Pittman v. Commonwealth

This is a writ of error to a judgment, sentencing the accused, George Pittman, in accordance with the verdict of the jury, to confinement in the penitentiary for the period of fifteen years for forcible rape.

It is assigned as error that the verdict of the jury is without evidence to support it and that the court erred in refusing to set aside the verdict and award a new trial.

The accused, a widower twenty-six years of age, lived one-half block from the prosecutrix, Wilhelmina Cole, in the city of Portsmouth. They were acquaintances and for several weeks before the alleged assault the accused…