United States v. Lovely (77 F. Supp. 619, 1948)

WYCHE, District Judge.

The defendant in this case, a First Lieutenant in the United States Army, was convicted of raping a virgin, a girl twenty years old, on property of the United States Government at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The verdict of the jury was “Guilty Without Capital Punishment”.

Before imposing the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment upon the defendant, I overruled his motion for a new trial and stated that I would file a memorandum opinion giving my reasons therefor.

It is not necessary for the purpose of this opinion to state the outrageous facts disclosed by the Government’s evidence.

The main ground of the defendant’s motion for a new trial is that the court erred in admitting evidence of a rape by the defendant upon another girl under similar circumstances, in the same vicinity using the same general method, fifteen days before he is alleged to have raped the prosecutrix in this case.

At the time this testimony was offered by the Government there was in evidence a written statement of the defendant in which he contended that he had not raped the prosecutrix, that he had not had sexual intercourse with her; that on the night in question he left the Officers Club at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, with the prosecutrix at about 11:15 p. m., that upon reaching Smith’s garage, about six blocks away, he found he was getting sleepy and could not control the car properly, so he parked the car, slid down in the seat and went to sleep; that the prosecutrix was in the car when he went to sleep, but when he awakened she was gone; that he went back to his quarters and went to bed; thereby, in effect, contending that he was not present at the scene of the crime when it was committed. However, subsequently, and, after the Government had closed its case, when the defendant took the witness stand to testify in his own behalf, he admitted that this part of his statement was false; that he was present at the scene of the crime, that he had had sexual intercourse with the prosecutrix at that place