State v. Bouldin

456 P.2d 830, 153 Mont. 276, 1969 Mont. LEXIS 425
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 8, 1969
Docket11656
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 456 P.2d 830 (State v. Bouldin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bouldin, 456 P.2d 830, 153 Mont. 276, 1969 Mont. LEXIS 425 (Mo. 1969).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE HASWELL

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

This is an appeal by defendant, John Ray Bouldin, from conviction of the crime of forcible rape and from denial of his motion for a new trial. The case was tried by jury in the district court of Park county before the Hon. Jack D. Shanstrom, district judge, who sentenced defendant to a term of 12years in the state prison.

Broadly speaking, defendant was charged with the forcible *278 rape of an adult female; his defense admitted the intercourse but claimed the prosecutrix consented to it.

The essential facts disclosed by the evidence indicate that on the evening of July 20, 1968 the defendant, his neighbor Dennis McLane, and their wives, visited at least four Livingston bars where they engaged in various activities, including drinking and dancing, returning to the McLane apartment about 2:00 a.m. on July 21.

At the apartment defendant suggested to his neighbor that they leave their wives there and go back uptown, get some beer and girls, and finish their party. Defendant’s wife was nine months pregnant at the time, and the couple had not engaged in sexual relations for approximately one month. After leaving the apartment the evidence is conflicting but it is agreed that at about 3:00 a.m. both men were back at their respective apartments.

The prosecutrix states that at some time prior to 3:00 a.m. the defendant entered her apartment, grabbed her, threatened her, dragged her into the bedroom of her apartment, took off her clothes, and his, and forcibly raped her, during which time she slipped into unconsciousness.

She testified that she did everything she could to resist defendant’s attack. At no time did she encourage him or consent to his advances, she tried to kick him “where it hurts”, but despite her words and actions the act was completed. During the act, or immediately before penetration, defendant told her he had laid a knife on the bed and he would use it on her if she did not satisfy him. Prosecutrix further testified that, although she never saw a knife, she was afraid for her life and she blacked out.

"When prosecutrix awoke, defendant was gone. She saw a wallet laying on the bed, which was later identified as belonging to the defendant by his name and picture on a Montana driver’s license. She picked up the wallet and was about to *279 go for help when she saw and heard defendant’s wife knocking on her front door. She hid until Mrs. Bouldin left.

On the other hand, defendant states that he saw a light on as he passed the apartment of the prosecutrix and he stepped up on the front porch. The door was open and the prosecutrix was sitting in the living room. Defendant contends she recognized him, talked to him and invited him inside; that he had previously known her and a few years earlier had dated her, and on one occasion they had engaged in sexual intercourse.

Defendant testified they talked about old times for a few minutes, after which they had a short period of “making out”. Both then decided to go into the bedroom, there disrobed and had intercourse, with the consent of the prosecutrix. Defendant denies having a knife in his possession, threatening the prosecutrix, or any physical or verbal resistance on her part. After the act, he left the apartment and returned to the McLane house. Defendant was with the prosecutrix admittedly for approximately twenty minutes and does not deny the act of intercourse.

After realizing he had lost his wallet, defendant ordered his wife to retrieve it. Upon knocking on prosecutrix’s front door and getting no response, and then going to the back door with similar results, defendant’s wife returned to where he was waiting, and they then went to their own apartment.

Prosecutrix then left her apartment and aroused a near-by neighbor, Mrs. Bruning. As the neighbor came to the door, a male friend of the prosecutrix arrived and subsequently took the prosecutrix to the Livingston police station where a complaint was filed. A short time later the male friend went to the home of the defendant and took him to the police station where he was identified by the prosecutrix as the one who had attacked her.

At the preliminary hearing, in the presence of the defendant and his counsel, Mrs. Bruning testified under oath that *280 prosecutrix had awakened her from sleep and she had gone to the door thinking it was the defendant’s pregnant wife. She further testified she heard prosecutrix yell something as she ran to her friend’s ear. On cross-examination Mrs. Bruning testified as to what she later learned of the incident. This testimony was taken by a court reporter at the preliminary hearing and later reduced to writing. Upon the trial, when the witness could not be located by the state, proper foundation was laid for admission of the testimony given at the preliminary hearing. It was read to the jury at defendant’s trial in the district court without objection by defendant.

Defendant has raised four issues on appeal which will be discussed in the order set out below:

1. Whether the absence of counsel at the pre-trial identification of the defendant by the prosecutrix in a single person person lineup tainted her in-eourt identification so as to constitute reversible error.

2. Whether it was reversible error to admit the testimony of Mrs. Bruning taken at the time of the preliminary hearing.

3. Whether there was error in the giving of court’s instruction No. 24 defining and explaining the elements of the crime.

4. Whether there was an insufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction.

Directing our attention to the first issue — whether the absence of counsel at the pre-trial identification of defendant by the prosecutrix in a single person lineup tainted her in-court identification — depends on the “totality of circumstances” which surround the identification process (Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199), and unless this Court is able to declare a belief that it did not contribute to defendant’s conviction beyond a reasonable doubt, defendant is entitled to a new trial (Chapman v. State of California, 386 U.S. 18, S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705).

In the absence of evidence that the in-eourt identification of defendant had an independent origin or that the error *281 in any event was harmless, a pre-trial identification of the defendant in a single person lineup in the absence of counsel constitutes reversible error (United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149). However, the circumstances reflected by the record in this case show the identification in question was based on several independent sources sufficient to remove it from the strictures of the Wade ease, supra. We therefore hold that, in view of the totality of circumstances, the admission of the in-court identification constituted harmless error beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
456 P.2d 830, 153 Mont. 276, 1969 Mont. LEXIS 425, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bouldin-mont-1969.