State v. Bridges
| Decision Date | 14 March 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 36281,36281 |
| Citation | 379 P.2d 715,61 Wn.2d 625 |
| Court | Washington Supreme Court |
| Parties | The STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Levi BRIDGES, Appellant. |
William F. Lockett, Seattle, for appellant.
Charles O. Carroll, Pros. Atty., Joel A. C. Rindal, Richard M. Ishikawa, Deputy Pros. Attys., Seattle, for respondent.
Defendant was charged, convicted, and sentenced for the crimes of burglary in the first degree, rape and sodomy.
His two assignments of error pertain only to his conviction for the alleged rape; therefore, we notice only those facts necessary to consider the assignments.
The prosecuting witness, aged 22, and two girl friends had just moved into a small house on Capitol Hill in Seattle. April 30, 1961, they returned home late at night, readied themselves for bed, and watched the late show on television. The front porch light remained lighted since the prosecuting witness was expecting her younger sister and girl friend to spend the night with her; they were to help clean house the next day.
While the other two girls fell asleep, the prosecuting witness remained awake. Hearing a noise emanating from the vicinity of the back porch, and thinking her younger sister and friend were arriving, she got out of bed to greet them. She saw two male figures on the back porch. She awakened one of the other two girls and reported what she had seen.
Approximately ten minutes later (about 1 a.m.), the sister of the prosecuting witness arrived with her friend. The five girls went to bed. Shortly thereafter, the prosecuting witness again heard noises and footsteps on the front porch. She awakened the other girls and attempted to telephone the police; the telephone was dead. There is conclusive evidence that the telephone wire was cut. The front porch light was now inoperative. Upon hearing a noise of prying at the front door, the five girls bolted into the bathroom, a small interior room without windows, and locked the door.
Although there were three locks on the front door, the door jamb was torn off. The girls heard a crowbar being used on the French doors between the living room and the bedroom, although the doors were not locked. The switch to the bathroom light was in the bedroom; the light was flicked on and off.
As the crowbar was being applied to the bathroom door, the prosecuting witness yelled, 'Whoever you are looking for doesn't live here any more and please go away.' She said that if the light were turned on, they could see that this was true. The prowlers replied, 'All right.' The door was opened.
For the first time the girls saw the two men--initially described as 'the tall man' and the 'short man.' Four of the five girls identified defendant as 'the short man.'
The prosecuting witness testified that defendant came in with '* * * a crowbar up over our heads and said if we--he said, 'If you do anything, I'll smash your heads in." Her testimony was corroborated by the testimony of the other girls.
While the defendant stood at the bathroom door with the crowbar, his accomplice took one of the girls into the bedroom. We do not set forth that sordid story. It is sufficient to say that the girls in the bathroom could hear her plaintive protestations.
The prosecuting witness testified: that defendant took her into the bedroom; that he committed an act of sodomy; that he assaulted her sexually without her consent; that '* * * he had that crowbar right by my head'; that she did not offer any particular resistance because 'I just figured all he had to do was pick up that crowbar and let me have it in the head like he said he was going to.'
It is true that on cross-examination the prosecuting witness testified that she was afraid both for her herself and for her younger sister, and that if her sister had not been there, 'I would have probably fought.'
In so far as it is applicable to defendant's first assignment of error, R.C.W. 9.79.010 provides, in part:
'(1) [not applicable]
'(2) When her resistance is forcibly overcome; or
'(3) When her resistance is prevented by fear of immediate and great bodily harm which she has reasonable cause to believe will be inflicted upon her; * * *
* * *
* * *
'Shall be punished * * *.'
The court instructed the jury that in order to convict defendant of rape, the state must prove, among other things:
'That the resistance of the said [name omitted] thereto was forcibly overcome, or
'That...
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State v. Reukauf
... ... under that earlier law, the "resistance" mentioned ... in the former statute was said "not [to be] one of the ... elements of the crime of rape; it is evidence of want of ... consent which is an element." State v. Bridges , ... 61 Wn.2d 625, 628, 379 P.2d 715 (1963); State v ... Meyerkamp , 82 Wash. 607, 609, 144 P. 942 (1914) ... "[T]he extent of resistance or lack of resistance by the ... woman [is nothing] other than an item of evidence to be ... considered by the jury along with ... ...
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State v. Reukauf
...said "not [to be] one of the elements of the crime of rape; it is evidence of want of consent which is an element." State v. Bridges, 61 Wn.2d 625, 628, 379 P.2d 715 (1963); State v. Meyerkamp, 82 Wash. 607, 609, 144 P. 942 (1914). "[T]he extent of resistance or lack of resistance by the wo......
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State v. Thomas
...performed willingly with the consent of the woman is a question of fact for the jury to decide from all the evidence. State v. Bridges, 61 Wash.2d 625, 379 P.2d 715 (1963); State v. Wampler, 3 Wash.App. 378, 475 P.2d 316 (1970); State v. Mellis, 2 Wash.App. 859, 470 P.2d 558 (1970). Relucta......
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State v. Mellis, 159--40803--I
...if prevented by fear of immediate and great bodily harm. State v. Baker, 30 Wash.2d 601, 192 P.2d 839 (1948). Accord State v. Bridges, 61 Wash.2d 625, 379 P.2d 715 (1963); State v. Pitmon, 61 Wash.2d 675, 379 P.2d 922 (1963). The effect of a lack of outcry, or a failure to resist the advanc......