State v. Bradford

Citations

• 126 Miss. 868
• 89 So. 767

Syllabus

<p>beer v. Railroad Co., 156 N. Y., 474. Railroad Co. v. Swank, 105 Rape. In statutory rape prosecution, where prosecutrix’s testimony is .uncorroborated court should direct acquittal. '</p> <p>Chapter 171, Laws 1914 (Hemingway’s Code, áections 1093 to 1095, inclusive), (defines) and fixes the punishment of a new character of rape, theretofore unknown to either the common law or statutes of this state, in that it provides that, if any person shall have carnal knowledge of an unmarried female between the ages of twelve and eighteen, of previous chaste character, though she consent, he shall be punished (the jury fixing it in their verdict) either by a fine of not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment in the county jail not longer than six months, or by both, or imprisonment in the penitentiary not exceeding five years. And it further provides that there shall be no conviction on the uncorroborated testimony of the injured female; therefore, in a case where the testimony of the female stands alone, unsupported by any other evidence, it is the duty of the trial court to direct a verdict of acquittal of the defendant.</p>