State v. McCall

63 N.W.2d 874, 245 Iowa 991, 1954 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 387
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedApril 7, 1954
Docket48310
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 63 N.W.2d 874 (State v. McCall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. McCall, 63 N.W.2d 874, 245 Iowa 991, 1954 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 387 (iowa 1954).

Opinion

*995 Oliver, J.

— Defendant was a farmer. His family consisted of his children, Letha, age fifteen years and Layton, age eleven years. He was tried, convicted and sentenced for the crime of incest with Letha. He has appealed to this court.

There was evidence defendant had sexual intercourse with Letha approximately one hundred times during the two-year period prior to and including July 21, 1952, the date of the alleged act for which defendant was tried. Letha testified defendant compelled her to submit to that act of sexual intercourse by choking her and beating her brutally, that her nose bled, her lip was cut and her head was swollen and black and blue and that defendant’s fist was injured in striking her and was so swollen he was unable to use his hand for several days.

Defendant testified he took Letha to a tavern, he drank beer and she ate ice cream, she left the tavern for the car, he left the tavern about midnight and found her sitting in another automobile with a young man, the young man said something and defendant struck him, injuring his fist; after Letha and defendant arrived home they argued about the matter and defendant chastised her by slapping her twice with his open hand. He testified he never had intercourse with Letha and never talked to her about intercourse.

I. Defendant contends the court erred in overruling his motion for directed verdict, based upon the insufficiency of the evidence. One complaint is there was no proof of penetration of the female organ, which is essential to conviction of incest. State v. Judd, 132 Iowa 296, 301, 302, 109 N.W. 892, 11 Ann. Cas. 91; 42 C. J. S., Incest, section 5; 27 Am. Jur., Incest, section 2. This contention is not well founded. Letha was a bright girl, age fifteen years. She had been reared on a farm and was in the tenth grade at school. She testified she understood the meaning of the term sexual intercourse, and that defendant had sexual intercourse with her July 21, 1952. The meaning of this term is clear and is common knowledge. A dictionary definition is: sexual or carnal connection; coition. The term itself necessarily includes penetration. State v. Frazier, 54 Kan. 719, 39 P. 819; Hunley v. Commonwealth, 217 Ky. 675, 290 S.W. 511, 514; Shepherd v. State, 111 Tex. Cr. 4, 10 S.W.2d 730; State v. Haston, 64 Ariz. 72, 166 P.2d 141, 143, 144; State v. Diamond, *996 50 Nev. 433, 264 P. 697. The testimony above-noted, without more, was sufficient to make the question of penetration one of fact for the jury. There was also evidence her hymen had been ruptured.

Another complaint is there was no corroboration of Letha’s testimony. Corroboration was not necessary. Incest is not one of the sex crimes listed in section 782.4, Code of Iowa, 1950, requiring corroboration of the- testimony of the injured female. State v. Mentzer, 230 Iowa 804, 298 N.W. 893. Nor is Code section 782.5, which requires corroboration of the testimony of an accomplice, here applicable. This is because Letha, being under sixteen years of age, was legally incapable of consenting to sexual intercourse and hence could not be an accomplice to such crime. State v. Pelser, 182 Iowa 1, 13, 14, 163 N.W. 600; State v. Spridgen, 241 Iowa 828, 831, 43 N.W.2d 192. Letha’s testimony was not incredible and was supported by other evidence and circumstances in the record. We hold it was sufficient to require submission to the jury of the case against defendant.

II. The indictment accuses defendant of the crime of incest in violation of section 704.1 of the Code and charges defendant, on or about July 21, 1952, “committed incest with his daughter, Letha McCall.” The court submitted to the jury the offense of incest only. Defendant assigns as error the failure to submit also assault with intent to commit incest, assault and battery and simple assault, which defendant contends are included in the charge.

State v. Jones, 233 Iowa 843, 847, 10 N.W.2d 526, 528, considers the question of included offenses in a charge of incest. It concedes “some states have held that there is such an offense as assault with intent to commit incest.” Perhaps this concession is too broad. The decisions and texts refer to an offense of “attempt to commit incest.” State v. Winslow, 30 Utah 403, 407, 85 P. 433, 435, 8 Ann. Cas. 908, 909; People v. Murray, 14 Cal. 159; People v. Gleason, 99 Cal. 359, 33 P. 1111, 37 Am. St. Rep. 56; Cox v. People, 82 Ill. 191; State v. McGilvery, 20 Wash. 240, 55 P. 115; 27 Am. Jur., Incest, section 8; 42 C. J. S., Incest, section 9; 16 Am. and Eng. Ency. of Law, Second Ed., page 141. See also 75 C. J. S., Rape, section 20.

*997 Whether an assault with intent to commit would be the same as an attempt to commit appears questionable. State v. Western, 210 Iowa 745, 231 N.W. 657. People v. Rupp, 41 Cal.2d 371, 260 P.2d 1, 7, states an assault with intent to commit a crime necessarily'embraces an attempt to commit said crime but said attempt does not necessarily include an assault. See also State v. Murbach, 55 N. D. 846, 215 N.W. 552.

State v. Jones, supra, 233 Iowa 843, 10 N.W.2d 526, stated the question whether assault with intent to commit incest should be submitted to the jury had never arisen in this state and could not arise under the evidence in that case, which showed the act had been completed in every detail required by law to constitute the offense. It held, also, the court was not required to submit the (lesser) included offenses of assault and battery and simple assault, since it appeared the child with whom the crime was committed could and did consent to the touching- or fondling of her person. In State v. Spridgen, 241 Iowa 828, 43 N.W.2d 192, error was assigned to the refusal to instruct on assault and battery and simple assault in the trial of an incest case. In affirming the judgment of conviction, the court held the evidence showed defendant was guilty of incest or of no crime, citing State v. Jones, supra.

The statute on included offenses, Code section 785.6, provides : “* * * the defendant may be found guilty of any offense the commission of which is necessarily included in that with which he is charged in the indictment.”

The rule is that two factors must combine to require the submission to the jury of the included offense: (1) The so-called included offense must be necessarily included in the offense charged, and (2) the record must contain evidence justifying a finding by the jury of such included charge, rather than of some higher offense. State v. Johnson, 221 Iowa 8, 11, 12, 264 N.W. 596, 267 N.W. 91; State v. Jones, supra, 233 Iowa 843, 845, 10 N.W.2d 526. Our discussion here will be directed primarily to (1) whether the lesser offenses are necessarily included in the offense charged in the indictment or information. As pointed out in State v. Hoaglin, 207 Iowa 744, 754, 223 N.W.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Hunter
511 F. Supp. 2d 961 (N.D. Iowa, 2006)
State v. Moore
748 P.2d 833 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1987)
State v. Holmes
276 N.W.2d 823 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1979)
State v. Redmon
244 N.W.2d 792 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1976)
State v. Boren
224 N.W.2d 14 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1974)
State v. Hawkins
203 N.W.2d 555 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1973)
State v. Cox
196 N.W.2d 430 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1972)
State v. Goff
195 N.W.2d 521 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1972)
State v. Rankin
181 N.W.2d 169 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1970)
State v. Rassmussen
449 P.2d 837 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1969)
State v. Franklin
163 N.W.2d 437 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1968)
State v. FILCHER
158 N.W.2d 631 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1968)
State v. Pilcher
158 N.W.2d 631 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1968)
State v. Everett
157 N.W.2d 144 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1968)
State v. Shipley
146 N.W.2d 266 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1966)
State v. Jiles
142 N.W.2d 451 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1966)
State v. Meyers
129 N.W.2d 88 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1964)
State v. Simpson
118 N.W.2d 606 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1962)
Robert v. State
151 A.2d 737 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1959)
Svehla v. State
96 N.W.2d 649 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1959)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 N.W.2d 874, 245 Iowa 991, 1954 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 387, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mccall-iowa-1954.