State v. Davis

• Decision Date: 06 December 1916
• Docket Number: No. 19686.,19686.
• Citation: 190 S.W. 297
• Parties: STATE v. DAVIS.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

190 S.W. 297

STATE v. DAVIS.

No. 19686.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

December 6, 1916.

Appeal from Circuit Court, St. Louis County; Gustavus A. Wurdeman, Judge.

Will Davis was convicted of rape, and he appeals. Reversed and remanded.

On October 5, 1915, the prosecuting attorney of St. Louis county, Mo., filed in the circuit court an information charging appellant with the crime of rape upon Mary Ruth Pritchard, a girl under the age of 15 years. Upon trial appellant was convicted and sentenced to 8 years' service in the penitentiary, and from the judgment so rendered, prosecutes his appeal. The evidence is substantially as follows:

The immediate parties to the transaction are colored, and at the time of the alleged assault the prosecutrix was 8 years of age and resided with her mother in Webster Groves, Mo. On the occasion in question she went to the home of the defendant's grandmother, where defendant was living, for the purpose of assisting in housecleaning. She testifies that after cleaning the room of the defendant's grandmother, she, in accordance with directions from the grandmother, went into the next adjoining room, which was occupied by the defendant, and where she found him with his person exposed. Notwithstanding this, she cleaned his room, after which he forcibly placed her upon the bed, removed a portion of her clothing, and had sexual intercourse with her. Immediately thereafter she went into the room of defendant's grandmother and there complained of the defendant's action. In this she is contradicted by the grandmother. Several days subsequent thereto, and upon statements made by the prosecutrix to her mother, the mother took her to a physician who subjected her to a physical examination, and this disclosed a rupture of the hymen and inflammation of her parts.

The defense was largely in the nature of an alibi, several witnesses, including the grandmother, testifying that at the time of the alleged assault the defendant was not present. Testimony tending to establish defendant's good reputation for veracity and morality was also offered.

Artee Fleming, of St. Louis, for appellant. John T. Barker, Atty. Gen. (Lewis H. Cook, Asst. Atty. Gen., of counsel), for the State.

REVELLE, J. (after stating the facts as above).

I. Aside from evidence of her physical condition several days subsequent to the alleged assault, the testimony of the prosecutrix is uncorroborated. In material respects she is contradicted, but notwithstanding this, and that the state's evidence is not as satisfactory as it seems it should be, we are not inclined to interfere with the jury's finding upon this ground. We have, however, said and now repeat:

"That while corroboration in certain cases may not be legally required, prosecutions upon a charge for which there is a human abhorrence must be conducted with scrupulous fairness so as to avoid adding other prejudice than that which the charge itself frequently produces. The trained legal mind owes this not only to the accused and to society as a whole, but as well to the honest juror, who sometimes, by reason of human sentiment, is led amiss."

The record discloses that during the course of the prosecuting attorney's argument, he made the following remarks:

"If your daughter — and I expect all of you have them — if your daughter were taken and placed upon a bed in the manner that that little child said she was, and that big stalwart young man who can bring —"

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