Hawks v. Commonwealth

The principal question raised by the assignments of error is whether the trial court erred in admitting evidence that the defendant raped the woman he abducted when the indictment failed to allege intent to defile. The sufficiency of the evidence of abduction is not in issue on appeal.

Searching for a circus located somewhere in the area, Linda Thompson, 21 years of age and mentally retarded as a result of brain damage suffered at birth, was walking along a street in Galax a short distance ahead of her mother, Mrs. Shirley Thompson. Defendant Harold Eugene Hawks stopped his pickup truck beside…