From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Lynn v. United States

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Feb 7, 1949
172 F.2d 764 (D.C. Cir. 1949)

Opinion

No. 9879.

Argued January 27, 1949.

Decided February 7, 1949.

Appeal from the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia (now United States District Court for the District of Columbia).

Raymond Lynn was convicted of assault with intent to rape, and he appeals.

Affirmed.

Mr. W. Theophilus Jones, of Washington, D.C., with whom Mr. Otho D. Branson, of Washington, D.C., was on the brief, for appellant.

Mr. Edward L. Carey, Assistant United States Attorney, of Fairlington, Va., with whom Messrs. George Morris Fay, United States Attorney, John D. Lane and Sidney S. Sachs, Assistant United States Attorneys, all of Washington, D.C., were on the brief for appellee. Mrs. Grace B. Stiles, Assistant United States Attorney, of Washington, D.C., also entered an appearance for appellee.

Before EDGERTON and WILBUR K. MILLER, Circuit Judges, and HOLTZOFF, District Judge, sitting by designation.


This appeal is from a conviction of assault with intent to rape. Appellant disputes the sufficiency of the evidence. But from what he said and did during the violent assault he committed upon a woman he did not know, we think it may well be regarded as clear beyond a reasonable doubt that he intended to commit rape. Cf. Robinson v. United States, 78 U.S.App.D.C. 63, 136 F.2d 283. The Hammond case (Hammond v. United States), 75 U.S.App. D.C. 397, 127 F.2d 752, in which the defendant was well acquainted with the prosecuting witness and used no violence, throws no doubt upon the sufficiency of the present evidence. The possibility that appellant fell too far short of success to be conventionally regarded as guilty of attempt to rape is immaterial, like the fact that rape itself was not committed.

Affirmed.


Summaries of

Lynn v. United States

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
Feb 7, 1949
172 F.2d 764 (D.C. Cir. 1949)
Case details for

Lynn v. United States

Case Details

Full title:LYNN v. UNITED STATES

Court:United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit

Date published: Feb 7, 1949

Citations

172 F.2d 764 (D.C. Cir. 1949)