Haun v. State

1923 OK CR 28, 211 P. 1060, 22 Okla. Crim. 440, 1923 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 124
Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma·Decided January 27, 1923·No. No. A-3810.·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

BESSEY, J,

Peter Haun, plaintiff in error, herein referred to as the defendant, was by information filed in the district court of Alfalfa county, February 28, 1920, charged with having made an assault with intent to rape upon the person of Isel Kesterson, a female under the age of 16 years, on the 15th day of December, 1919. At the trial, on March 13, 1920, by a verdict of the jury, defendant was found guilty as charged, without fixing the punishment. Thereafter, on March 23, 1920, judgment was rendered fixing his punishment at confinement in the state penitentiary for a term of two years. From this judgment he appeals.

Among the several assignments of error it is urged: That the court erred in overruling the demurrer to the information. The charging part of the information is as follows:

“That the said Peter Haun in the county and state aforesaid, on or about the 15th day of December, 1919, did knowingly, willfully, unlawfully, wrongfully, and feloniously make an assault in and upon one Isel Kesterson, a female person under the age of 16 years, to wit, of the age of 9 years, with the unlawful, wrongful, and felonious intent then and there on the part of him, the said Peter Haun, to unlawfully, wrongfully, and feloniously have sexual intercourse and carnal knowledge of the body of her, the said Isel Kesterson, who was then and there not the wife of him, the said Peter Haun, contrary to the form of the statute in such ease made and provided, and against the peace and dignify of the state of Oklahoma.”

It is contended that the information is fatally defective, in that it does not specifically state the manner in which, and the means by which, the alleged assault was made; that the pleading, at most, states a mere conclusion and is not' a state *442 ment of fact sufficient to put the defendant upon trial; that no specific overt act constituting an assault was pleaded.

1 Bouv. Law Diet. (3d Eevision) 253, defines assault as follows:

“An unlawful offer or attempt with force or violence to do a corporeal hurt to another. Force unlawfully directed or applied to the person of another under such circumstances as to cause a well-founded apprehension of immediate peril.”

A female of the age of 9 years, under our statutes, is incapable of consenting to an assault of the character here charged. Lee v. State, 7 Okla. Cr. 141, 122 Pac. 1111. Here the assault is alleged to have been committed upon or towards a female incapable of giving her consent, hence the element of force is eliminated.

In the case of Thompson v. State, 17 Okla. Cr. 215, 187 Pac. 819, the averments of the information were as follows:

“That on or about the 17th day of February, A. D. 1917, in said county of Garfield and state of Oklahoma, one B. L. Thompson did then and there unlawfully, willfully and, feloni-ously make an attempt to rape one Frances Butler, by then and there making an assault upon the body of the said Frances Butler, with the intent then and there to have sexual intercourse with the said Frances Butler, said Frances Butler being then and there of the age of seven years and not the wife of the said defendant, B. L. Thompson, contrary to the form of the statute in such ease made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state of Oklahoma. ’ ’

So far as the objection here urged is concerned, it will be seen that the formal charges in this and the Thompson Case are practically the same. In the Thompson Case this court concluded, as shown by the opinion written by Associate Judge Matson, as follows:

*443 “It is the opinion of the court, therefore, that the information in this case is insufficient to charge the offense of assault with intent to rape a female, and that the trial court should have sustained a demurrer to the information and directed one to be filed charging the crime to have been against a female, and also should have required the allegations with respect to the manner of the assault to have been more specifically set out in the information.”

The reasons for a similar conclusion were well stated in the ease of State v. Russell, 64 Kan. 798, 68 Pac. 615, in an opinion written by Mr. Justice Pollock. In the Russell Case the averments of the information were:

“That on, to wit, the 10th day of May, A. D. 1901, in the county of Greenwood, in the state of Kansas, one Marion Russell, then there being, did then and there unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously in and upon one May Hodge, a female child under the age of 18 years, to wit, of the age of 16 years, make an' assault on her with intent her, the said May Hodge, then and there feloniously and unlawfully and carnally to know and abuse- her, the said May Hodge.”

Quoting from Justice Pollock’s opinion:

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Haun v. State, 1923 OK CR 28, 211 P. 1060, 22 Okla. Crim. 440, 1923 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 124 (Okla. Ct. App. 1923).

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1942 OK CR 173 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1942)