State v. Kelly
| Decision Date | 28 June 1920 |
| Docket Number | 10450. |
| Citation | 103 S.E. 511,114 S.C. 336 |
| Parties | STATE v. KELLY. |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
Appeal from General Sessions Circuit Court of Spartanburg County; T S. Sease, Judge.
Will Kelly was convicted of assault with intent to ravish, and he appeals. Reversed, with direction to enter verdict of not guilty.
The testimony of the prosecuting witness follows:
C. P Sims, of Spartanburg, for appellant.
Solicitor I. C. Blackwood, of Spartanburg, for the State.
The appeal is from a verdict of judgment of the court of sessions. The indictment is for assault with intent to ravish. The verdict was guilty with recommendation to mercy; and the judgment was 10 years service on the public works. The defendant is a negro aged 64 years; and the white female alleged to have been assaulted was at the instant 13 years of age. The appeal makes the single and naked issue that there is no evidence to support the verdict. And that is true.
The court relied on State v. Johnson to be found in 84 S.C. 45, 65 S.E. 1023, but the circumstances of that case differ from those in the case at bar, and the facts breed the law.
The defendant here was at the instant sexton of the church in which the crime is charged to have been committed, and had resided in the community 24 years, and in his whole life theretofore there had been no criminal charge brought against him. The only testimony which touches the event is that of the female child alleged to have been assaulted. Let all of it be reported, with the omission of the child's surname and that of her father.
It is true that from the beginning and until now "every imagination of the thoughts of his [man's] heart was only evil continually." But when a man is charged with evil thoughts ripened...
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State v. Floyd
...115 S.E. 811. In all of these, the court left the ultimate decision as to the facts to the jury. In only two cases, those of Sanders and Kelly, supra, did the in reversing the convictions, direct verdicts of acquittal in favor of the accused. It was held, properly, in both cases, that when ......
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State v. Evans
... ... But intent ... alone, not coupled with some overt act toward putting the ... intent into effect, is not cognizable by the Courts. The law ... does not concern itself with mere guilty intention, ... unconnected with any overt act. State v. Kelly, 114 ... S.C. 336, 103 S.E. 511; 14 Am.Jur., Sec. 25, page 786 ... Moreover, the ... record discloses that the State relied wholly upon ... circumstantial evidence, which evidence in this case does not ... measure up to the test of the established law of this State ... and is ... ...
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State v. Jackson
... ... inference may reasonably be drawn. But intent alone, not ... coupled with some overt act toward putting the intent into ... effect, is not cognizable by the Courts. The law does not ... concern itself with mere guilty intention, unconnected with ... any overt act. State v. Kelly, 114 S.C. 336, 103 ... S.E. 511; 14 Am.Jur., Sec. 25, Page 786 ... 'No ... definite rule as to what constitutes an overt act can safely ... be laid down in cases of this kind. Each case must depend ... largely upon its particular facts and the inferences which ... the jury ... ...
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State v. Quick
... ... reasonably be drawn. But intent alone, not coupled with some ... overt act toward putting the intent into effect, is not ... cognizable by the Courts. The law does not concern itself ... with mere guilty intention, unconnected with [199 S.C ... 259] any overt act. State v. Kelly, 114 S.C. 336, 103 ... S.E. 511; 14 Am.Jur., Sec. 25, Page 786 ... No ... definite rule as to what constitutes an overt act can safely ... be laid down in cases of this kind. Each case must depend ... largely upon its particular facts and the inferences which ... the jury ... ...