Bass v. State

950 S.W.2d 940, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1572, 1997 WL 549988
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 9, 1997
DocketWD 52916
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 950 S.W.2d 940 (Bass v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bass v. State, 950 S.W.2d 940, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1572, 1997 WL 549988 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

LAURA DENVIR STITH, Judge.

Sandra Bass appeals the motion court’s denial of her Rule 24.035 motion for post-conviction relief after an evidentiary hearing. Ms. Bass claims that the plea court did not have jurisdiction to convict her of rape because, as a female, she was incapable of committing that crime. We disagree. As have other jurisdictions addressing this issue, we hold that a female may be held guilty of rape where, as here, she has aided another to commit the rape.

Ms. Bass also argues that conviction of both rape and child abuse subjected her to double jeopardy in violation of Section 556.041(3), RSMo 1986. She claims that rape differs from abuse of a child only in that rape is simply a specific instance of child abuse. We disagree, for we find that the legislature intended to authorize cumulative punishment for both rape and abuse of a child, even if based on the same act and that the offense of rape of a child is not simply a specific instance of the general offense of abuse of a child but rather constitutes a separate offense.

Finally, we reject Ms. Bass’ claims that her plea counsel was ineffective in failing to request a second medical examination after an initial exam showed that she was competent. In the absence of evidence that the first exam had serious shortcomings and in the absence of evidence which would cause reasonable counsel to believe that Ms. Bass was not competent to plead guilty or be held responsible for the crimes charged, counsel was not required to seek a second mental examination. Accordingly, denial of the post-conviction motion is affirmed.

I. STATEMENT OF FACTS

Sandra K. Bass and her eleven year old daughter, Brenda, lived with Ms. Bass’s boyfriend, Bobby Clark. In April or May of 1993, Ms. Bass woke her daughter and made her go into the back bedroom, where Mr. Clark was waiting in his underwear. Ms. Bass told her daughter to change into her nightshirt and physically forced her to have sexual intercourse with Mr. Clark.

Ms. Bass was subsequently charged by separate informations with the Class B felony of abuse of a child, in violation of Section 568.060, RSMo Cum.Supp.1992, and the felony of rape in violation of Section 566.030, RSMo Cum.Supp.1992. On April 6, 1995, Ms. Bass entered pleas of guilty to both charges, and on June 21, 1995, the court sentenced Ms. Bass to concurrent terms of twenty years for rape and fifteen years for abuse of a child.

Ms. Bass timely filed a Rule 24.035 motion for post-conviction relief alleging that the trial court did not have jurisdiction over the rape charge because the information was defective in that Ms. Bass, as a female, could not commit the crime of rape. The motion also alleged that Ms. Bass’ trial counsel was ineffective in failing to request a second medical examination after an earlier examination *942 indicated that Ms. Bass was fit to proceed with a guilty plea. After an evidentiary hearing, the motion court denied Ms. Bass’ motion for post-conviction relief. This appeal followed.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Appellate review of denial of a Rule 24.035 motion for post-conviction relief is limited to a determination of whether the motion court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law were clearly erroneous. Rule 24.035(k); Leisure v. State, 828 S.W.2d 872, 873-74 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 923, 113 S.Ct. 343, 121 L.Ed.2d 259 (1992). Findings and conclusions are clearly erroneous only if, after a review of the entire record, we are left with the definite and firm impression that a mistake has been made. Leisure, 828 S.W.2d at 874.

III. FEMALE GUILTY AS PRINCIPAL FOR AIDING IN COMMISSION OF RAPE

As Ms. Bass’ first point on appeal, she claims that the motion court erred in denying her post-conviction motion because the information was defective and the plea court did not have jurisdiction to convict her of rape in that, because she is a female, she could not commit the crime of rape.

Ms. Bass was charged with rape in violation of Section 566.030.3. That Section defines rápe as having sexual intercourse with another person less than fourteen years old to whom the defendant is not married. § 566.030.3, RSMo Cum.Supp.1992. Sexual intercourse is defined as “any penetration, however slight, of the female sex organ by the male sex organ.” § 566.010(3), RSMo Cum.Supp.1992. Although Ms. Bass correctly asserts that, because of the statutory definition of sexual intercourse, she could not alone rape another female, the State’s theory was that Ms. Bass could be convicted for aiding Mr. Clark in the commission of the rape.

In Missouri, a person is criminally responsible for another’s conduct if she aids or attempts to aid that other person in committing the offense. § 562.041.1(2), RSMo 1986. Missouri has eliminated the distinction between principals and accessories, and now all persons who act in concert are equally guilty. State v. Isa, 850 S.W.2d 876, 898 (Mo. banc 1993); State v. Rehberg, 919 S.W.2d 543, 552 (Mo.App.1995). Section 562.046 specifically states that it is no defense to a conviction under Section 562.041.1(2) that “[t]he defendant does not belong to that class of persons who was legally capable of committing the offense in an individual capacity.” § 562.046(2), RSMo 1986. The Comment to this section when it was proposed stated:

Subsection (2) is designed to cover the situation where the individual could not be guilty of the crime on the basis solely of his own conduct but can be an accessory. For example, a husband cannot by his own conduct be guilty of raping his wife. However, if he assists another in doing the act he can be guilty as an accessory.

Comment to 1973 Proposed Code § 562.046. As authority, the Comment cites State v. Drope, 462 S.W.2d 677 (Mo.1971). The defendant in Drope was accused of assisting four men in raping his wife by tying her to the bedpost and holding a gun to her head while the rapes were committed by his companions. The defendant argued that a husband could not, under the law as it then existed, 1 be found guilty of raping his wife.

Drope first noted that prior Missouri cases had recognized that “[o]ne not the husband of the victim can be found guilty of rape on the basis of aiding and abetting even though he does not engage in the act of sexual intercourse.” Id. at 679. Drope cited, by way of example, State v. Sheard, 276 S.W.2d 191 (Mo.1955). The latter case held that a man who drove the car while his companions took turns raping the victim could be charged with the act himself on the basis *943 that “ ‘all persons present aiding and abetting another in the commission of rape are guilty as principals and punishable equally with the actual perpetrator of the crime.’ ” Id.

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Bluebook (online)
950 S.W.2d 940, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1572, 1997 WL 549988, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bass-v-state-moctapp-1997.