Gann v. State

141 S.W.2d 834, 200 Ark. 947, 1940 Ark. LEXIS 151
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJune 24, 1940
Docket4171
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 141 S.W.2d 834 (Gann v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gann v. State, 141 S.W.2d 834, 200 Ark. 947, 1940 Ark. LEXIS 151 (Ark. 1940).

Opinion

Humphreys, J.

Information was filed in the circuit court of Jackson county by the prosecuting attorney of the Third Judicial Circuit of Arkansas, in which Jackson county is situated, accusing appellant, Frank G. Gann, of the crime of rape, • committed as follows: That said Frank G. Gann, on the 9th day of December, 1939, did then and there willfully, unlawfully, forcibly and feloniously and with malice aforethought, make an assault upon Louise Gann, a female, and her, the said Louise Gann, did then and there feloniously and forcibly ravish and carnally know her, against the peace and dignity of the State of Arkansas.

Appellant entered a plea of not guilty, and was tried on the charge on February 7, 1940, resulting in a verdict of guilty, in which the jury fixed his punishment in the state penitentiary for his natural life. From this verdict and judgment based thereon appellant has duly prosecuted an appeal to- this court.

The contention for reversal of the verdict and judgment is that the state failed to show the degree of force necessary to establish the crime of rape, and that the prosecutrix herself testified that the threats relied upon by the state were not made until after the alleged rape was- committed.

The record reflects that the prosecutrix, who will be referred to hereafter as Louise, was under 16 years of age on the date of the alleged crime; thát she was residing on a farm with her family, consisting of her father, three brothers, and two sisters; that her mother died six years before the alleged crime was committed; and that Louise kept house and did the cooking for the family, that at said time the two older brothers were away from home visiting their uncle at Laxe Gity, and that Louise and her 12-year old brother and two little sisters were at home.

Relative to the occurrence on the night of December 9, 1939, Louise testified in the main as follows: “Q. What time did your father come in that night, Louise! A. It was somewhere close to eleven o’clock. He said it was fifteen until eleven or fifteen after eleven, I forget which he said. Q. That was on Saturday night! A. Yes, sir. Q. Tell the jury now just what was said and what was done after your father came home! A. Well, when he came in, why, me and my least sister were in bed and my brother and little sister next to the least one, they were sitting up playing. So, when he came in, he came in and kindled up the fire and he acted like he was mad because they were sitting up playing and he got the poker and went to kindling up the fire. I saw he was standing there with it in his hand and he looked over and" started working with the map on the dresser with it and he knocked the lamp out and he looked over across the bed at mé and wanted to know where Doug was at, then and he told Doug to get over in my bed and he told me to get over in his bed. I told him there was room enough there for Doug and all of us and he says: ‘You heard what I said.’ So I had to go over there and when I got in bed, why, he began playing around over me. Q. Did he get in bed with you! A. Yes, sir. When he came to bed, why, began playing around over me and I would ask him to quit and he said it didn’t hurt anything. So I began crying and he got the gun after me and told me he was going to shoot me. And so, wdien he got ■ the gun he turned around and told me he wouldn’t shoot me, but he would take the gun and knock me in the head with it. So, he made me lie down — I had raised up in bed— and he made me lie down. Q. What kind of gun was it? A. It was a 22. Q. Gro ahead. A. So, I lay down in the bed and he got back in the bed and began feeling around over me again. I asked him to quit. So he got his knife out and I begged him to let me have his knife. So he kept feeling around over me and I was asking him to quit and finally I got him to let me get up and go outside. I taken the knife outside and when I came back in he wanted his knife back and asked where it was at. I told him it was outside. And he began fussing and wanting his knife so I had to give it to him. And then he kept on and kept on and then he done what he did. Q. What did he do? A. He raped me. Q. Did he have sexual intercourse with you? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you consent to it? A. No, sir. Q. Did he make you? A. Yes, sir. Q. Against your will? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you fight him? A. No, sir; I knew not to. Q. Why did you know not to? A. Afraid he would kill me. (Witness begins weeping). Q. About what time of night was it? A. It was about eleven thirty. Q. About forty-five minutes after he came in? A. Yes, it was between eleven and twelve. Q. Well, did anything else happen that night? A. Just after that, why, he told me that if I told it on him, why, he would kill me. And then he kept on fooling around over me and then he told us that we could go to sleep if we could and he would call us next morning-at four o’clock and he was going to kill us kids and then set the house afire and kill himself. Q. Did he have anything else to do with you that night? A. Yes, sir, twice more. (Witness continues to weep). Q. He had sexual intercourse with you twice more then? A.' Yes, sir. Q. Were you afraid of him, Louise? A. Yes, sir. Q. Were you afraid he wordcl kill you if you didn’t give in to him. A. Yes, sir. Q. Had he told you he would? A. Yes, he had threatened to kill me several times. Q. Is that the first time he had ever gotten in bed with you? A. No, sir; it wasn’t the first time he had ever got in bed with me, but it was the first time he had ever done anything like that. Q. How long before that had he gotten in bed with you? A. I don’t 'know just how long it had been, but it had been a pretty good while. Q. That was on Saturday night? A. Yes, sir. Q. How long had that been going on, that he would get in bed with you? A. Well, it had been going on at least half a year, if not longer. Q. What did you do the next day? A. Well, I didn’t do nothing. My girl friend came over to the house and I told her about it, and then that evening I started over to her house and stopped at my neighbors and I told her about it. And so she told me she thought it would be best to write to my uncle. So I wrote him the next Monday when I went to school. Q. Did you stay there until the officers came and got you? A. Yes, sir; I was over at my girl friend’s having a dress made whenever they came after me. Q. Where were you living at the time this happened? A. On the Holden farm. Q. In Jackson county? A. Yes, sir. Q. In December, 1939? A. Yes, sir. (Witness still continuing to weep). Q. Is Frank Gann, the defendant here, your father? A. Yes, sir.”

On cross-examination Louise admitted that, after her father was arrested, she voluntarily told the officers that her .first statement to them about her father raping her was untrue, but did so because her father told her about how badly he was treated when in the penitentiary before, and she felt sorry for “Daddy”. She later recanted and told the officers her first statement was true, and that her statements to the jury were true.

Her 12-year old brother, Doug, testified concerning the occurrence after their father came home on the 9th day of December, 1939, as follows: “Q. What time did your father come home that night? A. Something about like twelve o’clock. Q. Something about like twelve? A. Yes, sir. Q. Can you tell the time, son? A. No, sir. Q. You cannot tell- the time? A. No, sir. Q. What happened there that night, son? A. Well, when he came in he just made Louise get in bed with him. (Witness begins crying and while crying continues to testify). And he began to ’ feel around over her. Q.

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565 S.W.2d 1 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1978)

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Bluebook (online)
141 S.W.2d 834, 200 Ark. 947, 1940 Ark. LEXIS 151, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gann-v-state-ark-1940.