187 Iowa 385 | Iowa | 1919
The indictment charges defendant with the crime of resorting to a house of ill fame for the purpose of lewdness, and is based upon Section 4943 of the Code, which is as follows:
Although no direct proof of prostitution at the place designated as a house of ill fame was offered, the record discloses that it was a rendezvous for immoral men and women, and fully justified the jury in finding that it was a house of ill fame. Counsel for the defendant insist, however, that the evidence wholly fails to show that he visited the place for the purpose of lewdness, as charged. The keeping of a house of ill fame is, by Section 4939 of the Code, made a crime, and the keeper thereof may, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not less than six months, nor more than five
The obvious purpose of the legislature in enacting the foregoing statutes was to make adequate provision for the protection of the community and society from the demoralizing and degrading influence of persons and places of the character named. To this end, provision has been made whereby not only the keeper who provides and maintains a place resorted to' by immoral persons for the purpose of prostitution, but also the inmate and frequenter thereof may be punished. The crime charged consists in resorting to or visiting a house of ill fame for the purpose of lewdness. The lewdness contemplated by the statute is some immoral, lustful, or lascivious act, in keeping with the immorality common to the place.
The defendant is shown by the evidence to have consorted with one of the inmates above referred to, upon the streets and in his garage and other places, secretly and for immoral purposes; but these facts do not establish the crime charged. His purpose in going to the place in question, to take one of the inmates riding in his automobile, and perchance to some place where their immoral tendencies might be indulged, is also insufficient to make out the crime charged. To resort to a place of the character charged for the purpose of lewdness means to visit the same for
We reach the conclusion, therefore, that the record fails to sustain the conviction, and the judgment of the court below must be reversed, and it is so ordered. — Reversed.