Chaine v. Com.

436 S.E.2d 187
CourtCourt of Appeals of Virginia
DecidedNovember 17, 1993
DocketRecord No. 1712-91-1
StatusPublished

This text of 436 S.E.2d 187 (Chaine v. Com.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chaine v. Com., 436 S.E.2d 187 (Va. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

436 S.E.2d 187 (1993)

George Terry CHAINE
v.
COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.

Record No. 1712-91-1.

Court of Appeals of Virginia.

October 12, 1993.
Rehearing En Banc Granted November 17, 1993.

*188 Fred C. Hardwick, II (Eusner & Hardwick, P.C., on briefs), for appellant.

Virginia B. Theisen, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Mary Sue Terry, Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellee.

Present: BAKER, BARROW and BENTON, JJ.

BENTON, Judge.

George Terry Chaine was indicted and tried at a bench trial of rape, Code § 18.2-61, forcible sodomy, Code § 18.2-67.1, taking indecent liberties with a child with whom he maintained a custodial relationship, Code § 18.2-370.1, incest, Code § 18.2-366, and carnal knowledge by a parent with a child between the ages of thirteen and fifteen, Code § 18.2-361. At the conclusion of the evidence, the trial judge dismissed the incest charge and convicted Chaine of the other charges. Chaine contends that his convictions of both forcible sodomy and carnal knowledge violate the federal and state constitutional protections against double jeopardy. We agree and reverse the carnal knowledge conviction.

The record concerning the two challenged convictions establishes that the indictments charged that (1) "during the month of May, 1990, ... [Chaine] did unlawfully and feloniously commit forcible sodomy with his daughter ..., age thirteen..., in violation of Section 18.2-67.1 of the Code of Virginia" and (2) "during the month of May, 1990, ... [Chaine] did unlawfully and feloniously carnally know his daughter, ... a child between the ages of thirteen ... and fifteen ..., in violation of Section 18.2-361 of the Code of Virginia."[1]

At trial, Chaine's daughter testified about an incident in May 1990 during which Chaine disrobed her and performed various sexual acts with her. One such act occurred when Chaine pushed her head onto his genital area and told her to place his penis into her mouth. She said that she did as she was told. This act formed the basis upon which Chaine was convicted of violating both Code §§ 18.2-67.1 and 18.2-361.

The Commonwealth contends that Chaine failed to preserve the double jeopardy argument for appeal. It argues that the issue was not specifically raised in the trial court. We disagree. The record reflects that at the conclusion of all the evidence, Chaine's counsel moved to strike the rape and sodomy charges on the ground that the Commonwealth failed to prove force. During the discussion among counsel and the trial judge, the trial judge denied that motion to strike the evidence. The following dialogue then occurred:

[TRIAL JUDGE]: I'd like counsel to tell me, however, how the indictment for unlawful and feloniously raping his daughter,..., age 13, differs from the indictment for unlawfully and feloniously commit *189 incest with his daughter, ... a child within the age of 13 and 15.
[COMMONWEALTH'S ATTORNEY]: If Your Honor please. Incest. In all cases where the relationship is established, is going to be a lesser included offense of rape. The difference between incest—
[TRIAL JUDGE]: I wonder how these two offenses in this case can be different and separate?
[COMMONWEALTH'S ATTORNEY]: They can only be separate if you don't find the prerequisite force to sustain the rape charge, and, quite frankly, I indicted in a way that if the Court doesn't find force, I guess one of my options would have been to say, Judge, would you reduce it to incest, but instead of doing that, I indicted for incest as well, because that is the difference between the two. I think if the Court finds him or finds the evidence sufficient on the rape, the incest would be merged or dismissed.
[TRIAL JUDGE]: Is there such a thing as forcible incest?
[COMMONWEALTH'S ATTORNEY]: Forcible incest is rape, but the way the incest statute is, rape is by the age. We don't have to prove force, and my concern, if you can't find force, certainly there's incest, if you believe the intercourse took place. It's lesser included if you find force.
[CHAINE'S ATTORNEY]: Your Honor, it's going to be our position, as she said, that in this particular case at this particular point, assuming that the Court believes that something happened, then I would say that the two indictments of incest would be a less included offense and that ought to be struck.
[TRIAL JUDGE]: All right.
[CHAINE'S ATTORNEY]: I'm not sure that the same thing doesn't necessarily apply to the sodomy and carnal knowledge.
[THE COURT]: They are different offenses. All right. I've denied your motion and noted the exception. I'd ask for counsel to review on the two charges. I think I agree. Does counsel want to comment further?

Although the argument was not precisely framed as an objection, we conclude that this colloquy sufficed to present the issue to the trial judge. Moreover, the trial judge's response is a clear acknowledgment that he understood the issue. Significantly, the trial judge dismissed the incest charge, finding that it was subsumed within the rape charge. However, the judge convicted Chaine of both forcible sodomy and carnal knowledge.

The double jeopardy provisions of Article I, Section 8 of the Virginia Constitution and the Fifth and Fourteen Amendments to the United States Constitution protect an accused against multiple punishments for the same offense. Jordan v. Commonwealth, 2 Va.App. 590, 593, 347 S.E.2d 152, 154 (1986). Offenses are the same for double jeopardy purposes if one is a lesser included offense of the other. Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932).

[W]here the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each provision requires proof of a fact which the other does not.

Id.

To decide the issue presented, we must examine the elements of the two statutes. Code § 18.2-361 reads as follows:

§ 18.2-361. Crimes against nature.—If any person shall carnally know in any manner any brute animal, or carnally know any male or female person by the anus or by or with the mouth, or voluntarily submit to such carnal knowledge, he or she shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony; provided, that if a parent commits such an act with his or her child, and such child is at least thirteen but less than fifteen years of age at the time of the offense, such parent shall be guilty of a Class 3 felony. (emphasis added).

The language of the statute that precedes the word "provided" prescribes the elements *190 of a criminal offense applicable to the conduct of "any person." That portion of the statute does not exclude from the ambit of its proscription any particular persons or class of persons. By its plain terms, the portion of the statute that precedes "provided" makes criminal the proscribed conduct of a parent if it occurs with his or her child, even if that child is at least thirteen but less than fifteen years of age.

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Related

Blockburger v. United States
284 U.S. 299 (Supreme Court, 1931)
Taylor v. Commonwealth
400 S.E.2d 794 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1991)
Jordan v. Commonwealth
347 S.E.2d 152 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1986)
Darnell v. Commonwealth
408 S.E.2d 540 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1991)
Hogan v. Commonwealth
360 S.E.2d 371 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1987)
Shull v. Commonwealth
431 S.E.2d 924 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1993)
Chaine v. Commonwealth
436 S.E.2d 187 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1993)

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Bluebook (online)
436 S.E.2d 187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chaine-v-com-vactapp-1993.