Court Opinion

ID: 9682531
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 08:12:51.324723+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:39.990499
License: Public Domain

Darrell Hickman, Justice, dissenting. This case is an outrage, not so much because a defendant guilty of rape is freed, but because all the actors in this matter, including ourselves, have miserably failed in our duty: To provide a system that fairly decides who has violated the rights of others and holds accountable the guilty as well as frees the innocent. The defendant in this case will probably be the most surprised of all. A system so inept as ours in this case will hardly deter him from further malfeasance. His argument is not that he is innocent of rape, because the State certainly proved that he forcibly had sexual intercourse with the victim; his argument is that he did not do it exactly how he was charged. Justice Hays has addressed the case from an evidentiary standpoint and I will not add to his statement except to observe that the Commentary to Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41-1801 (1) (b) says “deviate sexual activity is broad enough to embrace — common forms of deviate sexual behvior, fellatio, cunnilingus, and anal intercourse.” The victim, a seventy-eight year old woman, no doubt described in her own modest words the act of cunnilingus. This statute was drafted to define all kinds of forcible rape, by whatever mode or method of sexual abuse; it was intended to define a physical violation of another’s body, one more than a mere touching. It was drafted to leave no loopholes: Whether the violation is committed by a tongue, finger, or even an inanimate object, it is rape in the most serious degree if force is used. It actually makes no difference to the law, the victim, nor even the defendant, how he committed the act, it is the violation that is defined and prohibited. The majority’s decision is not giving effect to the legislative intent: it is creating a loophole where the General Assembly obviously strained to prevent such a result. There is no requirement that the State has to elect to charge a defendant with either rape by sexual intercourse or by deviate sexual activity.1 Either under force is rape. Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41-1803. The trial court instructed the jury that it could find the defendant guilty if he committed rape by either sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity. The majority’s reasoning is akin to arguing that it makes a difference whether one is killed with a bullet or a knife; a copper jacketed shell, or a dum dum bullet; a killing is a killing and the exact method used is invariably irrelevant unless a defendant can show some kind of prejudice. How does the defendant say he was prejudiced? It is conceded the State proved he raped this woman, at a certain time and place, by sexual intercourse as well as performed a deviate act by “licking her bottom,” adding to the humiliation of rape by sexual intercourse. But he argues he could not have “raped” her because the exact method of rape was not spelled out. Is there any argument there was no force? No. Is there any argument he did not also rape her by sexual intercourse? No. His identity is not questioned. It is simply an argument that the I was not dotted nor the T crossed, and the law demands his release even though he is admittedly guilty of the crime charged. Certainly a defendant is entitled to know of the crime charged. The constitution requires it. U.S. CONST, amend. VI. And a defendant is entitled to a bill of particulars if he needs it in order to defend himself. Ark. Stat. Ann. § 13-804, 43-1006. See Boyette v. State, 265 Ark. 707, 580 S.W.2d 473 (1979). It was not the purpose of the defendant to seek more definite information about the charge; it was purely and simply a legal trick by the defense — and it worked. There can be no kudos for the attorney for the State or the trial judge. The poor presentation of the case by the State was inexcusable and the trial court should have been more alert. It is a reality that the field of criminal law has become a playground for legal technocrats, not a place for lawyers, and those dealing with it must recognize this. But we cannot be swayed from our purpose by imperfect trials and hindsight as to what should have been done. Our goal, as an appellate court, is to see that a system exists for fair trial, not a perfect one, but one free of prejudice. Errors that do not deny such a trial are not reversible errors. Especially in cases where the evidence of guilt is overwhelming. Simpson v. State, 278 Ark. 334, 645 S.W.2d 688 (1983). Such a system must not only protect the innocent but it must just as surely punish the guilty. Anything less, in either regard, is a failure. And ours is a failure in this case — without any excuse, legal or otherwise.