Young v. Commonwealth
| Decision Date | 13 January 1947 |
| Citation | 185 Va. 1032,40 S.E.2d. 805 |
| Parties | YOUNG. v. COMMONWEALTH. |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Norfolk County; Edward L. Oast, Judge.
Clyde Young was convicted of forcible rape, and he brings error.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded.
Before HOLT, C. J., and HUDGINS, GREGORY, EGGLESTON, SPRATLEY and BUCHANAN, JJ.
James G. Martin & Son, of Norfolk, and Tom E. Gilman, of Portsmouth, for plaintiff in error.
Abram P. Staples, Atty. Gen., and M. Ray Doubles, Asst. Atty. Gen., for Commonwealth.
The defendant, Clyde Young, was convicted by a jury of rape of the prosecutrix, Jeanne Lindbergh, by force, and sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for five years in accordance with the verdict. We are asked to reverse that judgment, chiefly because the verdict is contrary to the evidence and plainly wrong.
It is admitted that there was sexual intercourse between these parties. The prosecutrix says it was by force and against her will. The defendant says it was with her consent. The prosecutrix gives a circumstantial account of the matter, altogether different from the version of the defendant. If her testimony is credible, it is sufficient, for a conviction of rape may be sustained upon the uncorroborated testimony of the prosecutrix if the guilt of the accused is believed by the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Addington v. Commonwealth, 161 Va. 975, 170 S.E. 565. It is not sufficient to warrant a verdict of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt if it is inherently incredible, or so contrary to human experience or to usual human behavior as to render it unworthy of belief. Legions v. Commonwealth, 181 Va. 89, 23 S.E.2d 764; Terry v. Commonwealth, 174 Va. 507, 6 S.E.2d 673.
Her version of the occurrence is substantially this: She was 28 years old and lived in California. She left there December 18, 1945, driving a 1939 Plymouth coupe, and came to Magnolia, New Jersey,
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on Christmas Eve, to visit her parents. She had brought two Coast Guard lieutenants along with her to New Jersey. She left New Jersey, she said, at 2:00 a. m, December 31, and drove to Norfolk, picking up a sailor along the way. She was going to visit some one in Miami, Florida, whose address she declined to give. Something got wrong with the water pump in her car and at about 5:45 p. m, December 31, she drove up to a garage in a community known as Broadmoor in Norfolk county on Highway 13, and there the sailor got out. The defendant, Clyde Young, was working in that garage. She wanted to find out what was the trouble with her car and he told her a new water pump was needed and agreed to install it.
She said she had lost her wallet with all her money in it and wanted to pay for the work by a check on a California bank, which the garage people were not willing to take so she deposited a spare tire as security for the work and material. While Young was working on the car she went next door to a restaurant and waited there or at the garage while the work was being done, and around 9 o'clock the defendant drove up and blew the horn for her to come out. He told her that the reason she had had so much difficulty with the other water pump was that the car had not been tested out previously and told her to get in the car and he would prove this one was properly installed. She got into the car and the defendant picked up another fellow named Glenn Boykins and they drove up the road on Route 13. The defendant said the repairs were not working properly and they were looking for parts for the car. As they drove along they picked up another girl, Mrs. Margaret Quinn, who was standing on the side of the road. The prosecutrix was sitting between the two men and Mrs. Quinn sat on the lap of Boykins. The prosecutrix said that she soon fell asleep and was awakened at midnight by the bells ringing in the New Year. Young and Boykins had some whiskey in the car and she threw it out the window and did not drink any of it.
They got back to the filling station or restaurant about 1:30 a. m.,; Boykins and the girl left, and the prosecutrix went into the restaurant to get some coffee. The defendant drove off in the car and came back about half hour later. He. had the keys to the car and while he was gone she asked a fellow who was working in the station what she could do to get the keys and the car back and he said, She went back out to the car and the defendant made her get in saying he was going home. He drove around for some 15 or 20 minutes and went into a back road where it was dark and there was no house and nobody near. She said, "He tried to rape me then, and I fought him off for several hours, and then he threatened to kill me if I did not give in." She weighed 103 pounds.
He was not successful in that effort, and after staying there for awhile he drove off down the same road, kept driving around and finally turned off the main highway and pulled in behind another car in which were some people the defendant knew and he got out of the car to talk to them. She went over and told the girl and the fellow with her to please call the police, that the defendant had threatened to kill her if she did not give in. She tried to get into their car but they pulled the windows up and drove away. This is her account of what then happened:
She said she fought him as best she could, and screamed, but after he choked her she could not even talk. It was just getting light at that time. After that she said they stayed there about three hours and then went to the Hollywood Inn. Thegirl that she had asked to call the police was there but ran out the side door when she saw the prosecutrix. At the Hollywood Inn the defendant ordered a drink for her, which she refused to take, but he forced her mouth open and poured it down her. He told her there that the only way she could get rid of him was to get a check cashed, get her tire and get out of town. She wrote a check on Broadmoor Garage for $11.75 and they stopped at several places to try to cash it and nobody would because it was on a California bank. From Hollywood Inn he next drove to White's Place near the garage and ordered steaks. She asked there if they had a telephone and they said no, that the nearest was at the Tavares Inn. When he found out she had asked for a telephone he made her go back out to the car and they drove up to a place called the Three Sisters. The girl there said she would cash a check and told her to make it out to Clyde Young, which she did, for $10, and got the money on it. She then told the defendant to go back down to White's Place and cancel the order there for the steaks and the defendant took the car and drove off. She told the girl what had happened and asked if there was a telephone there and the girl said there wasn't but she could find one about a mile up the road. She did not eat the steak but paid the girl for it and while she was looking for the money she found a key to the car that she did not know she had. She then ran up the road towards the Tavares Inn and Young overtook her in the car and made her get in and took her back to the Three Sisters. She told him that she was sick and went outside. He followed her out and told her not to make a fool out of him and she said, "Don't worry." He went back into the place and she jumped into the car, put the key in and drove down to the garage, gave the man there $10 and he put her tire in the car. About that time Young came running up and she told him she was going to call the police. She went over to where there was a telephone and called the police. In the meantime he took the car and drove it off and the police later found it.
On the basis of that much of what she said, her story is not incredible. But when what she said and what she did are compared, this picture appears:
It is to be presumed that she knew something of the facts of life. She had been married and divorced and was four years older than the defendant. She had driven across the continent and down to Norfolk with only male companions. It was about dark when she arrived at the garage where the only people around were four men. There appeared no pressing need to have her car fixed that night. She said she meant to go to a hotel, but she admitted that one of the men at the garage offered to take her to a hotel and to bring her back next morning but she did not wish that.
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