State v. Pennell

• Decision Date: 22 April 1881
• Citation: 56 Iowa 29,8 N.W. 686
• Parties: STATE OF IOWA v. PENNELL.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

56 Iowa 29

8 N.W. 686

STATE OF IOWA

v.PENNELL.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Filed April 22, 1881.

Appeal from Calhoun district court.

The defendant, under the name of Frank Dunn, was indicted for the crime of rape, and convicted of an assault with an intent to commit rape, and he now appeals to this court.Hudson & Wright, for appellant.

J. F. McJunkin, Att'y Gen., and J. M. Tolivar, for the State.

ADAMS, C. J.

1. It is assigned as error that the indictment does not show the name of the person alleged to have been ravished.

The indictment is in these words: “The said Frank Dunn, on or about the eleventh day of April, 1879, in the county of Calhoun, aforesaid, did, with force and arms, at the county aforesaid, in and upon one Elizabeth I. Smith, unlawfully, wilfully, and feloniously make an assault, and did then and there ravish and carnally know, forcibly against the will of the said Elizabeth I. Smith.” The defendant insists that it is not charged that he ravished and carnally knew Elizabeth I. Smith, or any other person. According to his construction of the indictment the words “ravish” and “know,” as therein used, have no object. But it appears to us otherwise. If the language of the indictment were that “the said Frank Dunn did then and there ravish and carnally know, forcibly against her will, the said Elizabeth I. Smith,” there would be no difficulty. The words “ravish” and “know” are what are called transitive verbs. Their meaning is not complete until they are carried over in the mind and applied to their object.

In the case above supposed they would need to be carried over an intervening clause thrown in to modify them. The same is true in the language actually used. Adopting what we deem a correct punctuation, the meaning appears to us clear. The charge is that the defendant “did then and there ravish and carnally know, forcibly against the will of the said Elizabeth I. Smith.” The verbs to “ravish” and “know” being transitive, are to be carried over and applied to their object--Elizabeth I. Smith. The sentence is certainly not a model one, but there is no reasonable doubt as to its meaning, and the indictment appears to us to be good.

2. The court charged the jury in substance that in case they found the defendant guilty they would necessarily find him guilty of rape or of an assault with an intent to commit rape. The defendant insists that the court erred in that a simple assault is one of the degrees of offence included in the...