McKinnon v. State

George Rose Smith, Justice.

The appellant was convicted

of rape and was sentenced as an habitual offender to imprisonment for 40 years. The sufficiency of the State’s proof is not questioned, it having been shown that McKinnon had engaged by forcible compulsion in deviate sexual activity with a girl (who was eleven years old at the time). Two points for reversal are argued.

First, it is insisted that the prosecution should not have been allowed to cross-examine McKinnon about his past use of aliases. He admitted that he had used the name Steve Owens to conceal his whereabouts from his wife. He…