State v. Jeffreys

• Decision Date: 05 November 1895
• Citation: 23 S.E. 175,117 N.C. 743
• Parties: STATE v. JEFFREYS.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

23 S.E. 175

117 N.C. 743

STATE v. JEFFREYS.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

November 5, 1895

Appeal from superior court, Granville county; Starbuck, Judge.

Ed Jeffreys was convicted of an assault with intent to commit rape, and appeals. Reversed.

The state introduced Mrs. Carrie Matthews, the prosecutrix, who testified that the assault was made at 7:30 a. m. "I know the defendant. Never saw him before the day of the assault. I was going to the well, which is 175 yards from my house. He was sitting down in the path, and asked me to have connection with him. I told him that I was not that kind of a woman, and went on towards the well. He said he was going to have it any way, and took out his privates, and followed me to the fence, and threw his foot up on the fence. I did not look at him any more. I ran down to Mr. Daniels', about 100 yards from the well, and told Mrs. Daniels of what had happened. The path he was in leads over a fence to the well and the well was 16 or 18 feet from the fence. He was about 15 feet from the fence when he made the proposition. I was on the same side of the fence. He never was any nearer me than 12 or 15 feet. After getting over the fence, I went to the well, and drew a bucket of water. I took the bucket of water in my hand when I ran, and spilled most of it." Mrs Daniels was then introduced by the state, and said she lived five miles from town; that Mrs. Matthews ran to her house on the day of the assault, and made the same statement as she made here, and her character is good. Defendant asked the court to instruct the jury that since the admission of prosecutrix that she drew a bucket of water after the alleged assault was made, and within 18 feet of where the said proposition was made, there was no evidence to go to the jury of an assault with intent to commit rape, and that they could not find him guilty of a greater offense than a simple assault. Refused, and defendant excepted. There was a verdict of guilty. Defendant moved for a new trial for error in the charge, and because the verdict was against the evidence. Motion denied. Defendant excepted, and appealed from the judgment rendered.

Evidence that defendant while in a sitting position on a path leading from prosecutrix's house to a well, solicited her as she passed him on her way to the well to have sexual intercourse with him; that, on her reply that she was not that kind of a woman, he followed her with his privates exposed, to a fence near the well, but did not go beyond it; and that he was never nearer her than 12 feet--is insufficient to show an assault with intent to rape.

A. A Hicks, for appellant.

The Attorney General, for the State.

AVERY J.

The defendant was sitting down in the path leading from the house of the prosecutrix to her well, a distance of 175 yards, when she passed in going for a bucket of water. Without, at the time, changing his sitting position, he solicited her to have sexual intercourse with him. When she replied that she was not that kind of a woman, and went on towards the well, the defendant, after saying that "he was going to have it any way," and taking out his privates, followed her (as we infer from the evidence, slowly), and threw his foot up on the fence, but went no further then or afterwards. The prosecutrix crossed the fence, and stopped at the well, which was 16 or 18 feet beyond the fence, until she drew a bucket of water. The defendant was 15 feet from the fence when he made the proposition, and was never at any time nearer to the prosecutrix than 12 to 15 feet. The prosecutrix, after drawing the bucket of water, went rapidly or ran about 100 yards on the opposite side of the well from her own dwelling, to the house of Mrs. Daniels, and, in doing so, spilled most of the water. The court refused the prayer of the defendant to instruct the jury that there was no evidence of an assault with intent to commit a rape, and that they "could not find him guilty of a greater offense than a simple assault."

"In order to convict a defendant on the charge of an assault with intent to commit rape," said this court in State v Massey, 86 N.C. 660, "the evidence must show not only an assault, but that the defendant intended to gratify his passion on the person of the woman, and that he intended to do so at all events, notwithstanding any resistance on her part." There was no battery, because the defendant was never nearer to the prosecutrix than 12 to 15 feet. While a mere menace does not of itself constitute an assault, it is not essential that the assailant should be within striking distance of the person upon whom he is charged with committing the offense. The attempt or offer to strike which constitutes...