Title: Meeks v. State
Citation: 234 N.E.2d 629, 249 Ind. 659
Docket Number: 30,910
State: Indiana
Issuer: Indiana Supreme Court
Date: March 1, 1968

249 Ind. 659 (1968)
234 N.E.2d 629
MEEKS
v.
STATE OF INDIANA.
No. 30,910.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
Filed March 1, 1968.
William C. Erbecker, of Indianapolis, for appellant.
John J. Dillon, Attorney General, and Dennis J. Dewey, Deputy Attorney General, for appellee.
*660 LEWIS, C.J.
The appellant was indicted in Marion Criminal Court, Division Two, for the crime of rape. The matter was submitted to trial by jury, and it returned a verdict of guilty. The appellant was sentenced to a term of not less than two (2) nor more than twenty-one (21) years.
Appellant claims two (2) alleged errors pursuant to Rule 2-17 of the Supreme Court Rules (1964), the first of which is as follows:
The evidence most favorable to the State establishes the following: The prosecuting witness was twenty-six (26) years old and on the evening in question, accompanied by a girl friend, had gone to a tavern where she made the acquaintance of appellant. The prosecutrix and appellant left the tavern in the company of another couple and went to another bar. After leaving the second bar, the prosecutrix and appellant left in appellant's automobile and drove to a location on the outskirts of the City of Indianapolis. The car was parked, and the prosecutrix testified that she left the automobile, started around the rear of said car and started to run; that appellant grabbed her by the hair, threw her back against the car, and finally pushed her into the front seat of the car; that appellant threatened the woman if she yelled, and she fought back and slapped the appellant, and he threatened to kill her; that her head was pinned under the steering wheel and he held one arm behind her body, and while she was in this position he slapped her several times; and that during the course of this conduct he had sexual contact with the woman repeatedly. Prosecutrix testified that she did not at any time give her consent, that she resisted to the extent of her ability, and that she was finally rendered semiconscious. Later examination by a physician indicated that she was bruised and had contusions on both hips.
*661 The appellant in his defense admits that the act of sexual intercourse took place, but denied that any force was involved.
The witness, who testimony appellant assigns as error, testified that appellant had carnal knowledge of her by force approximately thirty-five (35) days prior to the act charged in the indictment. It is the appellant's contention that this evidence was highly prejudicial, and should not have been admitted for the reason that it did not prove any of the essential allegations of the indictment, and since this charge was not set forth in the indictment, it violated the general rule that a defendant is entitled to be informed specifically of the crimes charged and should not be placed in the position of coming to trial uninformed as to the nature of the evidence to be presented against him. 1 Ewbank's Indiana Criminal Law, Symmes Ed., § 384, p. 236, reads as follows:
A full discussion of the general rule and the exception as set out in Ewbank's (supra), including its historic background, is contained in State v. Robbins (1943), 221 Ind. 125, 46 N.E.2d 691.
This Court quoted with authority from State v. Reineke (1914), 89 Oh.St. 390, 106 N.E. 52, in making its determination of State v. Robbins (supra). The logic for this rule is set out in State v. Reineke (supra) as follows:
Also, in Lamar v. State (1964), 245 Ind. 104, 195 N.E.2d 98, which was a prosecution by the State for sodomy, this Court stated:
We believe, however, that there are limitations to the above doctrine and the case at bar calls for a full consideration of the basic demands of fairness in its application.
We are impressed with the opinion in Lovely v. United States (August 10, 1948), Cir. Ct. of Appeals, 4th Cir., 169 F.2d 386, as the facts were very similar to this case. This was an appeal from a sentence of life imprisonment in a rape case. The Federal Court had jurisdiction in that the crime was alleged to have been committed on a military reservation. The error claimed was the admission of testimony that the accused had committed rape upon another woman fifteen (15) days prior to the crime alleged in the indictment. In reversing *663 this case, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals engaged in a very lengthy discussion concerning the admission of testimony of a previous victim, and we quote the following language of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals:
*664 The language in Lamar v. State (supra) is an extension beyond the position taken in Lovely v. United Staets (supra).
Watts v. State (1950), 229 Ind. 80, 95 N.E.2d 570, is in accordance with Lovely v. United States (supra), and states:
It is manifest in reading Lamar (supra) and Watts (supra) together that the rule regarding admissibility of prior sexual acts has been stretched beyond that as espoused in Watts (supra) to create a specific exception, per se, for such acts to the exclusionary rules of evidence. The rule now being, if an individual is on trial for a crime involving abnormal sexual intercourse, evidence of other improper acts of sexual intimacy are always admissible. We believe that this can be a dangerous situation. An individual on trial for a sexual offense should be afforded the same evidentiary safeguards against irrelevant prejudicial testimony as an individual on trial for another felony.
In the case at bar we conclude, as did the 4th Circuit of Appeals in Lovely (supra), that the testimony concerning a separate similar offense committed some weeks prior to the offense charged in the indictment, and which was admitted over objection of the appellant, constituted error. The facts did not fall within the exceptions to the general rule on the admission of evidence of other or similar offenses. Such evidence must be relevant to some point at issue, and in the case at bar, with consent being the only element at issue, the other alleged rape was irrelevant.
It is needless to discuss the other claimed error of appellant since this case must be reversed because of erroneous admission of the evidence objected to.
*665 Judgment is reversed with instructions that a new trial be granted, and for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
Arterburn, Hunter, Jackson and Mote, JJ., concur.
NOTE.  Reported in 234 N.E.2d 629.