After New Year’s Eve festivities in the early hours of January 1, 2020, Robert Puga attempted oral sex with a 20-year-old woman who had fallen asleep on her friend’s couch.

Prior to that night, Puga had shown a romantic interest in the victim, asking her to testify that she was friendly on two dates, but it did not result in a kiss. told Puga that he did not want to pursue a romantic relationship with him.

The victim, who appeared in court to provide testimony, described Puga’s reaction to the initial rejection. She said in her court he called her a “bully” and claimed she was “wasting her time.” She responded by blocking his account on the instant messaging app the two had been communicating with.

The next time the victim saw Puga was New Year’s Eve.

On the night of the assault, the victim was attending a “Roaring Twenties” themed house party. To wrap up the party, the underage victim sneaked into the back door of Williams’ bar.

Puga found her and bought her a purple cocktail. The victim had to work the next morning and returned to his friend’s house to rest.

Puga then arrived at the same house uninvited and went upstairs.

A friend of the victim burst into the room during the assault. She described what she saw to the jury. This matched the victim’s story. Puga pulled down her pants and said she was “looking for a cell phone” and that the victim was “tripping”.

Another witness told the court that Puga had shown sexual interest in the victim earlier that night.

One of the points brought up throughout the trial was the general “party vibe” surrounding the night up to that point. People were playing beer pong, drinking beer from funnels, enjoying cocktails and generally toasting the New Year.

The testimony was at times vague, according to senior prosecutor Jonathan Mosher. The victim was drinking on the night of the assault. Defendant was drinking. Many of the witnesses were drunk.

Yet there was clarity in the victim’s voice and in her testimony describing the terror on waking to the assault. explained to me.

Puga was absent from court. He was not present when the victim testified or when the sentence was handed down.

Still, Puga’s attorneys worked to establish that the defendant did not intentionally assault anyone. Puga means that you unknowingly had sex while you were asleep.

The prosecution brought another possibility as well as unusual conditions to the court. They presented a case that Puga may have drowsiness. That is, he is a woman who disagrees because he finds sleep at least somewhat attractive.

Puga had pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a woman years before the New Year’s Eve incident.

She stood up last week to tell her story for the limited purpose of establishing a pattern of behavior for the defense.

The defense’s argument hinged on the testimony of clinical psychologist Dr. Richard Samuels. Samuels diagnosed Puga with a rare sleep-wake disorder sleep disorder.

Samuels is no expert on sexsomnia, but the defense argued that such an expert would be difficult to find given the condition’s relatively recent entry into the debate between sleepwalking and parasomnia.

Sexsomnia did not appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) until 2013. That year, Samuels testified as an expert witness in the trial of Jodi Arias. He slit his ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander’s throat at his home in Mesa.

Samuels was a key witness in Arias’ trial after being diagnosed with trauma-induced amnesia. and killed Alexander, saying that her presence during the crime was a source of trauma.

Samuels later testified that Arias lied to him, but her actions in killing her former lover may also have contributed to her amnesia.

Samuels was put on trial for several days during the tumultuous and sometimes frenzied trial of Arya.

Samuels, who was paid about $300 an hour as an expert witness this time, appeared in Coconino County Superior Court and gave a brief testimony via Zoom.

Under cross-examination, Mosher did not hesitate to bring up Samuels’ testimony at Arias’ trial.

Samuels testified that he arrived at the diagnosis of sexsomnia on the basis of two anecdotes from friends and family of Puga’s that substantiate his history of sleepwalking. A psychologist told jurors that Puga may have had sexsomnia.

Prosecutors argued that Samuels was not an expert in sleep disorders or sleep science. I was able to determine that I have

It was these diagnoses, bolstered by a PowerPoint presentation that rehashes the scathing testimonies of those who saw or heard Puga that night, that Mosher was so adamant about Puga’s guilt.

Puga was finally convicted of sexual assault on Friday.