Opinion ID: 1302133
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: hughes's appeal

Text: Defendant Hughes brings forward challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence on the issue of aiding and abetting and to the jury instructions on consent. With regard to the jury instructions he argues, as did defendant Barnette, that the trial court erred in failing to instruct that the fear which induced the consent must be both reasonable and of violence. These same assignments were raised by Barnette and we have found no error in his trial. Our discussion of the law and the evidence in considering Barnette's appeal applies with equal force to Hughes's appeal. It is unnecessary to repeat that discussion here. For the reasons stated in our discussion of Barnette's appeal, we find no error in Hughes's conviction of first degree rape. With regard to defendant Hughes's conviction for first degree sexual offense, however, we conclude that there was insufficient evidence of aiding and abetting the alleged perpetrator of that offense, Graham Smith, and conclude that Hughes's motion to dismiss that charge at the close of all evidence should have been granted. In its most favorable light, the evidence for the State shows that Hughes threatened Jackson with the shotgun on two separate occasions, once in the kitchen and once in the bedroom. On neither occasion does the record disclose that Smith was present in the room, nor is there any evidence that Smith was aware of Hughes's actions. Although Jackson testified that Hughes initially threatened her in the kitchen, which was adjacent to the living room, she never placed Smith in the living room. There is no evidence from which it can be reasonably inferred that Smith and Hughes shared a common purpose to commit a first degree sexual offense. For this reason, the motion to dismiss the first degree sexual offense charge should have been granted. Although the trial court instructed the jury on the offense of second degree sexual offense, we conclude that Hughes could be guilty only of the first degree offense and that the submission of the second degree offense was error. Because there is no evidence that Hughes himself committed a sexual offense, the only theory which would sustain a conviction for that crime is aiding or abetting. This is an essential element of a first degree sexual offense only. G.S. § 14-27.4(a) & .5(a) (1981). Under the statute, when aiding and abetting is proven, the offense is first degree; it can never be a second degree offense. Id. Thus, Hughes could be tried only for a first degree sexual offense and the instruction on the lesser included offense was error. Because the State's proof was deficient on an essential element of the crime of first degree sexual offense, we conclude that his motion to dismiss should have been granted and reverse his conviction for first degree sexual offense.