State v. Brown
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Appellant was found guilty of rape and aggravated indecent liberties with a child. The ages of both the victim and the defendant form an essential part of the elements of the off-grid versions of rape and aggravated indecent liberties with a child. While the elements jury instructions did not include Appellant’s age, the jury answered in the affirmative to special questions on the verdict forms as to whether Appellant was eighteen years old or older at the time the offenses were committed. The Supreme Court affirmed Appellant’s convictions but vacated erroneous portions of Appellant’s sentences, holding (1) the district court’s failure to include the element of age in the jury instructions on the crimes’ elements and submitting the same to the jury as special questions on the verdict forms was harmless error; (2) the prosecutor committed misconduct during closing argument, but the misconduct did not constitute reversible error; (3) sufficient evidence supported the convictions; and (4) the portions of Appellant’s sentences ordering lifetime postrelease supervision and lifetime electronic monitoring were outside the jurisdiction of the district court.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.