State v. Reeves
| Decision Date | 16 April 1952 |
| Docket Number | No. 76,76 |
| Citation | 70 S.E.2d 9,235 N.C. 427 |
| Parties | STATE, v. REEVES. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Harry McMullan, Atty. Gen., and T. W. Bruton, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Styles & Styles, Asheville, for defendant, appellant.
The defendant assigns error in the ruling of the trial judge in denying his motion for judgment of nonsuit interposed at the close of the State's evidence and renewed at the conclusion of all the evidence.
No good purpose would be served by setting out in detail the evidence as deposed by the witnesses, but we deem it sufficient to say that all of the evidence shown by the record has been given careful consideration, and that we conclude that defendant's motion for judgment of nonsuit was properly denied. Evidence was offered tending to show the presence in this case of all the elements necessary to constitute the crime charged in the bill of indictment. The age of the State's witness, the identity of the defendant as the perpetrator of the offense, and carnal knowledge of the witness by the defendant are sufficiently shown to carry the case to the jury.
The defendant by his motion questions the sufficiency of the evidence of penetration, but considering all the evidence on this point, both that of the girl and the physician, we are of opinion that it was sufficient, if accepted by the jury, to make out this element of the crime of rape. G.S. § 14-21; G.S. § 14-23; State v. Monds, 130 N.C. 697, 41 S.E. 789; State v. Bowman, 232 N.C. 374, 61 S.E.2d 107. On motion for nonsuit the State is entitled to have the evidence considered in its most favorable light. The reconciliation of any apparent discrepancy in the testimony, the weight of the evidence, and the credibility of the witnesses are all matters for the jury and not the court. State v. Hovis, 233 N.C. 359, 64 S.E.2d 564; State v. Robinson, 229 N.C. 647, 50 S.E.2d 740; State v. Lawrence, 196 N.C. 562, 146 S.E. 395.
There was no specific exception to the judge's charge to the jury, nor request for special instructions on any phase of the case, but defendant assigns error in that the judge failed to instruct the jury in regard to the law relating to circumstantial evidence. As the State's case was based on the direct testimony of witnesses, we are unable to perceive ground for complaint on this score. If defendant desired more specific instructions on any subordinate phase of the case, timely request therefor should have been made. State v. Warren, 228 N.C. 22, 44 S.E.2d 207; State v. Brooks, 228 N.C. 68, 44 S.E.2d 482; State v. Hicks, 229 N.C. 345, 49 S.E.2d 639; State v. Glatly, 230 N.C. 177, 52 S.E.2d 277.
The defendant's motion to set aside the verdict and for a new trial...
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State v. Johnson
...section 477; 44 Am. Jur., Rape, section 3; 52 C.J., Rape, sections 23, 24.' S. v. Bowman, 232 N.C. 374, 61 S.E.2d 107; S. v. Reeves, 235 N.C. 427, 70 S.E.2d 9. State v. Jones, 249 N.C. 134, 136-37, 105 S.E.2d 513, 514-15 (1958). In 1979 the legislature enacted N.C.G.S. § 14-27.2 which, repe......
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State v. Jones
...477; 44 Am.Jur., Rape, section 3; 52 C.J., Rape, sections 23, 24.' State v. Bowman, 232 N.C. 374, 61 S.E.2d 107, 108; State v. Reeves, 235 N.C. 427, 70 S.E.2d 9. The State's evidence was positive as to each and every element of the crime charged in the bill of There are sixty-two assignment......
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State v. Green
...age, and ravished and carnally knew her by force and against her will. The court properly submitted the case to the jury. State v. Reeves, 235 N.C. 427, 70 S.E.2d 9. The defendant's evidence tends to show intercourse by consent. Conflicts in the testimony, the weight of the evidence, the cr......
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