Donald Caple v. State of Arkansas

Summary

The court affirmed Caple’s convictions for rape and second-degree sexual assault and his sentences of life imprisonment and twenty years’ imprisonment. It held that the victim’s testimony, together with Caple’s admissions, supplied substantial evidence of the penetration and sexual-gratification elements of rape, and that the circuit court properly refused an attempted-rape instruction because Caple presented an all-or-nothing denial of penetration. The court also held that the sentencing testimony about child-abuse statistics was relevant to the impact of the offense on the victim’s family and that Caple failed to preserve his specific evidentiary objection.