Lang v. State, 40098
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi |
| Citation | 230 Miss. 147,87 So.2d 265 |
| Docket Number | No. 40098,40098 |
| Parties | Theldor LANG v. STATE. |
| Decision Date | 14 May 1956 |
Page 265
v.
STATE.
Page 266
[230 Miss. 151] Jeff Collins, Luther Austin, Ronald C. Brown, Laurel, for appellant.
[230 Miss. 152] Joe T. Patterson, Atty. Gen., by J. R. Griffin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
LEE, Justice.
Theldor Lang, a Negro man, was convicted of the forcible rape of a white woman, and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the state penitentiary. From the judgment entered, he appealed.
Mrs. Edna Earle Dreding, twenty years of age, was living with her year old baby girl in a duplex apartment in the City of Laurel. Her husband was a sailor in the United States Navy, stationed in the City of Boston. According to her evidence, on the evening of August 4, 1954, she and her daughter went to a picture show, returning home about 11:45 o'clock. The door was locked as she entered the house, and the baby was placed in her crib at the foot of the bed. She then undressed and retired. About thirty minutes later, she was awakened by someone touching her on the leg. Before her stood a man with a flashlight in one hand and a pistol in the other. On asking what he wanted, his answer--vulgar and unprintable slang, sometimes seen on the walls of unkempt public urinals and toilets--demanded sexual intercourse with her. She asked him to leave, promising that she would say nothing about his being in the house, if he would do so. But he informed her that, if she did not do as he wanted, he would hurt her baby; and that his buddy [230 Miss. 155] had the baby in another room.
Page 267
He then flashed the light into the crib, and she saw that the baby was gone. Immediately she asked him to bring her baby back. He then took a step or two as if to go, but stopped and said, 'That's your choice.' Then out of fear both for herself and the baby, she consented to his demands on his promise that he would not hurt her. He told her to take her pants off; and when she did so, he got on top of her. He was holding the gun to her head with his right hand, and put the light down for a minute. After 'he got through', he got up, stood there a minute, and told her not to make any sound. When she asked him to bring her baby back, he went through the living room, got the baby, and put her in the bed. As he walked through the door between the bedroom and living room, he stopped, flashed the light into her eyes, and told her not to move or get up or try to get help because he or his buddy would be watching her. She estimated that the man was in the house from thirty to forty-five minutes. After he left, she sat on the bed for about thirty minutes and then got up and closed the door, observing at the time that a screen was off the window in the living room. At that juncture, she went to the bathroom and took a douche with the usual syringe, and lysol as medication. Afterwards she put on a pair of blue jeans and sat in the doorway of the room, giving as her reason that she was afraid because her assailant said that he would kill her or the baby, if she made an outcry. She explained that the doors into the other apartment were locked, and the knobs had been taken off; and her telephone was on the couch, near the living room window. Because of fear, she refrained from the use of the telephone or an attempt to attract the attention of the family in the other apartment. When daylight came, she took the baby and went in her car across town to the home of a brother, Petro Williams, where she made complaint as to what had occurred. She was asked why she let her assailant [230 Miss. 156] have intercourse with her, and she replied that she was afraid that he would hurt the baby.Mrs. Dreding testified that the night was neither dark nor light; that a street light was only about one and a half blocks away; that she opened the window blinds after she went to bed, in order to let the breeze in; and that she was able to see her assailant. She got a good view of his profile. He was a light colored Negro man, about 5 feet 2 to 6 inches tall, weighing 130 to 135 pounds, with hair receding from his forehead, and a sort of slump in his walk. Besides he had an educated voice and a sweet strong odor as if cologne or toilet soap or something of that kind was on him. She did not see this man again until the following July near the post office, and later at the police station, when she was able to identify him by...
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Gray v. State, 96-DP-00241-SCT.
...the crime of rape is that some penetration of the female's private parts by the sexual organ of the assailant must occur. Lang v. State, 230 Miss. 147, 158, 87 So.2d 265, 268 (1956). The State must prove each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt, and must ensure the jury has been ......
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Allred v. State, 43745
...case also points out that there is a supplemental post conviction remedy under the rule established in Lang v. State, 230 Miss. 147, 170, 87 So.2d 265, 89 So.2d 837, 92 So.2d 670 (1957), ibid., 232 Miss. 616, 100 So.2d 138 (1958). See also Smith v. State, 158 So.2d 686 (Miss.1963). In the c......
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Sanders v. State, 54210
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Rogers v. Jones, 41872
...this Court failed to rule as to whether or not a coram nobis was the proper remedy. In the carefully considered case of Lang v. State, 230 Miss. 147, 87 So.2d 265, 89 So.2d 837, 92 So.2d 670, 672, the Court reviewed Chapter 250, Laws of 1952, and 'It will be observed that the relief sought ......