State v. Gray

595 P.2d 990, 122 Ariz. 445, 1979 Ariz. LEXIS 281
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedMay 1, 1979
Docket4534
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 595 P.2d 990 (State v. Gray) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona 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. Gray, 595 P.2d 990, 122 Ariz. 445, 1979 Ariz. LEXIS 281 (Ark. 1979).

Opinions

HAYS, Justice.

This is an appeal by Robert Dale Gray from his convictions of second degree rape and of lewd and lascivious acts, and from his concurrent sentences of fifty to sixty years in prison for the rape and four and one-half to five years for the lewd and lascivious acts. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 17A A.R.S. Supreme Court Rules, rule 47(e)(5). We must address six issues:

1. Whether A.R.S. § 13-611(B) denies Gray equal protection of the law;

2. Whether the court erred by instructing the jury and submitting a form of verdict on second degree rape;

3. Whether the court erred by giving an instruction on flight;

4. Whether Gray’s sentence for second degree rape is excessive;

5. Whether the court erred by failing to credit Gray’s sentence with time spent in presentence incarceration; and

6. Whether the record accurately reports Gray’s sentence for lewd and lascivious acts.

Gray claims that his conviction of second degree rape under A.R.S. § 13-611(B) violated his constitutional right to equal protection of the laws, since the statute prohibits consensual intercourse by an adult male with a minor female but not by an adult female with a minor male.

In sustaining legislatively created classifications, the reviewing court must find that they are not patently arbitrary and that they bear at least a rational relationship to a legitimate governmental interest. Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U.S. 677, 683, 93 S.Ct. 1764, 1768, 36 L.Ed.2d 583, 589 (1973). There are, however, some classifica[447]*447tions described as inherently suspect that require more than a rational basis. Classifications' based on race, alienage and national origin are subject to close scrutiny requiring a compelling state interest in their formulation to be constitutionally permissible. Graham v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 365, 91 S.Ct. 1848, 29 L.Ed.2d 534 (1971); Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1817, 18 L.Ed.2d 1010 (1967).

Although a plurality in Frontiero v. Richardson, supra, would have also required a compelling state interest when a classification is based on gender, that position was apparently abandoned in Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190, 97 S.Ct. 451, 50 L.Ed.2d 397 (1976). There the Court applied a middle-tier approach holding that any distinction in treatment based on gender must be substantially related to the achievement of an important governmental objective. Id. U.S. at 197, 97 S.Ct. at 457, 50 L.Ed.2d at 407. We therefore must determine whether our second degree rape statute serves an important governmental purpose and whether its limitation of protection to minor females is substantially related to that purpose.

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Bluebook (online)
595 P.2d 990, 122 Ariz. 445, 1979 Ariz. LEXIS 281, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gray-ariz-1979.