Temple v. State

1941 OK CR 43, 111 P.2d 524, 71 Okla. Crim. 301, 1941 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 43
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 12, 1941
DocketNo. A-9849.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 1941 OK CR 43 (Temple v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Temple v. State, 1941 OK CR 43, 111 P.2d 524, 71 Okla. Crim. 301, 1941 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 43 (Okla. Ct. App. 1941).

Opinion

*302 BAREFOOT, P. J.

Defendant, Lloyd O. Temple, was charged in the district court of Oklahoma county with the crime of “attempted rape in the first degree,” was tried, convicted, and by the jury found guilty and his punishment assessed by the court at 25 years in the penitentiary, and he has appealed.

In the indictment filed in this case it was charged:

“ * * * did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously commit the crime of attempted rape in the first degree in the manner and form as follows, to wit: * * * did then and there willfully, unlawfully, wrongfully and feloni-ously by means of force overcoming the resistance and by means of threats of immediate injury and to kill accompanied by apparent power of execution, and preventing resistance by then and there striking, beating, bruising andi maltreating' one Mary Hawkins with a certain blunt instrument, a more full and complete description of which is to your informant unknown, then and there had and held in the hands of him the said defendant, Lloyd O. Temple, then and there attempt to have and hold unlawful sexual intercourse with the said Mary Hawkins, a female person over the age of eighteen years and not the wife of the said Lloyd O. Temple, the said Lloyd O. Temple being a male person over the age of eighteen years, but the said defendant was prevented from the completion of said act by the resistance of the said Mary Hawkins. * * *”

The defendant filed general and special demurrers to the sufficiency of the indictment, which were overruled by the court and exceptions reserved. These demurrers raised the sufficiency of the indictment charging the crime by reason of the fact that there was not alleged an “intent” on the part of the defendant to commit the crime' charged, and that under the statute upon which this charge was based this ivas a necessary allegation.

*303 Oklahoma Statutes 1931, section 2515, Oklahoma Statutes Annotated, Title 21, § 111, defines rape as follows :

“Rape is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a female, not the wife of the perpetrator, under either of the following circumstances: * * *
“4th. Where she resists but her resistance is overcome by force and violence.
“5th. Where she is prevented from resistance by threats of immediate and great bodily harm, accompanied by apparent power of execution. * * *”

Oklahoma Statutes 1931, section 2518, Oklahoma Statutes Annotated, Title 21, § 1114, defines rape in the first degree. Oklahoma Statutes 1931, section 2519, Oklahoma Statutes Annotated, Title 21, § 1115, defines the punishment for rape in the first degree as follows:

“Rape in the first degree is punishable by death or imprisonment in the penitentiary, not less than fifteen years, in the discretion of the jury, or in case the jury fail or refuse to fix the punishment then the same shall be pronounced by the court.”

Oklahoma Statutes 1931, section 1822, Oklahoma Statutes Annotated, Title 21, § 42, provides:

“Every person who attempts to commit any crime, and in such attempt does any act toward the commission, of such crime, but fails, or is prevented or intercepted in the perpetration thereof, is punishable, where no provision is made by law for the punishment of such attempt, as follows:
“1. If the offense so attempted be punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary for four years or more, or by imprisonment in a county jail, the person guilty of such attempt is punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, or in a county jail, as the case may be, for a term not exceeding one-half the longest term of imprisonment prescribed upon a conviction for the offense so attempted. * * * »

*304 It is provided by Oklahoma Statutes 1931, section 1869, Oklahoma Statutes Annotated, Title 21, § 681, as follows:

“Every person who1 is guilty of an assault with intent to commit any felony, except an assault with intent to kill, the punishment for which assault is not otherwise prescribed in this Code, is punishable by imprisonment in the State Penitentiary not exceeding five years, or in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment.”

The indictment in the instant case was brought under Oklahoma Statutes 1931, section 1822, Oklahoma Statutes Annotated, Title 21, § 42, and not under Oklahoma Statutes 1931, section 1869, Oklahoma Statutes Annotated, Title 21, § 681. It will be noted that the punishment that may be inflicted under the former statute is much greater than the punishment under the latter statute. This probably accounts for the prosecution of defendant under the former statute. After a careful examination of the facts in the instant case, we are of the opinion that the better procedure would have been to- charge this defendant under Oklahoma Statutes 1931, section 1869, Oklahoma Statutes Annotated, Title 21, § 681. Having charged defendant under Oklahoma Statutes 1931, section 1822, Oklahoma Statutes Annotated, Title 21, § 42, it is necessary that the indictment in this case should have every ingredient necessary under the general rape statute above cited. Under this statute it has been the holding of this court that it is necessary to* allege in the indictment or information the “intent” of the person charged to' commit the crime, and also1 necessary to' prove the same. It will be noted from the indictment in the case at bar1 there is no allegation of “intent” on the part of the accused. It is alleged that he did' “willfully, unlawfully and feloniously commit the crime *305 of attempted rape in the first degree.” There is then set out the manner of force used by the defendant, and the indictment states that he did “then and there attempt to have and hold unlawful sexual intercourse with the said Mary Hawkins.” Unless it is held that the word “attempt” meant “intent,” there is nowhere alleged an intention on the part of the defendant to have intercourse with the prosecutrix. The authorities are in conflict upon this proposition, but the early decisions of this court hold that it is necessary to allege an “intent” in the indictment or information.

This court had under consideration the construction of this identical statute in several different cases. In the case of Herrick v. Territory, 2 Okla. Cr. 74, 99 P. 1096, the court says:

“An indictment- for an attempt to rape must allege that the attempt was made with intent to rape.”

The indictment in this case was very similar to the case at bar, and alleged,

“* * did then and there unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously attempt to accomplish the act of sexual intercourse”, etc.

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Related

Pierce v. State
1988 OK CR 294 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1988)
Plotner v. State
1988 OK CR 139 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1988)
Carter v. State
1957 OK CR 30 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1957)
McKinnon v. State
1956 OK CR 72 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1956)
Matthews v. State
1950 OK CR 58 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1950)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1941 OK CR 43, 111 P.2d 524, 71 Okla. Crim. 301, 1941 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 43, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/temple-v-state-oklacrimapp-1941.