Barnett v. Commonwealth

Melvin Lander Barnett was indicted for abduction and rape and, having waived a jury trial, was convicted by the court below and sentenced to serve eight years in the penitentiary for each offense. On this appeal he questions the sufficiency of the evidence to support the convictions.

On June 9, 1974, at approximately lip. m., the victim, age seventeen, and her husband, age eighteen, were walking and pushing their bicycles along Argonne Avenue in Norfolk, en route to the home of the husband’s mother. At that time a male operating a tan-colored automobile pulled up and asked them for directions…