Cokeley v. State
| Decision Date | 17 March 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. CR,CR |
| Citation | 705 S.W.2d 425,288 Ark. 349 |
| Parties | Dickie COKELEY, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. 85-147. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
James E. Davis, Texarkana, for appellant.
Steve Clark, Atty. Gen. by Connie Griffin, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.
This appeal raises the question of whether it is error to instruct the jury that rape can be committed by engaging in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity when only sexual intercourse is charged. We find no error since there is no demonstration of prejudice. There was substantial evidence of both sexual acts in this case.
This issue was first considered in Clayborn v. State, 278 Ark. 533, 647 S.W.2d 433 (1983). There we held that even though the evidence was sufficient to support a finding of guilt, the conviction must be reversed because the defendant was only charged with raping the woman by deviate sexual activity, not by sexual intercourse. The main basis of our decision was that two separate crimes of rape exist: rape by sexual intercourse and rape by deviate sexual activity. We said "... two different crimes are involved ... and the essential elements of the crimes differ." We were wrong in that regard and overrule Clayborn v. State, supra, as it conflicts with our later decisions and our holding in this case. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41-1803 (Supp.1985) provides for just one offense of rape with two different ways of commission. The statute itself sets forth the elements of rape:
(1) A person commits rape if he engages in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity with another person:
(a) by forcible compulsion;
The elements of the offense are the sexual act and forcible compulsion. Clayborn interpreted the statute to read that the reference to different kinds of sexual acts created two separate crimes.
In our most recent decision on this statute, we clearly rejected the rationale in Clayborn. In Wood v. State, 287 Ark. 203, 697 S.W.2d 884 (1985), we held there is only one crime of rape under Ark.Stat.Ann. § 41-1803. Wood had been charged with rape by sexual intercourse. At the trial he changed his story by saying he had merely fingered the victim instead of having sexual intercourse with her. The state was allowed to amend the information charging rape either by sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity. The court instructed the jury that the state had the burden of proving rape by "either sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity." We said "[t]he amendment did not change the nature or degree of the crime." Our holding was contrary to Clayborn v. State, supra.
Several other recent decisions support this reasoning. Before Clayborn, in Browning v. State, 274 Ark. 13, 621 S.W.2d 688 (1981), we permitted the introduction of evidence of deviate sexual activity although the charge was rape by sexual intercourse. We did so for two reasons: a general charge of rape was made under the statute which had not been challenged by a bill of particulars, and the state was entitled to prove the entire criminal episode. In two cases since Clayborn, we unanimously held that there is only one offense of driving while intoxicated with two ways of violating the act, either by operating or controlling a vehicle while intoxicated or operating or controlling a vehicle when blood alcohol content is 0.10% or more. Yacono v. State, 285 Ark. 130, 685 S.W.2d 500 (1985); Wilson v. State, 285 Ark. 257, 685 S.W.2d 811 (1985). In Wilson the defendant was charged under one subsection of the act but convicted under the other subsection. We said:
The appellant next argues that he was charged under subsection (b) of the act but was convicted under subsection (a) of the act, and therefore, his conviction must be reversed. Again, the argument is without merit. The charging instrument, whether a citation or information, is not in the record. The municipal court appeal transcript reflects that appellant was 'charged with the offense of DWI one.' Other parts of the record indicate that he was charged with 'DWI one.' Such a charge is sufficient even though the evidentiary requirements of the subsections are different. (Italics supplied.)
The case before us presents almost the same question we had in Clayborn. Cokeley was charged with rape by sexual intercourse. The victim testified she was beaten, threatened with a knife, forced to commit oral sex on Cokeley and raped by sexual intercourse. Cokeley's defense was consent. He did not deny he was with the victim or that sexual acts occurred. He said the victim voluntarily committed oral sex on him. He said he could not get an erection so they did not have sexual intercourse. Cokeley also claimed he was intoxicated. The victim's testimony was corroborated by passersby who picked her up in the middle of the night when she ran naked from Cokeley's vehicle. She was immediately taken to a police station, later submitted to a medical examination and subsequently made a statement to the police in which she said she was raped by sexual intercourse and forced to commit oral sex.
The trial court simply instructed the jury according to the statute that a person commits rape if he engages in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity with another person by forcible compulsion and defined the two acts. The evidence supports a finding of guilt of rape by either or both means. The issue in this case is not the manner of the rape, but whether rape by forcible compulsion indeed occurred. There is no argument that there is not substantial evidence to support a finding that Cokeley raped the victim either way. Cokeley was convicted of the crime with which he was charged--rape. It was not error to give the instruction.
No bill of particulars was filed in this case. The victim had stated to the police in a written statement, provided to the defense, that both types of sexual...
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Cokeley v. Lockhart
...which he was not charged. The Arkansas Supreme Court rejected Cokeley's contentions on appeal and upheld the conviction. State v. Cokeley, 288 Ark. 349, 705 S.W.2d 425, cert. denied, 479 U.S. 856, 107 S.Ct. 195, 93 L.Ed.2d 127 (1986). The court specifically held that the Arkansas rape statu......
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Ward v. State, CR
...intent--it only had to prove that the murders occurred during the course of the felony. This is not like the case of Cokeley v. State, 288 Ark. 349, 705 S.W.2d 425 (1986), where there is no difference in the elements of the crime of rape when the question is how the rape was It is argued th......
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Midgett v. State
...at any time prior to submission of the case to the jury. Kilgore v. State, 313 Ark. 198, 852 S.W.2d 810 (1993). In Cokeley v. State, 288 Ark. 349, 705 S.W.2d 425 (1986), this court held rape is a single crime with two different methods of commission. Ark.Code Ann. § 5-14-103 (Repl.1993) pro......
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State v. Kepiro, 2007 Ohio 4593 (Ohio App. 9/6/2007)
...for a crime not charged. The Arkansas Supreme Court rejected that analysis, and upheld Cokeley's conviction. See Cokeley v. State (1986), 288 Ark. 349, 350-352, certiorari denied, 479 U.S. 856, 107 S.Ct. 195. The Arkansas Supreme Court specifically held that the rape statute constituted a s......