State v. Sullivan
| Decision Date | 25 April 1896 |
| Citation | 68 Vt. 540,35 A. 479 |
| Parties | STATE v. SULLIVAN. |
| Court | Vermont Supreme Court |
Exceptions from Franklin county court; Loveland Munson, Judge.
James P. Sullivan was convicted under an indictment for an assault with intent to commit rape, and appeals. Exceptions overruled.
The person upon whom the assault was alleged to have been made was a girl nine years of age, named Bessie Pomeroy. The respondent was engaged upon the day of the assault in driving a delivery wagon for the Cash Store in St. Albans. The evidence of the state tended to show that the respondent asked Bessie and several other girls to ride with him upon the delivery wagon; that after a time they came back to the Cash Store, and stopped there; that respondent asked them if they wanted to go into the cellar; that they all refused, except Bessie, whom he led down; that they were gone about 15 minutes; that when Bessie came back she looked pale, went directly home, running a portion of the way, and at once made complaint to her mother. Upon the trial, Bessie testified that when they got into the cellar the respondent put his hand upon her private parts, and asked her to nave connection with him, and that when she refused he proposed to her to meet him that night or the next morning, at Mr. Northrop's barn. The respondent moved in arrest of judgment, and for a new trial, for that the verdict was against the law and evidence, and for that the evidence did not tend to show that the respondent made the assault with intent to commit a rape.
I. N. Chase, State's Atty. H. M. Mott, for respondent.
The respondent was convicted of an assault with intent unlawfully and feloniously, carnally to know and ravish a female child under the age of 14 years. The information is in the usual form for an assault to commit rape, with the exception that it alleges that the person assaulted is a female child under the age of 14 years. At the time of the assault she was 9 years old. The evidence tended to show that the respondent assaulted her with intent to carnally know her with her consent. He now contends that the conviction cannot stand, because the information alleges that he committed the crime charged by force, and against her will. He further contends that the effect of V. S. § 4917, which declares the punishment for an assault with intent to commit rape, precludes a conviction for an assault upon a female under 14 years of age with intent to have carnal knowledge of her with her consent because the essence of the crime of rape is that it is committed by force, and against the will, or without the consent of the woman. V. S. § 4908, makes it an offense punishable the same as rape for a person...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Hazelton
...this original language from 18 Elizabeth, c. 7 while extending, in stages, the age of nonconsent from ten to sixteen years of age. In State v. Sullivan we held that where the statute prohibited sexual contact with a child under the age of fourteen "with or without her consent," and where a ......
-
State v. Bellanger
...("Since the person assaulted was under the age of sixteen years, the question of her consent was immaterial."); State v. Sullivan, 68 Vt. 540, 543, 35 A. 479, 479 (1896) ("If the female is under the age of fourteen years, the element of consent is eliminated."). This understanding is derive......
-
State v. Bellanger
...("Since the person assaulted was under the age of sixteen years, the question of her consent was immaterial."); State v. Sullivan, 68 Vt. 540, 543, 35 A. 479, 479 (1896) ("If the female is under the age of fourteen years, the element of consent is eliminated."). This understanding is derive......
-
State v. Smith
...is properly averred. Pittman v. State, 25 Fla. 648, 6 So. 437; State v. Robinson, 31 S.C. 453, 10 S.E. 101. In the case of State v. Sullivan, 68 Vt. 540, 35 A. 479, the held that it was unnecessary to allege the age of the defendant to be over 16 years, as provided by the statute of that st......