Gaines v. State

Summary

The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed Eric Dewayne Gaines’s rape conviction and fifteen-year sentence. The court held that third-degree carnal abuse was not a lesser-included offense of rape under Arkansas law and that the trial court properly refused to give that jury instruction. The court also upheld the constitutionality of Arkansas’s prohibition on a mistake-of-age defense for statutory rape involving a victim under fourteen.

Holdings

1. Third-degree carnal abuse is not a lesser-included offense of rape under Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-14-103(a)(4), because it requires proof of elements not required by the rape statute, and it does not qualify under any of the three tests in section 5-1-110(b). The trial court therefore properly refused the requested instruction.
2. Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-14-102(b), which prohibits a mistake-of-age defense when the victim is under fourteen, does not violate the federal or Arkansas constitutional guarantees of due process and a fair trial. Because statutory rape is a strict-liability offense and intent regarding the victim's age is not an element, the trial court properly excluded the defense.

Questions Presented

1. Whether third-degree carnal abuse is a lesser-included offense of rape under Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-14-103(a)(4) and therefore warranted a jury instruction.
2. Whether Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-14-102(b), which bars a mistake-of-age defense when the victim is under fourteen, violates the federal or Arkansas constitutional guarantees of due process and a fair trial.

Disposition

affirmed