State of New Hampshire v. Ronald Chretien

Brentwood, New Hampshire defendant charged with sexual assault convicted and exonerated.



Roland Chretien, age 44, was accused of chocking and forcing a woman to perform oral sex at the Blazing Saddle store in Plaistow, New Hampshire in June 2003.



The Defendant waived his right to a jury.



The 46-year-old complainant woman claimed that Chretien assaulted her, forced her into a store room, and chocked her to make her perform an oral sex act on him.



Petitioner Ronald Chretien was convicted of two counts of sexual assault in violation of N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 632-A:4, and three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault in violation of § 632-A:2, occurring at the Blazing Saddles Motorcycle Shop in Plaistow, New Hampshire on June 26, 2003. Around noon on that day, the complainant entered the store to purchase a belt. Chretien, a co-owner of the store whom the complainant had met on prior occasions, approached her and they had a brief conversation. The complainant then went upstairs to the second floor of the store to find a belt. Chretien followed her to the top of the stairs and continued the conversation. They discussed the possibility of the complainant working at the store on a part-time basis. Chretien then spun her around, told her she looked pretty good, pulled her toward him, and kissed her. The complainant told him to stop and pulled away before walking to the back of the store. Chretien then grabbed the complainant by her wrist, hurting her, and kissed her again. She pulled away from him and tried walking toward the front of the store.



As she walked away from him, Chretien pulled the complainant behind the cash register and told her she could not leave him with an erection. He then put her hand onto his pants and told her that his erection was her fault. Chretien pulled her into a nearby stock room, shut the door, grabbed her around the throat, and tried to lift up her shirt and touch her breasts. Angered by the complainant's refusals to cooperate, Chretien pushed her to the floor and forced her to perform fellatio, eventually ejaculating. Once the act was completed, Chretien pushed her out of the stock room and went back to work. Before she left the store, she cleaned off her face and mouth with tissue paper that she then placed in her purse.



After leaving, the complainant went to Anzalone's Market in Exeter, New Hampshire, where she washed her mouth out with a carbonated beverage. After telling a clerk at the deli counter about what had just happened, she discarded the tissues in a garbage can outside the market. Police later retrieved these tissues from the garbage. DNA testing of the semen on these tissues was consistent with Chretien's DNA. Chretien was eventually indicted on the above-referenced sexual assault charges.





Chretien pled not guilty.



The "victim" was asked if she had ever accused anyone else of sexually assaulting her and she said: "No." He was not allowed to impeach her.



Chretien claimed that the woman came on to him and pulled out his penis and performed oral sex. She they left the store.



The woman's husband testified that to his knowledge his wife had never been unfaithful to him during their marriage.

Defendant was found guilty and was sentenced to 6-to-12 years in prison.



Defendant appealed but the New Hamphire Supreme Court affirmed.



In 2007, Chretien filed a petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus.



The State and Chretien stipulated that the complainent lied during her testimony in that in fact performed fellatio on one Peter Hallinan in her car outside a bar and then told someone that he had chocked her and forced her to perform oral sex on him. The victim denied that she had oral sex on Halliman. Chretain's attorney also produced evidence that the victim that she had a sexual relationship with a man named Kirsch after the Blazing Saddle's incident. Defendant also produced evidence that the victim's husband has also lied about fidelity. The victim eventually admitted that she had sex with Hallinan outside the longhorn restaurant and that he an affair with William Kirsch.



In October 2008 the State Dismissed.

On July 8, 2008, the United States District Court Judge Joseph N. Laplante granted Chretien's Petition for a Write of Habeas Corpus.



See: Roland Chretien v. New Hampshire Prison, Warden 07-CV44, District of New Hampshire