Brief Fact Summary. The Defendant, McQuirter (Defendant) a black man, was convicted of attempted rape. The Defendant was witnessed by a white woman following her down a road. After his arrest, the Defendant also allegedly confessed to the police that he intended to rape her.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. The element of intent is a question for the jury, who may consider social conditions and customs founded upon racial differences in determining whether a defendant intended to commit a particular crime.
Circumstantial evidence may afford satisfactory proof of the corpus delicti, and, if facts are presented from which the jury may reasonably infer that the crime has been committed, the question must be submitted to the jury.
View Full Point of LawIssue. Was the Defendant’s action in following woman, together with the statement he made to authorities, sufficient to convict him of intent to commit rape?
Held. Yes. Judgment affirmed.
On the evidence that Defendant confessed an intent to commit rape to the sheriff and was observed following a white woman down a road, a jury had a satisfactory basis upon which to find Defendant guilty of attempted rape. The jury could infer Defendant’s intent to rape the woman from “the social conditions and customs founded upon racial differences.” That is, if the jury believed that the black Defendant was in fact following the white woman, the purpose he had in doing so could reasonably be presumed to be rape.
Discussion. This case is notable insomuch as it seemed to permit social stereotypes about blacks to be used in drawing inferences about what Defendant’s intent was in following an unaccompanied white woman down the road.