly told him to stop. Sherman, who took the stand in his own defense, testified that the sex was consensual and that the woman never resisted or told him to stop.

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Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).