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115 Ky. 473

White v. Commonwealth

Court of Appeals of Kentucky

Decided May 5, 1903

Court of Appeals of Kentucky · decided 1903-05-05

<p>Held: 1. On a prosecution for sodomy it was' not -error to fall to give instructions, covering the law of assault and battery, no assault and battery having been charged except as a part of the assault to commit the crime of sodomy.</p> <p>2. An emission is not necessary to. the- ¡consummation of the offense of sodomy.</p>

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““The decisions on this point have .. not been uniform, but the drift of the , latter decisions in both the English and American courts is to hold that nothing more than res in re, without regard to the extent of the penetration or emission, is all that is required.””

quoted by 1 later decision, including State v. Massey

““No assault and battery is charged against the defendant, except as a part of his assault to commit the crime of sodomy. This is the offense sought to be punished, and we think the court did not err in failing to instruct the jury for any other offense.””

quoted by 1 later decision, including State v. Nelson

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Affirmed · Decided 1903-05-05

How this case has been cited

Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently January 1954

5 state decisions

40190319101920193019401950decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1Opinion oe the court by

CHIEF JUSTICE BURNAM

¶2Aotítrming.

¶3The appellant was convicted of the crime of sodomy, and his punishment fixed at two years’ confinement in the penitentiary.

¶4We are asked upon this appeal to reverse the judgment rendered pursuant thereto on two grounds: First, because the testimony did not establish the guilt of the accused; and, second, because the court erred in not pointing out and advising the jury as to the specific acts that constitute the offense.

¶5Every person of ordinary intelligence understands what is meant by a charge of sodomy, and the instructions given in this case follow the language of the indictment, and are, we think, sufficiently specific. It is also insisted that the court erred in failing to give instructions covering the law of assault and battery! No assault and battery is charged *475against the defendant, except as a part of his assault.to commit the crime of sodomy. This is the offense sought to be punished, and we think the court did not err in failing to instruct the jury for any other offense.

¶6It is also insisted that emission is necessary to the consummation of the offense of sodomy, and that, as the proof wholly failed on this point, the jury should have been directed to find the defendant not guilty. The decisions on this point have not been uniform, but the drift of the latter decisions in both the English and American courts is to hold that nothing more than res in re, without regard to the extent of the penetration or emission, is all that is required. See Bishop’s New Griminal Law, vol. 2, section 1127.

¶7Finding no error in the record, the judgment is affirmed.

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