Ex parte JAP
Decision Date | 06 September 2002 |
Citation | 853 So.2d 280 |
Parties | Ex parte J.A.P., a minor child. (In re J.A.P. v. STATE of Alabama). |
Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Joe W. Morgan III, Birmingham, for petitioner.
William H. Pryor, Jr., atty. gen., and Andy S. Poole and Kristi L. Deason, asst. attys. gen., for respondent.
A delinquency petition was filed in the Jefferson Juvenile Court, charging J.A.P., a 14-year-old male, with the attempted first-degree rape of his 9-year-old half sister, L.P. The charge was based on allegations that J.A.P. attempted to commit the offense of first-degree rape, as that offense is defined in § 13A-6-61(a)(1), Ala.Code 1975. See also § 13A-4-2, Ala.Code 1975. Following an evidentiary hearing, the trial court found the charge to be true and adjudicated J.A.P. delinquent.
J.A.P. appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeals, which affirmed the judgment of the trial court. See J.A.P. v. State, 853 So.2d 264 (Ala.Crim.App.2001). After the Court of Criminal Appeals overruled J.A.P.'s application for rehearing, this Court granted J.A.P.'s petition for certiorari review. We reverse and remand.
In its opinion, the Court of Criminal Appeals adequately stated the relevant facts, and the repetition of those facts is not necessary. The delinquency petition alleged, in pertinent part, that "[J.A.P.], a male, did, with the intent to commit the crime of rape in the first degree (Section 13A-6-61 of the Alabama Criminal Code), attempt to engage in sexual intercourse with [L.P.], a female, by forcible compulsion." (Emphasis added.) Section 13A-6-61(a)(1) provides: "A person commits the crime of rape in the first degree if: (1) He or she engages in sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex by forcible compulsion." (Emphasis added.) Section 13A-6-60(8), Ala.Code 1975, defines "forcible compulsion" as: "Physical force that overcomes earnest resistance or a threat, express or implied, that places a person in fear of immediate death or serious physical injury to himself or another person."
On appeal, J.A.P. argued that there was insufficient evidence to support the finding that he had used forcible compulsion in an attempt to engage in sexual intercourse with L.P. However, the Court of Criminal Appeals held that the evidence was sufficient to allow the trial court to infer the element of forcible compulsion, and it affirmed the trial court's judgment based upon B.E. v. State, 778 So.2d 863 (Ala.Crim.App.2000). Before this Court, J.A.P. argues that the holding of the Court of Criminal Appeals conflicts with its prior holding in Rider v. State, 544 So.2d 994 (Ala.Crim.App.1989).
In Rider, the Court of Criminal Appeals considered whether a 27-year-old defendant had used forcible compulsion when he sexually abused and sodomized his 9-year-old stepdaughter. The court stated the following relevant facts:
Rider, 544 So.2d at 994-95 (footnote omitted). Regarding forcible compulsion, an element of the offenses of sexual abuse in the first degree and sodomy in the first degree, the Court of Criminal Appeals stated in Rider:
544 So.2d at 996. Although the court found evidence indicating that physical force was involved, it found no evidence of any earnest resistance. Also, the Court of Criminal Appeals stated that "it [was] clear that there [was] absolutely no evidence to support [the] second type [of forcible compulsion]." Id.
In Powe v. State, 597 So.2d 721 (Ala.1991), the defendant had been convicted of first-degree rape of his 11-year-old daughter. The sole issue was whether the evidence was sufficient to support the jury's finding that the defendant had had sexual intercourse with his daughter through the use of forcible compulsion. The Court summarized the facts relevant to that issue:
Powe, 597 So.2d at 722-23. According to this Court, the record in that case "reveal[ed] no evidence that physical force was used on the victim or that the victim was expressly threatened." 597 So.2d at 726.
In Powe, the parties cited Rider, which this Court described as involving 597 So.2d at 726. This Court then distinguished Rider, stating:
597 So.2d at 726....
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...in fear of immediate death or serious physical injury to [her]self or another person.” § 13A–6–60(8), Ala.Code 1975. See Ex parte J.A.P., 853 So.2d 280, 284 (Ala.2002) (holding that its decision in Powe v. State, 597 So.2d 721 (Ala.1991), under which an implied threat may be inferred, appli......
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...of immediate death or serious physical injury to [her]self or another person." § 13A-6-60 (8), Ala. Code 1975. SeeEx parte J.A.P., 853 So. 2d 280, 284 (Ala. 2002) (holding that its decision in Powe v. State, 597 So. 2d 721 (Ala. 1991), under which an implied threat may be inferred, applies ......
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...overrule another Alabama Supreme Court decision interpreting another facet of the Powe decision. The overruled decision, Ex parte J.A.P., 853 So.2d 280, 284 (Ala. 2002), had held that Powe did not apply in cases involving the sexual assault of children by other children. The J.A.P. decision......
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