State v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 23 October 1909
• Citation: 65 S.E. 1023,84 S.C. 45
• Parties: STATE v. JOHNSON.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

65 S.E. 1023

84 S.C. 45

STATE v. JOHNSON.

Supreme Court of South Carolina

October 23, 1909

Appeal from General Sessions Circuit Court of Greenville County.

Arthur Johnson was convicted of assault and battery with intent to ravish, and appeals. Affirmed.

A Blythe, for appellant. P. A. Bonham, Sol., for the State.

HYDRICK J.

The defendant appealed from a conviction of assault and battery with intent to ravish. The exceptions allege error of the circuit court in refusing to direct a verdict of not guilty and in refusing to grant a new trial on the ground that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain the verdict.

This court has so frequently held that its jurisdiction, in law cases, extends only to a review of alleged errors of law, and that it cannot set aside verdicts and grant new trials, in such cases, on the ground of mere insufficiency of evidence unless there is no evidence to support the verdict, that it is needless to cite the cases. However, in view of the gravity of the offense of which the defendant has been convicted, we are inclined, by a liberal construction of his exceptions, to consider the question whether there was any evidence tending to support the verdict.

The testimony tending to support the verdict was that the defendant is a young negro man, and janitor of a public school building in which the prosecutrix, a young white woman, was a teacher; that on Saturday, October 10, 1908, the prosecutrix went to the school building to practice on a piano; that the defendant was in the building, attending to some of his duties; that while the prosecutrix was seated at the piano, playing, the defendant approached her, and put his hands on her shoulders, and said, "You had better stop and rest awhile;" that she told him to stop, and got up and left the room; that he followed her, and told her he meant no harm; that for some little time before he put his hands on her, he kept "hanging around" the room, and said that he was staying there to fix up a stove; that the prosecutrix told him he need not stay--that Monday would be time enough to fix the stove; that he nevertheless remained, pretending to be fixing the lamps; that when he put his hands on her shoulders, and spoke to her, from the sound of his voice, the prosecutrix thought his face was very close to hers; that immediately after the occurrence the defendant fled, leaving the building open and his work unfinished, and was...