Opinion ID: 1627673
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: A circuit court jury convicted William Dixon of first-degree assault, first-degree rape, and first-degree robbery. He contends in this appeal that we must reverse his convictions because the trial court erred by (1) failing to instruct the jury on facilitation to commit first-degree robbery and facilitation to commit first-degree rape and (2) failing to dismiss the first-degree assault charge as violative of the prohibition against double jeopardy when the same serious physical injury supports both the first-degree assault charge and the first-degree rape charge. We reject both of Dixon's arguments and affirm the convictions. In doing so, we overrule our prior case law and hold that the prohibition against double jeopardy is not violated when a defendant is convicted of first-degree assault and first-degree rape (involving a serious physical injury to the victim), even if the same serious physical injury to the victim is used to support each conviction.