Almeida was accused of sexually assaulting two sisters because one of the girls had allegedly said, in her sleep: "Jorge, get off me. Jorge, get off me."
This evoked a great deal of controversy with the prosecution claiming it was a legitimate piece of evidence and the defense claiming that sleeptalk could not be taken as the truth. Also, the sleeptalk was only hearsay, based on what her father claimed to have heard. The girl could not remember uttering the words.
In 1981, in a similar case in Minnesota, the sleep talk of a six-year-old girl was admitted as evidence in a trial. However, a New York judge refused to admit similar evidence in a 1980 manslaughter and arson case, and it was dismissed.
However, in December, Jorge Almeida was convicted of the charge, based partially on the girl's sleeptalk evidence, and sentenced to five years in jail.
Today, April 18, 2001, Jorge Almeida's case is back in the news. The highest court in the State of Massachusetts has overturned the conviction. The high court deemed the girl's evidence as inadmissible because there was no way to prove its reliability.
Almeida isn't in the clear yet, however. There are other charges against him stemming from the same incident, charges that do not necessitate the use of the sleeptalk evidence.
This is not the first time in court for Almeida. He has a previous conviction for this type of crime. In 1998 he was convicted on two counts of indecent assault on a child under fourteen and served jail time.
