Chapter 12: Whitner v. State
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
12-2022
Editor(s)
Bennett Capers, Sarah Deer, and Corey Rayburn Yung
ISBN
9781009095976
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Language
en-US
Abstract
The decision of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts concerned the difficult problem of defining the quantum of intoxication abrogates a person’s ability to consent to sex. The jury convicted a police officer, who was summoned to assist a highly intoxicated person, of rape of that person. However, the high court overturned the conviction, holding that the “wholly insensible” test was too vague to support a legal conviction. Notably, the court offered no alternative to the rejected test, essentially leaving the state without any rule about the degree of intoxication or other incapacitation abrogates consent.
Recommended Citation
Ruqaiijah Yearby & Aziza Ahmed,
Chapter 12: Whitner v. State
,
in
Feminist Judgements: Rewritten Criminal Law Opinions
253
(Bennett Capers, Sarah Deer, and Corey Rayburn Yung ed.,
2022).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/3974
