Canard v. State, CR

• Decision Date: 14 February 1983
• Docket Number: No. CR,CR
• Citation: Canard v. State, 646 S.W.2d 3, 278 Ark. 372 (Ark. 1983)
• Parties: Bobby CANARD, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. 82-135.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 3

646 S.W.2d 3

278 Ark. 372

Bobby CANARD, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.

No. CR 82-135.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

Feb. 14, 1983.

Rehearing Denied March 21, 1983.

Thaxton & Hout, Newport, for appellant.

Steve Clark, Atty. Gen., by Alice Ann Burns, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.

ADKISSON, Chief Justice.

Appellant, Bobby Canard, was convicted by a jury of rape and was sentenced to forty years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. The only issue on appeal is whether there is sufficient evidence to sustain the conviction. We affirm.

Testimony at trial revealed that on December 12, 1980, appellant picked up his daughter at the home of his ex-wife and took her to Wal-Mart, where he purchased some boots for her. They ate supper at the Sonic Drive-In. Afterwards, while driving towards Grubbs, Arkansas, he turned off onto a gravel road and raped her. The daughter, who was eleven years old at the time, testified that her father stopped on the gravel road, telling her he had to let his headlights warm up. She stated that he then "unzipped my pants and took my leg out ... He unzipped his pants and took his penis out and put it into me and started raping me." She testified that she told him that she "didn't want to, but he did anyway."

Appellant contends that there is no showing of forcible compulsion and alleges that deviate sexual activity could have occurred rather than rape because the testimony is unclear as to exactly what body orifice of the daughter was penetrated. He also argues that there was no showing that appellant was the man who raped her. These contentions are without merit.

Forcible compulsion is defined in Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41-1801(2) (Repl.1977): " 'Forcible compulsion' means physical force, or a threat, express or implied, of death or physical injury to or kidnapping of any person." In Spencer v. State, 255 Ark. 258, 499 S.W.2d 856 (1973) we stated that the quantum of force need not be considered as long...