Barrett v. Commonwealth

Defendant, Billy Joe Barrett, was indicted for the rape of his twelve-year-old daughter, Daisy. On his trial to a jury the court struck out the evidence on the charge of rape, the jury found him guilty of attempt to rape and fixed his punishment at five years in the penitentiary, Code § 18.1-16. He was sentenced accordingly and is here on a writ of error. He asserts that the evidence was not suffi cient to prove him guilty of such attempt. It consisted essentially of the testimony of his wife and daughter.

The Barrett family was composed of the defendant, his wife Eva, to whom he had been…