McQuirter v. State

Facts

About 8:00 o'clock on the night of June 29, 1951, Mrs. Allen, a white woman, was in Atmore with her two children and a neighbor's little girl. As they walked home from a diner, she saw McQuirter, a Black man (the opinion's word is "Negro"), sitting in the cab of a parked truck. As she passed, he said something she could not understand, opened the truck door and put his foot on the running board. She testified that he followed her down the street and came within two or three feet of her. Later he came toward her from behind a telephone pole. She sent the children to bring Mr. Simmons to meet her. When McQuirter saw Simmons, he turned back and leaned on a stop sign across from her home for about thirty minutes. Her daughter and Simmons supported parts of her account. Officers testified to what McQuirter said after his arrest. He said he came to Atmore intending to get a white woman, that he decided to get the first woman who came by, and that he planned to carry her into a cotton patch and kill her if she hollered. McQuirter testified that he never followed her or tried to molest anyone, denied making the statements, said he had never been arrested, and called two witnesses to his good reputation.

Issues

1. Was the evidence enough to send to the jury, and to support a conviction for an attempt to commit an assault with intent to rape, where the question was whether he intended intercourse with a woman he followed, against her will, by force or by putting her in fear?
2. Was the officers' testimony about the defendant's statements of intent admissible when the defendant argued that no attempt or overt act toward carrying out that intent had been proven?

Holding

The evidence, including the defendant's own statements to officers, was enough to submit his guilt to the jury and to support the conviction. The court also found no reversible error in admitting the statements, so it affirmed the judgment.