"Whoever assaults a person with intent to commit a rape shall be punished." In order to prove a defendant guilty of assault with intent to rape, the Commonwealth must convince a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt of the following elements:
- First Element: The defendant assaulted the victim.
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The first element the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that a defendant assaulted the victim An assault is defined as an attempt or offer by one person to do bodily injury to another by force and violence. Alternately, an assault may consist of putting a person in fear of immediate bodily injury.
An assault may be committed in one of two ways.
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The first type of assault consists of an offer or attempt to commit a battery. In this type of assault, the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant intended to physically harm the victim. The Commonwealth must also prove that the defendant did an act toward the commission of inflicting physical harm on the victim. In other words, the Commonwealth must prove that a defendant did in fact attempt to do bodily harm to the victim.
Finally, the Commonwealth must prove that the defendant had the actual or apparent ability to inflict bodily harm. This means that the Commonwealth need not show a defendant possessed the actual ability to do bodily harm. Apparent ability will suffice.
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The second type of assault occurs when a defendant, with the intent to cause apprehension of immediate bodily harm, does some act that causes such apprehension. First, the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant intended to cause apprehension of immediate bodily harm. Second, the Commonwealth must show that a defendant engaged in conduct of the sort that would raise a reasonable apprehension of bodily harm. For example, pointing an unloaded gun at another person may constitute assault. However, where a defendant utters threatening words to another person, unaccompanied by an act, such conduct generally is not sufficient to constitute assault.
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The Commonwealth must demonstrate that as a result of the threatened conduct, the complainant did in fact experience a reasonable fear of immediate physical harm. Finally, similar to the first type of assault, the Commonwealth need not demonstrate that a defendant had the actual ability at the time of the alleged assault to carry out the threat. Apparent ability will suffice.
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- Second Element: The defendant intended to rape the victim
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The second element the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that a defendant possessed a specific intent to rape the complainant.
A defendant must have had it in their mind for some perceptible period to rape the complainant. Specific intent involves concentrating or focusing the mind. An act done with specific intent are conscious acts done with the determination of the mind to do that act. It is contemplation rather than reflex, and must precede the act. An act is specifically intended if the mind focuses on accomplishment of that act, even though the intent arose only an instant before the act.
Here a defendant must have specifically intended to rape the victim. This means that a defendant must have been shown to possess an actual, subjective intent to rape the complainant.