Gransberry v. Commonwealth, Record No. 3040.
| Citation | 184 Va. 674 |
| Decision Date | 14 January 1946 |
| Docket Number | Record No. 3040. |
| Parties | JOSEPH HARVEY GRANBERRY v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA. |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
1. RAPE — Attempt to Commit Rape — Credibility of Evidence — Case at Bar. — In the instant case, a prosecution for attempted rape on an 11-year-old child, accused contended that the evidence of the child was incredible because, (1) no normal person would attempt with a knife to force an 11-year-old child into his automobile in broad day-light on a street at a time when persons were passing to and fro, which the child stated he had done, and that, even if such an attempt were made by a stranger, the screams of a normal child would bring immediate help, and the child admitted that she at no time screamed or called for help; (2) if the child were forced into the automobile as claimed, then she would have been too scared to notice foreign coins on the windshield and other details in the car which she claimed to have seen; (3) and that the manner of her escape, as stated by her, was impossible, since a strong man, as intent as it was claimed accused was to accomplish his purpose, would have had no trouble in catching the child as she jumped up to escape.
Held: That there was no merit in the contention of accused, since to sustain it the court would have to disregard all the testimony of the witnesses for the Commonwealth and accept the unsupported and uncorroborated testimony of accused.
2. APPEAL AND ERROR — Weight of Finding of Fact on Conflicting Evidence. — The finding of fact of the trial court, sitting without a jury, on conflicting evidence, is binding and conclusive upon the Supreme Court of Appeals.
3. ATTEMPTS AND SOLICITATION to COMMIT CRIME — What Constitutes an Attempt. — The indictable offense for an attempt to commit a crime consists of an intent to commit a felony and the doing of some direct act towards its consummation without actually committing the crime itself. It need not be the last proximate act to the consummation of the crime in contemplation, but it is sufficient if it be an act apparently adapted to produce the result intended.
4. ATTEMPTS AND SOLICITATION TO COMMIT CRIME — Distinction between Attempt and Preparation — Preparation consists in devising or arranging the means or measures necessary for the commission of the offense and the attempt is the direct movement toward the commission after the preparations are made.
5. RAPE — Attempt to Commit Rape — Sufficiency of Evidence to Show Attempt — Case at Bar. — In the instant case, a prosecution for attempted rape of an 11-year-old child, the child testified that she was forced to enter the automobile of accused and that he drove to the rear of a building where he and the child got out of the car and went to a nearby lot covered with weeds and bushes. He told the child to lie down and take down her pants and while he was unbuttoning his pants the child jumped up and escaped. Accused contended that, conceding the child's evidence to be true, the acts alleged did not amount to an attempt.
Held: That there was no merit in the contention of accused. While the overt acts of accused were not the last proximate acts necessary to the consummation of the crime, they were direct overt acts well calculated to accomplish the result intended.
Error to a judgment of the Corporation Court of the city of Norfolk, Part Two. Hon. J. Hume Taylor, judge presiding.
The opinion states the case.
Herman A. Sacks, for the plaintiff in error.
Abram P. Staples, Attorney General, and V. P. Randolph, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, for the Commonwealth.
The only assignment of error stated in the record in this case is that the evidence is not sufficient to sustain the finding that the accused was guilty of an attempt to commit statutory rape.
Jean Audrey Jones, an 11-year-old colored girl, testified that, about 11:00 A.M. on Saturday, March 24, 1945, while she was walking on East Princess Anne Road in Norfolk, the accused stopped her and asked her to get in his automobile. When she refused, the accused drew a knife and forced her into his car. After driving around town for some time, the accused stopped his car near the rear of a building occupied by the Building Supply Corporation on the corner of Monticello Avenue and 20th Street. The accused and the girl got out of the car and went to a nearby vacant lot covered with weeds and bushes. Jean was told to lie down, pull up her dress and take down her pants, which she did. While the accused was on his knees unbuttoning his pants, she jumped up and ran through a small opening in the...
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