Elmore v. Commonwealth

Opinion of the Court by

Judge Fulton

— Reversing.

The appellant, Owen Elmore, a negro boy 17 years of age, was convicted of the rape of Margaret Coyle, a white girl 14 years of age, and the verdict of the jury fixed his punishment at death. From the judgment entered on that verdict this appeal is prosecuted.

The appellant and the prosecuting witness are children of tenant families and have resided for more than three years on adjoining farms, the houses being about % mile distant.. About 9 o’clock on the morning of April 12, 1939, Margaret, accompanied by a white girl and a sister of appellant,…