Easterling v. State
| Decision Date | 07 July 1919 |
| Docket Number | 20786 |
| Citation | 120 Miss. 404,82 So. 306 |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
| Parties | EASTERLING v. STATE |
1. RAPE. Attempt. Persuasion.
Mere strenuous efforts to persuade a woman to yield to sexual intercourse, with no felonious design to commit the crime of rape will not warrant a conviction of assault with intent to rape.
2. SAME.
In passing upon the facts of a charge of rape or attempt, the particular facts and circumstances of each case are to govern and no precise rule as to what acts will constitute rape or an attempt can be stated.
APPEAL from the circuit court of Jones county, HON R. S. HALL, Judge.
Henry Easterling was convicted of assault with intent to rape and appeals.
The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court.
Reversed and appellant discharged.
Deavous, Hilbun & Dearvours and D. B. Cooley, for appellant.
Ross A. Collins, Attorney General, for the state.
The appellant, Henry Easterling, was convicted of an assault with intent to commit rape upon his former wife, Nora Easterling, and appeals here.
We have carefully read the evidence in this case, and after a thorough and full consideration of the facts presented by the state upon which the conviction rests we are convinced that the proof falls short of being sufficient to establish the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.
We see no good purpose to be served by setting out in detail the peculiar facts of this case as disclosed by the record; and we deem it ample to say that under the facts and singular circumstances of the alleged attempt we are warranted in saying, as a matter of law, the appellant had no felonious design to commit the crime of rape. What he did amounted only to a strenuous effort to persuade his ex-wife to yield to his sexual desires. In passing upon the facts of a charge of rape, or attempt, the particular facts and circumstances of each case are to govern. No precise rule as to what acts will constitute rape, or an attempt, can be stated. This is to be determined by the facts of each case. The proof of criminal intent on the part of appellant is insufficient here for conviction.
Reversed, and appellant discharged.
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Jones v. State
...128 Miss. 119, 90 So. 630; Golding v. State, 144 Miss. 208, 109 So. 731; Joslin v. State, 129 Miss. 181, 91 So. 903; Easterling v. State, 120 Miss. 404, 82 So. 306; State v. Bradford, 126. Miss. 868, 89 So. Corroborate is to strengthen; to add weight or credibility to a thing by additional ......
-
McLendon v. State
... ... innocence of the same crime then there can be no conviction ... But what we have in this case is a statement of facts ... consistent with the defendants' innocence of the ... particular crime and wholly inconsistent with his guilt ... Easterling ... v. State, 120 Miss. 404, 82 So. 306 ... Accepting ... the entire statement of the prosecutrix in this case as true, ... it did not make out a case of assault with intent to rape ... Douglass ... v. State, 42 L.R.A. (N.S.) 524; Green v. State, 67 ... Miss. 356, 7 So ... ...
-
Swain v. Pitts
... ... not assented to by the owner of the property. That is to say, ... upon a different state of facts and under a different ... contract ... We ... further call attention to the fact that there is hopeless ... conflict between ... ...
-
Reeves v. State
... ... support a conviction ... This ... court has repeatedly held that mere strenuous efforts to ... persuade yielding to sexual desires would not warrant a ... conviction of assault with intent to rape ... Easterling ... v. State, 82 So. 306 ... The ... gravamen of the offense in assault with intent to rape is, ... and has been construed as the "intent" on the part ... of the assailant ... Dannley ... v. State, 87 So. 44, 80 Fla. 70 ... It is ... also being held that a ... ...