People v. Gerle.

2026 CO 53. No. 24SC542. Rules of Evidence—Rape Shield Statute—Relevance.

June 23, 2026

The supreme court reviewed a decision of a division of the court of appeals that had reversed Gerle’s judgment of conviction based on the trial court’s exclusion of evidence regarding certain text messages between Gerle and the victim. The court concluded that evidence regarding the text messages—which reflected Gerle’s and the victim’s fantasies concerning a consensual sexual bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, and masochism (BDSM) encounter—was inadmissible under C.R.E. 401 and 402 given the specific facts of this case.

While a prior act may be relevant to charged conduct, the prior act at issue in this specific case involved a consensual BDSM encounter that was explicitly sexual in nature. No evidence indicated that Gerle and the victim planned or were otherwise engaged in a consensual sexual BDSM encounter during the four-day incident which led to Gerle being charged with first and second degree assault and false imprisonment. Because of the dissimilarity between the text messages and the charged conduct, the messages do not make it more probable that the victim consented to being confined or less probable that Gerle intended to confine and assault the victim. Thus, the text messages were inadmissible.

Accordingly, the judgment of the court of appeals was reversed.