84 Iowa 177 | Iowa | 1891
I. It appears without contradiction that the defendant, a young man aged nineteen or twenty,
There is evidence tending to show, and from which the jury might properly find, that the relations of these parties were entirely broken off in March, 1889, and that in September following the defendant renewed his visits to the prosecutrix, and their former intimacy was resumed. Except the testimony of two witnesses, there is nothing to show that Louisa Mealhouse was ever guilty of any unchaste conduct with other persons than the defendant. The statements of these two witnesses are so unreasonable and at variance with the way in which persons of the age and experience of Louisa Mealhouse act, and so contradicted, that the jury might very properly disregard them as unworthy of belief. The jury might well find that, as to all others than the defendant, the prosecutrix bore herself as a chaste girl, and that, removed from his influence, she became again of chaste character, and continued so until induced by the defendant’s arts and promises to again surrender
II. The appellant further contends that there is no evidence of seduction in September, 1889; that the
III. The appellant complains of the fourth instruction, wherein, in directing the jury what they must
IY. Complaint is made of the fifth instruction, wherein the jury were told that the prosecutrix “ must
In the seventh paragraph, upon the subject of corroboration, the court said: “And testimony which tends to connect the defendant with the act of illicit
Y. One ground of the appellant’s motion for a new trial was newly-discovered evidence, in support of which
The basis of the defendant’s showing of newly-discovered evidence is the lettei from McCannon. It is certainly unusual that a man would write such confessions of guilt, so unusual that it requires stronger evidence to establish it than to show that he had done something less unusual. A noticeable fact is that this letter is not produced, or any reason given why it is not. It does not appear that the defendant even showed it. to his counsel, who prepared the affidavit for McCan-non to verify. Concede, however, that such a letter was received, and that McCannon will testify as stated, wherein does it affect the question of the defendant’s guilt? To convict under this charge and evidence, the-jury must find that the previous carnal relation between, these parties was broken off for a time; that she reformed and became of chaste character; and that about September, 1889, the defendant, by promises of marriage, induced her to part with her virtue, and submit to sexual intercourse. That she afterwards had sexual intercourse with McCannon, which resulted in pregnancy, would not necessarily negative the defendant’s guilt, though it would show that the evil consequences that so often follow the seduction and debauchment of the chaste and virtuous followed in this instance. Such evidence would not tend to prove
This disposition of the questions made in the case leads us to the conclusion that the judgment of the district court should be affirmed.