State v. Truitt

Citations

• 21 Del. 466
• 5 Penne. 466
• 62 A. 790
• 1905 Del. LEXIS 43

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Rape—Assault With Intent to Commit Rape— Drunkenness as an Excuse for Crime—Reasonable Doubt.</p> <p>•i. The crime of rape is the carnal knowledge of a woman, above the age ot ten years against her will.</p> <p>2. If the prisoner at the time of the commission of the alleged offense knew what he was doing, was able to appreciate the character of his act, and knew it was unlawful or wrongful, his drunkenness would be no defense. In cases where a specific intent is an essential element of the offense intoxication becomes a matter for the jury to consider in determining whether the prisoner was capable of forming such intent at the time the act was perpetrated. Evidence of intoxication should always be received with great caution.</p> <p>3. If a person resolves to commit a crime and then drinks to intoxication and commits the act, the fact of intoxication cannot lessen the degree of the offence.</p> <p>4. Drunkenness, or intoxication, should be considered by the jury only in reference to the intent to commit the rape, and does not apply in any manner to the charge of assault, because that does not embrace any specific intent.</p> <p>5. Reasonable doubt defined.</p>