State v. Colestock

67 P. 418, 41 Or. 9, 1902 Ore. LEXIS 47
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 27, 1902
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 67 P. 418 (State v. Colestock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon 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. Colestock, 67 P. 418, 41 Or. 9, 1902 Ore. LEXIS 47 (Or. 1902).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Moore

delivered the opinion.

The defendant, Ezra E. Colestock, was convicted of the crime of rape, alleged to have been committed by forcibly ravishing a female named Mary E. Thompson; and, having been sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of twelve years, he appeals, assigning as error the action of the trial court in refusing to charge the jury as requested, and in [10]*10giving an instruction of which he complains. To render the alleged error intelligible, it is deemed necessary to detail the facts disclosed by the transcript. The bill of exceptions does not purport to contain all the evidence given at the trial, but states, in effect, that the state introduced testimony tending to show that on March 6, 1900, between 8 and 9 o ’clock p. m., the prosecuting witness, who was nineteen years old, voluntarily accompanied the defendant from the business section of Hillsboro, along the public streets, to the residence part of that city, where, within one block from an occupied dwelling, and two blocks from her father’s home, she was forcibly ravished by the defendant; that when the assault was being made upon her she gave an outcry, which was heard by a witness who Avas within 25 feet from the scene, but that no other person heard her; that after the commission of the offense she returned with the defendant to the business part of said city, and on the same evening, after separating from him, made statements incriminating him, and on the next day lodged a complaint against him, and that she became sick in consequence of such intercourse; that the defendant, to rebut the evidence of rape, introduced testimony tending to show that the prosecutrix voluntarily accompanied him to the place described by her, AAdiere, after sitting in his lap about fifteen minutes, he had intercourse with her with her consent; that they thereupon returned to the business part of the city, where they separated; that as they Avere returning, and Avithin ten minutes after the commission of the offense, they met her brother, to whom she made no complaint, though she told him thereof the next evening; that the next day after the intercourse she denied to a witness that she had been ravished; and that the defendant Avas not arrested for the commission of the alleged crime until January 5, 1901.

The instruction which the court refused to give at defendant’s request is as follows: “You are further instructed, gentlemen of the jury, that, before you can find the defendant guilty as charged in this case, you must be satisfied from the evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the prosecutrix re[11]*11sisted the defendant to the full extent of her ability and strength from the time the defendant commenced the attempt to have intercourse with her till said act was accomplished, and that she at no time consented thereto during said time; and, if she upon that occasion at any time consented to have intercourse with said defendant, he would not be guilty of the crime of rape, and your verdict should be, ‘Not Guilty.’ ” The instruction complained of is as follows: “Before you can convict the defendant of rape in this case, you must find that he, before the time of the indictment, had carnal knowledge of her, and did it by force, she at no time consenting to the act of intercourse; and, if she at any time consented to the intercourse, he would not be guilty of rape. There must be honest, actual, bona fide resistance. She must have used force to prevent him, the best she could. It must have been by force and against her will, and at no time consented to. So, if it was begun by force, and she actually consented before the act was completed, it would not be rape. The state must show beyond a reasonable doubt, before they can convict, that the act was committed by force and against the will of the prosecutrix, if committed at all.” Exceptions having been reserved to the court’s action in this respects, it is contended by defendant’s counsel that error was committed in refusing to charge the jury as requested, and in giving the instruction complained of.

1. Considering these alleged errors in the order of their assignment, defendant’s counsel, in support of the point for which they contend, rely upon the case of People v. Dohring, 59 N. Y. 374 (17 Am. Dec. 349), in which it was held that the court erred in the trial of an indictment for forcibly ravishing a woman, in refusing, when so requested, to charge the. jury that, before the defendant could be convicted of rape, they must be satisfied from the evidence that she resisted him to the extent of her ability on the occasion. They also cite People v. Morrison, 1 Parker, Cr. R. 625, in which it was held that, to warrant a conviction for rape, it ought to appear that there was the utmost reluctance and the utmost resistance on the part of the female, in speaking of whom Mr. Justice [12]*12Harris says: The prosecutrix, if she was the weaker party, was bound to resist to the utmost. Nature had given her feet and hands with which she could kick and strike, teeth to bite, and a voice to cry out. All these should have been put in requisition in defense of her chastity. ’ ’

We cannot give our consent to such a harsh doctrine, and think the better rule, and the reason upon which it is founded, are announced in State v. Shields, 45 Conn. 256. Mr. Chief Justice Park, speaking for the court in deciding that case, says: ‘ ‘ The defendant requested the court to charge the jury that, to constitute the crime of rape, it was necessary that the prosecutrix should have manifested the utmost reluctance, and should have made the utmost resistance. The court did not comply with this request, and the refusal to do so is made a ground for asking a new trial. Whilte it may be expected in such cases, from the nature of the crime, that the utmost reluctance would be manifested, and the utmost resistance made which the circumstances of a particular case would allow, still, to hold, as matter of law, that such manifestation and resistance are essential to the existence of the crime, so that the crime could not be committed if they were wanting, would be going farther than any well-considered case in criminal law has hitherto gone. Such manifestation and resistance may have been prevented by terror caused by threats of instant death, or by the exhibition of brutal force which made resistance utterly useless; and other causes may have prevented such extreme opposition and resistance as the request makes essential. This importance or resistance is simply to show two elements in the crime, — carnal knowledge by force by one of the parties, and nonconsent thereto by the other. These are essential elements, and the jury must be fully satisfied of their existence in every case by the resistance of the complainant, if she had the use of her faculties and physical powers at the time, and was not prevented by terror or the exhibition of brutal force. So far resistance by the complainant is important and necessary; but to make the crime hinge on the uttermost exertion the woman was physically capable of making, [13]*13would be a reproach to the law as well as to common sense. Such a test it would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to apply in a given case. ■ A complainant may have exerted herself to the uttermost limit of her strength, and may have continued to do so till the crime was consummated. Still, a jury, sitting coolly in deliberation upon the transaction, could not possibly determine whether or not the limit of her strength had been reached.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
67 P. 418, 41 Or. 9, 1902 Ore. LEXIS 47, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-colestock-or-1902.