182 Ind. 317 | Ind. | 1914
Tbe transcript of tbe record in this case shows that on tbe nigbt of June 13, 1914, appellant was arrested and subsequently, by affidavit filed in tbe circuit court on June 26, 1914, was charged with assault and battery on a girl child five years old with tbe felonious intent to ravish her. On tbe same day he was arraigned and put to trial on this affidavit before a jury which returned a verdict of guilty. Judgment followed tbe verdict and appellant was sentenced to pay a fine and be imprisoned in tbe Indiana Reformatory for an indeterminate period of from two to fourteen years. Such a defence as be bad was, as tbe transcript obviously shows, perfunctorily made by an attorney appearing for him as a poor person. A motion for a new trial was made which was based on tbe alleged insufficiency of tbe evidence in fact and in law to sustain tbe verdict. This appeal is prosecuted for appellant as a poor person by
If it can be said that an hypothesis of appellant’s guilt is reasonably sustained by the facts it surely is quite obvious
The judgment is reversed with instructions to sustain appellant ’s motion for a new trial.
The clerk is directed to issue the proper order for the return of appellant to the custody of the sheriff of Huntington County.
Note. — Reported in 106 N. E. 354. The question of the preparation to commit assault with intent to rape or ravish as distinguished from overt act in commission of offense itself is treated in 42 L. R. A. (N. S.) 524. As to what constitutes crime of rape, see 80 Am. Dec. 361. See, also, under (1) 12 Cyc. 908; (2) 33 Cyc. 1495; (3) 12 Cyc. 488.