Eggleston v. State

Per Curiam. ¹²⁵ On May 19, 1967, the appellant, Carlton Russell Eggleston, was convicted of statutory rape in the Criminal Court of Baltimore by a jury, Judge Albert L. Sklar presiding. A ten year sentence was imposed, to be carried out under the jurisdiction of the Maryland Department of Correction. From the judgment rendered, appellant raises the following contentions on appeal : 1. That the court erred in instructing the jury that ignorance of the age of the prosecuting witness was no defense. 2.

That the court erred in declining to instruct the jury that the State must prove intent. The record discloses that on the evening of November 5, 1966, the prosecutrix, Hazel Wood, age 12, attended a party at a girl friend’s house. She testified that the party broke up at approximately 9:35 p.m. and that she and her friend, Nancy Jackson, age 15, started walking home together. They passed a bar in front of which appellant and his brother were standing, and Nancy introduced Hazel to the boys.

Appellant had been at the party though Hazel did not know him. The girls continued on, walking by themselves, until they reached a nearby filling station were Nancy used the bathroom. Afterwards, Hazel, walking 20-30 feet behind Nancy, was accosted by appellant and his brother. She testified that appellant put one hand over her mouth and the other around her waist, telling her to keep quiet and to cooperate.

He pulled her down an alley and into a vacant house, where he told her that if she did not keep still lie would kill her. He then had sexual relations with her, as did his brother, after which they climbed out of the house leaving her behind. The prosecutrix notified her mother of the incident when she arrived home at about 11:00 p.m. and they called the police. Shortly thereafter, Hazel, accompanied by the police, directed them to the vacant house where they found her panties.

Dr. George Wells, the examining doctor for the Baltimore Police Department, testified that he examined the prosecuting witness at 2 :00 a.m. on the morning of November 6, 1966; that she had been virginal before this incident; that there had been forcible penetration, evidenced by the torn hymen; and that there were no lacerations on her body. ¹²⁶ Appellant testified, on his own behalf, that he was never in a vacant house with the prosecutrix, and that he never had sexual relations with her. The court did not err in instructing the jury that ignorance of the age of the prosecuting witness was no defense. Appellant rests his contention on testimony elicited from a girl friend that the prosecuting witness told her she was fifteen, and that she associated with an older crowd. However, the generally accepted state of the law as set out in Wharton’s Criminal Law, Anderson, Volume 1, Section 321, p. 662-663 (1957), fails to vindicate appellant’s proposition: “It is no defense that the defendant did not know that the female was under the statutory age of consent.

It is immaterial that the defendant in good faith believed that the female was above the