Opinion ID: 1137599
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Instruction on Intent to Commit Rape

Text: Over the objection of the defendant, Instruction 7 was given: Assault or assault and battery with intent to commit rape is a lesser offense included in the charge of rape and is defined by Wyoming Laws 1911, ch. 83 Sec. 1 as follows: Whoever perpetrates an assault or assault and battery upon any female with intent to commit the crime of rape. To constitute assault or assault and battery with intent to commit rape it is not necessary to prove carnal knowledge, the essential elements being an offer or attempt to commit rape, with the present ability to do so, under circumstances creating a fear of imminent peril of being raped. If you have any doubt as to which degree of crime may have been committed, you should resolve it in favor of the lesser offense. Defendant first maintains that the giving of this instruction constituted prejudicial error, arguing that there was no evidence presented to justify giving it. The prosecution does not directly disagree with defendant's position that where there is no evidence tending to prove the commission of a lower offense an instruction is properly refused but rather insists that under Dr. McMahon's testimony the jury would have been warranted in finding no penetration to have occurred. From a review of that witness's testimony, we find the State's position without basis. Although the doctor testified that he determined penetration of the vagina not to have occurred, that statement certainly fell short of being evidence that there had not been a penetration of the vulva or labia and thus of the female's body. It was most unfortunate that the jury was not advised the entering of the vulva or labia was sufficient to constitute a rape. While the lack of such information was not prejudicial to the defendant, it gives substance to his position that an instruction on lesser included offenses or offenses of a lower grade or degree need not and should not be given when not justified by the information or evidence. [5] Defendant, however, raises a further and perhaps a more serious impropriety of the challenged instruction. Following its recitation of the statute defining assault or assault and battery with intent ot commit rape, it purports to state the essential elements of the crime and in so doing omits entirely the element of intent without which there could, of course, be no crime. In this respect we deem the instruction incomplete. The jury's verdict could have been properly returned only in the event they believed that had defendant consummated his intent he would have been guilty of rape. No instruction having covered the material element of intent, Instruction 7 was necessarily misleading and prejudicial to him. State v. Parmely, 65 Wyo. 215, 199 P.2d 112, 116-117. Accordingly, we reverse the cause and remand it for new trial. Reversed and remanded for new trial.