Williams v. StateWilliams v. State
- Reporters:
- Before:
- Pearson, Charles Carroll, Swann (per curiam)
The appellants, defendants below, were convicted of raрe and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 25 years. The victim of the rape, and her male companion, members of the white race, while seated on the beach of the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of Baker‘s Haulover in Dade County in the night time, wеre attacked by the defendants and two other men. The couple was brutally beatеn, and the girl was raped repeatedly.
Uрon consideration of the several contentions of the appellants in the light of the record and briefs, we hold no reversiblе error has been demonstrated, and affirm. The evidence of guilt was ample and compelling. In deciding against the defendants on the issues of identity and alibi the jury acted on substantiаl competent evidence. Fast v. State, Fla.App. 1967, 193 So.2d 210; Stuckey v. State, Fla.App. 1967, 199 So.2d 137. No error was committed by the trial court in denying motions fоr mistrial. Where mistrial was sought for claimed imprоper statements or questions by the state or answers of witnesses, the objections of the defendants thereto were sustained, the сlaimed objectionable matter was striсken and the jury was instructed by the court to disregard the same. In the occasions presеnted, mistrial was not required, and no abuse of disсretion by the court was shown in the denial thereof. Moreover, the cause should not bе reversed for such claimed grounds where, as here, the evidence of guilt was overwhеlming. Harrington v. California, 395 U.S. 250, 89 S.Ct. 1726, 23 L.Ed.2d 284, 286. The trial court‘s refusal tо give defendants’ requested charge on attempted rape was not error in the circumstances of this case. The charges given by the court were adequate and properly tailored to the evidence. In addition to charging on the crime of rape, the court charged the jury on the lesser included offenses of assault with intent to
Judgments affirmed.