Title: Farmer v. State
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 232, 2003
State: Delaware
Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court
Date: March 9, 2004

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
KYLE FARMER,  
 
 
§  
 
 
 
 
 
 
§   No. 232, 2003 
 
Defendant Below,  
 
§  
 
Appellant,  
 
 
§  
 
 
 
 
 
 
§   Court Below – Family Court 
 
v. 
 
 
 
 
§   of the State of Delaware, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
§   in and for New Castle County 
STATE OF DELAWARE, 
 
§   Case No. 0206004544 
 
 
 
 
 
 
§  
 
Plaintiff Below, 
 
 
§  
 
Appellee. 
 
 
 
§  
 
 
 
 
 
  Submitted:  January 21, 2004 
 
 
 
 
     Decided:  March 9, 2004 
 
Before VEASEY, Chief Justice, HOLLAND and JACOBS, Justices. 
 
 
Upon appeal from the Family Court.  AFFIRMED. 
 
 
Colin P. Dunlavey, Esquire, Assistant Public Defender, Wilmington, 
Delaware, for appellant. 
 
 
John Williams, Esquire, Department of Justice, Dover, Delaware, for 
appellee. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
HOLLAND, Justice: 
 
2
The juvenile defendant-appellant, Kyle Farmer, was arrested and 
arraigned on charges of Attempted Rape in the Second Degree without 
consent1 and Unlawful Imprisonment in the Second Degree.2  The trial took 
place in the Family Court.  On the date of trial, the State amended the 
original Attempted Rape charge to Attempted Rape in the Fourth Degree.3  
Farmer was found delinquent on the charge of Attempted Rape in the Fourth 
Degree.   
Issue on Appeal 
Farmer has raised one issue in this direct appeal.  Farmer argues that 
the record contains insufficient evidence to support a finding of Attempted 
Rape in the Fourth Degree.  Specifically, Farmer’s contention is that the 
only evidence of Farmer’s intent to penetrate the victim’s vagina is the 
testimony of the victim herself.  Farmer argues that the victim’s testimony is 
insufficient to establish his intent.  We disagree and conclude that the 
judgment of the Family Court must be affirmed. 
Facts 
 
On May 21, 2002, twelve-year old Cindy Brogan was a seventh grade 
student.  During her bus ride home from school that afternoon, Brogan 
                                          
 
1 Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, §§ 531, 772 (2001). 
2 Del. Code Ann. tit 11, § 781 (2001). 
3 Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 770 (2001). 
 
3
changed seats.  When she went to sit down, another student named Richard 
sat in the seat first, intentionally causing Brogan to sit on Richard’s lap. 
 
Richard then held Brogan’s hands behind her back.  Other students on 
the bus began to crowd around Brogan.  Richard called Kyle Farmer,4 the 
juvenile defendant, over to the seat.  Farmer sat on Brogan’s legs facing her. 
 
According to Brogan, she could not move her legs and Farmer undid 
her pants and placed his hand inside her underwear.  Brogan testified that 
when Farmer undid her pants, she told him to “get off and stop” and that 
Farmer “tried to stick his finger in me.”  The attack ended when Richard 
released her arms when he had to exit the bus.  At that point, Brogan was 
crying.   
 
After she got off the bus, Brogan immediately reported the assault to 
her grandmother.  Brogan was examined at approximately 7:30 p.m. that 
same evening at the duPont Hospital for Children emergency department.  
At the hospital, Brogan recounted a similar version of the afternoon bus 
incident to Dr. Fred Fow, the examining physician. 
 
Two other eyewitnesses, Jennifer Osgood and Sean James, testified at 
trial to a similar account of the sexual assault of Brogan by Farmer.  Osgood 
recalled that both Richard and James grabbed Brogan’s arms and that 
                                          
 
4 Pursuant to Del. Supr. Ct. R. 7(d), this Court has selected a pseudonym to identify the 
juvenile victim, juvenile defendant and the juvenile witnesses. 
 
4
Farmer “was trying to get down her skirt.”  According to Osgood, Brogan 
was screaming for help and trying to get away.  Brogan was crying after the 
attack and Osgood got off the bus with her. 
 
In his trial testimony, James stated that he initially pushed Brogan 
down because he thought she and the others were simply playing.  James 
also confirmed that Richard locked Brogan’s hands behind her back while 
Farmer “put his hands in her pants.”  According to James, Brogan was 
screaming for the boys to “stop.”  James also saw Brogan crying after the 
bus attack. 
 
Thirteen-year old Kyle Farmer testified in his own defense at trial.  
While acknowledging that Brogan was crying on the bus, Farmer denied 
putting his hands down her pants or skirt.  In his videotaped statement to the 
Wilmington police shortly after the May 21, 2002 bus incident, Farmer 
stated that it was Richard who held Brogan’s arms behind her back and 
reached into her pants. 
Family Court Decision 
Farmer was found delinquent on the charge of Attempted Rape in the 
Fourth Degree.  The Family Court judge determined that the testimony of 
the complaining witness, and two other eyewitnesses, Osgood and James, 
more credible than Farmer’s claim of innocence.  Accordingly, the trial 
 
5
judge, who sat as the trier of fact in the proceeding, rejected the thirteen-
year-old defendant’s trial testimony.   
The Family Court judge sentenced Farmer to twelve months at Level 
III juvenile probation, along with thirty hours of community service.  The 
sentencing order also provided that Farmer have no contact with the victim, 
continue counseling at Delaware Guidance, enroll in sex offender 
counseling.  Farmer was registered as a Tier II sex offender.  
Elements of Offense 
This Court must determine de novo “whether any rational trier of fact, 
viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, could find [a] 
defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”5  A conviction of Rape in the 
Fourth Degree requires the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the 
defendant “intentionally engage[d] in sexual penetration with another person 
… [who] has not yet reached his or her sixteenth birthday.”6  Accordingly, 
the State’s evidence must establish  intent, sexual penetration, and that the 
victim was less than sixteen years old.   
“Sexual penetration” is defined by statute as: “The unlawful 
placement of an object … inside the anus or vagina of another person ….”7  
                                          
 
5 Monroe v. State, 652 A.2d 560, 563 (Del. 1995). 
6 Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 770(a)(3) (2001). 
7 Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 761(g)(1) (2001). 
 
6
The term “object” includes “any part of the body.”8  A person acts 
“intentionally” with respect to an element of a criminal offense when “it is 
the person’s conscious object to engage in conduct of that nature or cause 
that result ….”9   
A person is guilty of Attempt to commit a crime if the defendant 
“[i]ntentionally does or omits to do anything which, under the circumstances 
as the person believes them to be, is a substantial step in a course of conduct 
planned to culminate in the commission of the crime by the person.”10  The 
term “substantial step” is defined as “an act or omission which leaves no 
reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s intention to commit the crime which 
the defendant is charged with attempting.”11 
State’s Evidence Sufficient 
 
It is now well established that a victim’s testimony alone, concerning 
alleged sexual contact, is sufficient to support a guilty verdict if it establishes 
every element of the offense charged.12  Brogan testified that, despite 
Farmer’s persistent attempts to penetrate her with his finger, he failed 
because her legs were closed so tightly while he was sitting on her lap.  As 
                                          
 
8 Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 761(c) (2001). 
9 Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 231(a)(1)(a) (2001). 
10 Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 531 (2001). 
11 Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 532 (2001). 
12 Hardin v. State, 840 A.2d 1217, 1224 (Del. 2003). 
 
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the trier of fact and sole judge of witness credibility, the Family Court judge 
could properly decide to reject Farmer’s testimony and to accept the contrary 
testimony of the complaining witness and the two eyewitnesses.13  The 
record reflects that the testimony of Brogan was sufficient to establish 
beyond a reasonable doubt all elements of Attempted Rape in the Fourth 
Degree, including Farmer’s intent to sexually penetrate her with his finger.  
Conclusion 
 
Viewing the State’s evidence, including all reasonable inferences 
from that evidence, in the light most favorable to the State, a rational trier of 
fact could have found each of the statutory elements of Attempted Rape in 
the Fourth Degree beyond a reasonable doubt.14  The judgment of the Family 
Court is affirmed. 
  
                                          
 
13 See Knight v. State, 690 A.2d 929, 932 (Del. 1996) (trier of fact sole judge of witness 
credibility); Quarles v. State, 696 A.2d 1334, 1340 (Del. 1997); Robertson v. State, 630 
A.2d 1084, 1095 (Del. 1993); Chao v. State, 604 A.2d 1351, 1363 (Del. 1992); Pryor v. 
State, 453 A.2d 98, 100 (Del. 1982); Tyre v. State, 412 A.2d 326, 330 (Del. 1980). 
14 See generally Seward v. State, 723 A.2d 365, 369 (Del. 1999); Cline v. State, 720 A.2d 
891, 892 (Del. 1998).