State v. Dominy
Annotate this CaseDefendant Terry Dominy was charged with three counts of aggravated rape. At trial, defendant was found guilty of the charges. The defendant appealed, arguing that the aggravated rape convictions were invalid due to a statutory exclusion in Tennessee law that precludes a prosecution for rape if the perpetrator is the spouse of the victim. The intermediate court modified defendant's convictions to spousal rape, acknowledging that spousal rape is not a lesser-included offense in the indicted offense. The court of criminal appeals affirmed, holding that the indictment charging aggravated rape was sufficient to support a conviction for spousal rape, a "lesser grade" offense under the supreme court's decision in State v. Trusty. The supreme court held (1) Trusty was overruled to the extent that it recognizes lesser grade offenses as distinct from lesser-included offenses and permits convictions of lesser grade offenses that are not lesser-included offenses embraced by the indictment; and (2) in light of the overruling of Trusty, the defendant's indictment was not sufficient to support a conviction for spousal rape. The court vacated the defendant's convictions, dismissed the indictments and remanded the case to the trial court.
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