State v. Stiffler

• Decision Date: 06 March 1990
• Docket Number: No. 17846,17846
• Citation: 788 P.2d 220,117 Idaho 405
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Jason Ray STIFFLER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 220

788 P.2d 220

117 Idaho 405

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Jason Ray STIFFLER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 17846.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

March 6, 1990.

Alan E. Trimming, Ada County Public Defender, Richard D. Toothman (argued), Deputy, Boise, attorneys for defendant-appellant.

Jim Jones, Atty. Gen., Michael A. Henderson, Deputy Atty. Gen., of Boise, attorneys for plaintiff-respondent. Michael A. Henderson argued on rehearing.

JOHNSON, Justice.

This is a statutory rape case. The only issue presented is whether it would be a defense to this charge if the defendant reasonably believed that the female with whom he had sexual intercourse was at least eighteen years old. The trial court ruled that this would not be a defense. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's ruling. State v. Stiffler, 114 Idaho 935, 763 P.2d 308 (Ct.App.1988). We affirm the decisions of the Court of Appeals and the trial court and hold that a reasonable mistake of fact concerning the female's age does not disprove criminal intent in a statutory rape case.

I.

THE BACKGROUND AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS.

Jason Stiffler was charged with three counts of statutory rape of a fifteen-year-old female. Initially, he pled not guilty. Prior to trial the State requested an instruction stating that "it is not a defense that the defendant did not know the age of the minor child involved." Stiffler objected and contended that a mistake as to the female's age should be a defense and that the jury should be so instructed. The trial court ruled that the State's requested instruction was not a misstatement of the Idaho law and that Stiffler was not entitled to have the jury instructed that mistake of age was a defense.

After this ruling, Stiffler entered a conditional guilty plea, reserving his right to appeal the trial court's ruling on the mistake of age defense. Following sentencing, Stiffler appealed and we assigned the case to the Court of Appeals. The case is now before this Court for review of the decision of the Court of Appeals affirming the trial court's ruling.

II.

MISTAKE OF AGE IS NOT A DEFENSE TO A CHARGE OF STATUTORY RAPE.

Statutory rape in this state "is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a female ... under the age of eighteen (18) years." I.C. § 18-6101(1) (1987). Our law also provides: "In every crime or public offense there must exist a union, or joint operation, of act and intent, or criminal negligence." I.C. § 18-114 (1987). A person is not capable of committing a crime, if the person who committed the act that is charged did so "under an ignorance or mistake of fact which disproves any criminal intent." I.C. § 18-201(1) (1987). The precise question we must address in this case is whether any mistake Stiffler may have had about the age of the female with whom he had sexual intercourse would disprove the criminal intent required before he could be convicted of statutory rape.

In State v. Sterrett, 35 Idaho 580, 207 P. 1071 (1922), this Court summarized the law of criminal intent as it had developed in Idaho to that time:

At common law a crime possessed the element of an evil intention together with an unlawful act, but the rule is well established that it is competent for the legislature to prohibit the doing of a particular act and to provide a penalty for the violation of the prohibition. (1 Wharton's Criminal Law, 11th ed., sec. 143, p. 187.) This court held in State v. Keller, 8 Ida. 699, 70 Pac. 1051, that: "Wicked or wilful intent to violate the criminal law is not an essential ingredient in every criminal offense. And that is so in statutory offenses when the statute does not make the intent with which an act is done an ingredient of the crime. The rule is that in acts mala in se the intent governs, and in acts mala prohibita, the intent does not govern, and the only inquiry is, 'Has the law been violated?' "

....

Whether a criminal intent is a necessary element of a statutory offense is a matter of construction, to be determined from the language of the statute in view of its manifest purpose and design, and where such intent is not made an ingredient of the offense, the intention with which the act is done, or the lack of any criminal intent in the premises, is immaterial.

35 Idaho at 582-83, 207 P. at 1072.

More recently this Court has characterized criminal intent as being either general or specific: "A general criminal intent requirement is satisfied if it is shown that the defendant knowingly performed the proscribed acts, State v. Booton, 85 Idaho 51, 375 P.2d 536 (1962), but a specific intent requirement refers to that state of mind which in part defines the crime and is an element thereof. Lafave & Scott, Criminal Law, § 28, p. 196." State v. Gowin, 97 Idaho 766, 767-68, 554 P.2d 944, 945-46 (1976). The focus on the distinction between acts mala in se and acts mala prohibita in Keller was replaced in later cases by a focus on the distinction between crimes requiring some specific criminal intent and those requiring only general criminal intent.

In order to resolve the issue presented here, we must determine whether commission of the crime of statutory rape requires any specific intent. To make this determination we must construe I.C. § 18-6101(1) "in view of its manifest purpose and design," as directed in State v. Sterrett. If we were to determine that statutory rape requires only general intent, mistake of age would not be a defense, since any mistake of age would not disprove that Stiffler had sexual intercourse with a female under the age of eighteen. Proof of intercourse with a female under the age of eighteen would be sufficient to convict. On the other hand, if we were to determine that statutory rape requires proof of a specific intent to have intercourse with a female under the age of eighteen, mistake of age would be a defense. In that case, a reasonable belief by Stiffler that the female was at least eighteen years old would disprove the specific criminal intent necessary, i.e., the intent to have sexual intercourse with a female under the age of eighteen.

As directed in Sterrett, we first examine the purpose of the law prohibiting statutory rape. In the early part of this century this Court stated that the purpose of our statutory rape law was "to protect girls under the age of eighteen years from conscienceless men, as far as possible." State v. Henderson, 19 Idaho 524, 530, 114 P. 30, 32 (1911). More recently we noted that "the prevention of illegitimate teenage pregnancies is one of the objectives behind the statute and that the state has a strong interest in furthering this important governmental objective." State v. LaMere, 103 Idaho 839, 843, 655 P.2d 46, 50 (1982). The Court of Appeals in its decision in this case said that the statute "is an attempt to prevent the sexual exploitation of persons deemed legally incapable of giving consent." Stiffler, 114 Idaho at 936, 763 P.2d at 309.

Considering the language of the statute in view of these purposes, we construe the statute to require only a general criminal intent to prove a violation. We concede that the protection of girls from conscienceless men is a purpose that would not be violated by a requirement of specific criminal intent before conviction. As to that purpose, it is the conscience or state of mind of the perpetrator that is at issue. Likewise, exploitation focuses on the advantage gained by the perpetrator of the act. This is a state of mind of the perpetrator, not an effect on the female. However, the prevention of illegitimate teenage pregnancies is not consistent with requiring specific criminal intent to prove the crime. Pregnancy could result regardless of the belief that the female was at least eighteen years old. Since the prevention of illegitimate teenage pregnancies was cited in LaMere as one of the objectives behind the statute and the state's strong interest in furthering this objective was noted, we are unable to conclude from an examination of this purpose that statutory rape should be construed to require proof of any specific intent.

Sterrett also directs that we examine the design of the statute in determining what intent is required for conviction. The design of the statute at issue here is as follows:

18-6101. Rape defined.--Rape is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a female under either of the following circumstances:

1. Where the female is under the age of eighteen (18) years.

2. Where she is incapable, through lunacy of any other unsoundness of mind, whether temporary or permanent, of giving legal consent.

3. Where she resists but her resistance is overcome by force or violence.

4. Where she is prevented from resistance by threats of immediate and great bodily harm, accompanied by apparent power of execution; or by any intoxicating narcotic, or anaesthetic substance administered by or with the privity of the accused.

5. Where she is at the time unconscious of the nature of the act, and this is known to the accused.

6. Where she submits under the belief that the person committing the act is her husband, and the belief is induced by artifice, pretense or concealment practiced by the accused, with intent to induce such belief.

Subsections (5) and (6) of this statute indicate clearly that specific criminal intent are required for conviction. Subsection (5) requires knowledge by the accused that the female is unconscious of the nature of the act. The state of mind of the accused defines an essential element of the crime. Likewise, subsection (6) of the statute refers to the accused's intent to induce belief that the accused is the husband of the female. Again, this refers to the accused's state of mind. These examples within the design of the statute indicate to us that the legislature understood the distinction between general criminal intent and specific criminal intent is chose not to require specific criminal intent to convict of a violation of ...