Court Opinion

ID: 9560040
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:42:00.424792+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:00.494890
License: Public Domain

Justice Exum
dissenting in part.
I dissent from! so much of the majority decision which holds that defendant was not entitled to an instruction on the lesser included offense of attempted rape. The majority correctly states the law and the evidence bearing on this issue. The majority errs, however, in concluding that the victim’s testimony is not equivocal on the question of penetration. To me, her testimony on this *251issue is the epitome of equivocation. It is enough to carry the issue to the jury; but it leaves the issue in enough doubt that the jury should have been permitted to consider as an alternative verdict defendant’s guilt of attempted rape on the theory that there was, in fact, no penetration.
I, therefore, vote for a new trial in the rape case for failure of the trial court to submit the lesser included offense of attempted rape.