Bryant v. Commonwealth

David Joe Bryant was found guilty by a jury of rape and was sentenced to serve five years in the penitentiary. We have limited his appeal to a consideration of the action of the court below in refusing to grant an instruction tendered by the defendant.

The background of this case is that the victim, age twenty-one, married, and a resident of Roanoke, frequented a roadhouse known as the Christiansburg Grill in Montgomery County during the early morning hours of May 19, 1974. The victim talked with several men about the possibility of one of them taking her home. She finally accepted a ride with…