Clements v. Commonwealth

424 S.W.2d 825, 1968 Ky. LEXIS 471
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedFebruary 9, 1968
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 424 S.W.2d 825 (Clements v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clements v. Commonwealth, 424 S.W.2d 825, 1968 Ky. LEXIS 471 (Ky. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

WADDILL, Commissioner.

Appellant, James Donald Clements, was indicted for the crime of rape. KRS 435.090. Upon trial he was convicted of detaining a woman against her will with intent to have carnal knowledge of her and his punishment was fixed at two years in the state penitentiary. KRS 435.110. We consider the several grounds upon which he relies for reversal of the conviction. Hereinafter the victim of the alleged crime will be referred to as the prosecutrix.

It is contended that the trial court should have directed an acquittal because the testimony of the prosecutrix is unsupported and is intrinsically improbable and therefore unworthy of belief. To sustain a conviction our case law requires the testimony of the prosecutrix to be credible, probable and not at variance with the laws of common experience. Kearney v. Commonwealth, Ky., 386 S.W.2d 953; Carrier v. Commonwealth, Ky., 356 S.W.2d 752. In Holland v. Commonwealth, Ky., 272 S.W.2d 458, we said that in sex cases the evidence should be scrutinized by the appellate court because the charge is easily made and difficult to disprove, and by its very nature it is liable to create natural indignation in the jurors’ minds. It is therefore necessary for us to carefully examine the pertinent evidence upon which the conviction is based.

The prosecutrix was sixteen years of age at the time of the commission of the alleged offense but she only had a mental age of five years. Appellant was twenty-four years-old, married, and a resident of Owensboro, Kentucky.

A taxicab driver testified that during the evening of January 30, 1967, a man who resembled appellant and who had been drinking, called his attention to the prosecutrix’s condition while she was in the vicinity of a house on 18th street in Owensboro which appellant rented. This driver notified Owensboro police officers who came to the scene and questioned prosecutrix. At that time she was barefooted and clothed only in an old coat. Her conversation was incoherent and indicated she had been drinking. She related that her home was in Rockport, Indiana, and that she had been driven to Owensboro by some boys who had persuaded her to get in their [827]*827car as she was returning home from school. She said that while they were in Indiana the boys in the car with her had forcibly taken off her clothes and one of them had sexually assaulted her. She also complained about being burned on her neck. The police officers were unable to determine from questioning her whether she had been sexually assaulted in Kentucky. Later that evening she was examined by a physician who found a few sperm which he said indicated that she had engaged in a sexual relationship. The physician discovered in the area of her jawbone a circular lesion compatible with a cigarette burn.

On appellant’s trial prosecutrix, in substance, testified that she got into appellant’s car in Rockport, Indiana, was driven to Owensboro, Kentucky, where appellant purchased some whiskey, and was then taken by him to a partially vacant house on 18th street where she was raped by him. Although the credibility of her testimony was somewhat shaken by testimony showing she had made some contradictory statements to police about where she was assaulted, her testimony in pertinent part was corroborated to the extent that several witnesses place appellant with her near the scene of the crime. Appellant himself testified that the prosecutrix was transported from Indiana to Kentucky in his car; that he had been drinking and went to sleep in the automobile during their drive back to Owensboro. Concerning what transpired upon reaching Owensboro, he stated:

“Q. 46. Tell the ladies and gentlemen of the jury what you do remember about what happened?
“A. Well, I remember trying to get Larry Lyons to take her home. I do remember that and he said he couldn’t do it on account of his wife, said he would have to call his wife and check on that first, and so I said, ‘well, let’s go up to the house and call. The house is empty,’ and I said, ‘you can use the phone in there.’ So, when we get out to go in the house she gets out of the car and she stumbles and falls and then Larry goes in to use the phone and I told him, I -said, ‘just call me a cab too and I will get on out of here and you take the car to Roy’s and I will get on home.’ I said, ‘I am not fooling with her, I can’t get rid of her,’ and he did, and I got out about two blocks down the street and started back towards the house to wait on the cab and I called a cab and I barely remember — well, I do remember telling the cab driver that there was a woman back there by the telephone pole, but other than that I don’t know no more there other than what I hear.”

Appellant unequivocally denied that he had molested her sexually in any manner or had any intention to do so.

We are unwilling to accept appellant’s argument that, as a matter of law, the testimony of the prosecutrix is unworthy of belief. She related in detail the occurrences in which she and appellant had been involved and her testimony was corroborated by that of appellant as well as other witnesses in all respects except as to the act of intercourse and her unlawful detention. In these circumstances the question of the credibility of her testimony was for the jury to determine. McCloud v. Commonwealth, Ky., 333 S.W.2d 264; Fugate v. Commonwealth, 291 Ky. 793, 165 S.W.2d 573. It is our opinion that the evidence is sufficient to support the jury’s belief that the crime of rape was not completed but that appellant had unlawfully detained the prosecutrix with the intention to have carnal knowledge of her. KRS 435.110; Newsome v. Commonwealth, Ky., 274 S.W.2d 484; Gambrell v. Commonwealth, 312 Ky. 573, 228 S.W.2d 457.

It is contended that the trial court erred in instructing the jury. No objection was raised concerning the instructions either when given to the jury or in the motion for a new trial. The mere stating in a [828]*828motion that the verdict is contrary to law and the evidence is insufficient to raise any legal question involving the instructions. Duncan v. Commonwealth, Ky., 330 S.W.2d 419; Beach v. Commonwealth, Ky., 246 S.W.2d 587. In the absence of a proper motion or objection which affords the trial court an opportunity to pass on the alleged error, there is nothing preserved for appellate review. Piper v. Commonwealth, Ky., 387 S.W.2d 13; Merritt v. Commonwealth, Ky., 386 S.W.2d 727; Hartsock v.

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Related

Carmicle v. Commonwealth
452 S.W.2d 378 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1970)
Clements v. Commonwealth
441 S.W.2d 158 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1969)

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Bluebook (online)
424 S.W.2d 825, 1968 Ky. LEXIS 471, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clements-v-commonwealth-kyctapp-1968.