State v. Ray

Riley, President:

The defendant, Herman Ray, was indicted and convicted for statutory rape upon Wilma McClure, a female under sixteen years of age. A writ of error to the circuit court of Kanawha County was refused.

The sufficiency of the indictment, which was drawn in the form prescribed by Code, 62-9-7, is in question. The indictment, following the prescribed form, does not state that the defendant was “over the age of sixteen years”, and that prosecutrix was “of previous chaste character”, notwithstanding Code, 61-2-15, defines the crime as follows: “ * * * if any male person over the age of…