123 P. 888 | Utah | 1912
The defendant was convicted of the crime of pandering, and was sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison for a term of eighteen years. She appeals.
The portion of the statute (Sess. Laws 1911, chap. 108) under which she was charged and convicted reads: “Any person who shall, by promises, threats, violence, or by any device or scheme, cause, induce, persuade, encourage, inveigle, or entice an inmate of a house of prostitution or place of assignation to remain therein as such inmate,” is guilty of the crime of pandering and punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of not more than twenty years. The information charged that the defendant on, etc., at, etc., “did then and there willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously, by promises and threats, and by divers devices and schemes, cause, induce, persuade and encourage” a particularly named female, “being then and there an inmate of a certain house of prostitution, to remain therein as such inmate; such house of prostitution being then and there known as No. 140 in what is commonly known as the stockade in Salt Lake City.’'’ To this information the defendant, before plea, interposed a general and a special demurrer alleging that the information did not state facts sufficient to constitute an offense, and especially did not sufficiently set forth the nature and cause of the accusation, nor the acts constituting the offense, nor
“On a motion in arrest of judgment, as well as on a demurrer, it is essential to the validity of an indictment that it contain aver-ments of the facts which constitute the offense it charges so certain and specific that upon conviction or acquittal thereon it, and the judgment upon it, will constitute a complete defense to a second prosecution of the defendant for the same offense.”
Many cases in support of this doctrine are there cited.
“It is an elementary principle of criminal pleading that where the definition of an offense, whether it he at common law or by statute, includes generic terms, it is not sufficient that the indictment shall charge the offense in the same generic terms as in the definition, hut it must state the species — it must descend to particulars.”
“Where an act denounced by tbe statute is couched in generic terms, the information must go further in stating the offense than by merely using the language of the statute,” and that an information in such language is not sufficient “in those cases where the acts constituting the offense are nearly as varied as the number of cases in which the charge is made.”
In order that an information merely in the words of the statute' may be sufficient, the words of the statute themselves “must fully, directly, and expressly, without any uncertainty or ambiguity, set forth all the elements necessary to constitute the offense intended to be punished, and must state all the material facts and circumstances embraced in the definition of the offense.” (22 Cyc. 340; Evans v. United States, 153 U. S. 587, 14 Sup. Ct. 934, 38 L. Ed. 830; United States v. Carll, 105 U. S. 611, 26 L. Ed. 1135.)
The Supreme Court of California well, expressed the rule in People v. Perales, 141 Cal. 581, 75 Pac. 170, in the following language:
“While it is the general rule that it is sufficient to charge an offense in the language of the statute, yet this rule is subject to the qualification that, where a more particular statement of facts is necessary in order to charge the offense definitely and certainly, it must be made. The statute may, and often does, define the offense by the use of precise and technical words which have a well-recognized meaning or designates and specifies particular acts or means whereby an offense may be committed. Under-such circumstances, to charge the offense substantially in the language of the statute will be sufficient. When, however, the words or terms used in the statute have no technical or precise meaning, which of themselves imply the offense, or where the particular facts or acts which shall constitute it are not specified, but, from the general language used, many 'things may be done which may constitute an offense, it is then necessary, in charging an offense claimed to be embraced within the general language of the statute, to set forth the particular things or acts charged to have been done with reasonable certainty and distinctness, so that the court may determine whether an offense within the statute is charged or one over which it has jurisdiction, and so that the defendant may be advised of the particular nature of it in order to defend against it, and to plead in bar a judgment of conviction or acquittal thereof, if subsequently prosecuted.” -
“The language of the statute cannot always he followed in punishments for offenses of either a criminal or a penal nature, Enough must be stated to enable the defendant to know in what particular he has violated the statute.”
And in State v. Frasier, 53 Kan. 87, 36 Pac. 58, 42 Am. St. Rep. 274:
‘The physical acts done towards the commission of the offense should he stated in the information or indictment, so that the court may see whether or not the law has been violated, and so that the accused may know to what he must make answer.”
To the same effect is Thompson v. People, 96 Ill. 161, and are also many other cases.
What are here the essentials of the charged offense ? The state urges to cause, induce, and encourage an inmate of a house of prostitution to remain therein as such inmate. That is one essential; but it is not all the essentials declared by the statute. It declares that “any person who shall, by promises, threats, violence, or by any device or scheme,” cause, induce, etc., an inmate of such a house to remain therein, is guilty of an offense. The act or conduct of the person who shall, by a promise or threat or violence, or by a device or scheme, cause, induce, or encourage, etc., is a necessary “act constituting the offense,” and is a “particular circumstance of the offense to constitute a complete offense.” Without it no offense under the statute is committed. That is manifest from a reading of the statute. And so did the pleader conclude, for the information charges, not that the defendant caused and induced, etc., an inmate of a house of prostitution to remain therein, but that the defendant did, “by promises and threats and by divers devices and schemes, cause, induce,” etc., such a person to remain in such a house as an inmate. The statute thus making such acts and conduct of a promise or threat or violence, or by a device or scheme, necessary acts constituting the offense, and requiring “the particular circumstances necessary to constitute a complete offense” to be stated, were
When the defendant was charged that she had “by divers. devices and schemes” accomplished a particular result, who but the pleader knew what was intended or expected to be proved against her in such respect? Or, if it should be claimed that she by “threats” had accomplished such result, again, who but the pleader could know with reasonable certainty what menacing act or conduct of hurt or fear, or threatening mienace to inflict pain or punishment or injury to person, reputation, or property, or to restrain freedom of action, was intended or expected to be proved ? Should one complain of another that he “threatened” him, would not again the first question necessarily be, in order to “enable a person of common understanding to know” what was meant or intended, “What did he say or do ?” And, if it should be claimed that the defendant by “promises” had accomplished such result, again, could any one but the pleader know with
Under this information, neither the cpurt nor the defendant, until the evidence was adduced, could know what particular acts or conduct would be claimed had been committed by the defendant, and, until then, the court could not know whether an offense had been charged, nor the defendant what she was called upon to meet and answer. As the accused “must be presumed ignorant of what is intended to be proved against him except as he is informed by the information or indictment,” it is essential that the information or indictment, not the evidence, apprise him with reasonable certainty what is intended or expected to be proved, and what he is required to meet and defend. And, as repeatedly stated by the courts, the acts constituting the offense', and the particular circumstances of the offense, when they are necessary to constitute a complete offense, are required to be stated in the information, so that the court may determine whether the acts and conduct complained of constitute a violation of the
In United States v. Hess, supra, and in the federal eases just cited, it was held that an indictment based on and' in the language of the statute directed against “devising or intend
In People v. Neil, supra, it was held that 'an information charging that the defendant “fraudulently voted at an election when he was not entitled to vote,” though in the language of the statute, is not sufficient to state an offense, but must set forth the facts relied on to show fraudulent voting and the particular fact or facts showing that the defendant was not entitled to vote.
In State v. Farmer, supra, it was held that an indictment against a physician, in the language of the statute, for giving a false and fraudulent prescription for liquors, must set out not only that the prescription was either false or fraudulent, but also the facts and particulars constituting the falsity or fraud.
In State v. Bennett, supra, an information charging in the language of the statute that the accused “did enter upon and exercise and continue the exercise and practice of a business, avocation, or profession of a private detective,” without stating facts to show in what way he acted as such, was held fatally defective.
The insufficiency of the information is -thus shown by numerous authorities. We have been referred to no case which in our judgment supports the information. The Attorney-General has referred us to a number of cases, but upon a careful examination of them it will be found that they lend but little support to his contention. He starts with the proposition that “it is the universal rule that statutory offenses should be alleged in the words of the statute.” Biut that, under all the authorities, is stating the rule much too broadly. The rule is this, and as we have already indicated,
The Attorney-General refers us to State v. Williamson, 22 Utah, 248, 62 Pac. 1022, 83 Am. St. Rep. 780, and to State v. Evans, 27 Utah, 12, 73 Pac. 1047, where informations in the language of the statute were held good. But in those cases the offense charged was, in the one having carnal knowledge, and in the other attempting to have carnal knowledge, of the body of a female under eighteen years of age. The statute there specified the particular act declared to be the offense — having carnal knowledge of the body of a female. The information which charged that the accused “had carnal knowledge of the body” of a woman described the particular act or conduct of which complaint was made. No language, however artful or replete with literary foliage, could describe that act or conduct more precisely or certainly. It describes not many or divers acts or things, but one particular, precise, and definite act. Contrast that with this information: “Did, by promises, threats, and divers devices and schemes, induce,” etc. — generic terms broad enough to' embrace almost innumerable species and particulars, and about every conceivable thing which may be called a promise, a threat, or a device or scheme. Under it, not only one or several precise or definite, but many and divers, acts and things are embraced. Let the language of the court in United States v. Cruikshank, supra, again be noticed:
*51 “Where the definition of an offense, whether it be at common law or by statute, includes generic terms, it is not sufficient that the indictment should charge the offense in the same generic terms as in the definition; but it must state the species — it must descend to particulars.”
Tbis principle was recognized in the cited case of State v. Evans, for the court there well observed:
“This is not a case where the accused, under such an information, may be taken by surprise, as in case of a crime which may be committed in several different ways or with various means, and therefore the reason of the rule which requires the overt act or acts by which a crime was committed to be pleaded does not apply, and hence the rule itself ought not to be enforced.”
The court could have gone further by saying that the “overt act” was particularly described by the use of the words “carnal knowledge;” they having such a precise and well-recognized meaning as to enable a person of common understanding to know just what is intended.
We are also referred to the case of State v. Bauguess, 106 Iowa, 107, 76 N. W. 508. But in that case the same principle was also recognized. The court said:
“It has been repeatedly held that an indictment is sufficient if it charges the offense in the language of the statute, when that shows the material facts which constitute the offense.”
There the accused was charged in the language of the statute with having made “an indecent exposure of the person.” The court properly held the indictment good, for, as there stated by the court, the offense was both named and particularly described, the phrase “indecent exposure of the person” having a well-settled and commonly accepted signification and meaning the exhibition of such parts of the person as modesty or a sense of self-respect requires to be kept usually covered. The court well distinguished that case from a prior decision of the same court (State v. Butcher, 79 Iowa, 111, 44 N. W. 239), where it was held that an information in the language of the statute charging the accused with having “willfully and unlawfully interrupted and disturbed a
The Attorney-General strongly relies on the case of State v. Porter, 105 Iowa, 611, 15 N. W. 519, seemingly, not so much on the exact point decided as on particular language there employed. In that case the indictment charged that the accused suborned and procured a witness in a certain cause to falsely testify to certain facts specifically set forth in the information. The insufficiency of the indictment was urged on the ground that it failed to state the means and methods by which the accused suborned the witness and procured him to falsely testify to- the alleged facts. The court, in holding the indictment good, well observed that “if the defendant induced” the witness “to testify falsely, and did so> knowingly, it is quite immaterial what means he used, whether in themselves illegal or not. The crime does not inhere in the method or means, but in the result — the procurement.” This language is pointed to and sought to be applied thus: That the gravamen of the charged offense here is to “cause, induce, persuade, or encourage” an inmate of a house of prostitution to remain therein, and that the means or method employed to accomplish such result are immaterial and unessential. That leads to the conclusion that the means and method employed to accomplish the charged result need not be and were unnecessarily alleged, and that an information charging that the accused caused, induced, persuaded, and encouraged an inmate, of a house of prostitution to- remain therein would be a good information. But a glance at the statute shows such a position wholly untenable. As already observed, the language of the statute here is not that “any person who- shall cause, induce,” etc., an inmate of a house of prostitution to remain therein is guilty of an offense, but that “any person who shall by promises, threats, violence, or by any device or scheme cause,”' etc., an inmate to remain in such house is guilty of an offense. In the Iowa case the means and method of procuring the false testimony to- be given were not by statute made
The case of State v. George, 93 N. C. 567, is also cited. The indictment there charged that the defendant, at a specified time and place, willfully and unlawfully “did abduct” a child under fourteen years of age from the custody of her father, and induced her to- leave him, etc. The-court very properly held the indictment not bad because it failed to allege the means by which the abduction was-effected. Again the court observed that the term “abduction” has a well-known signification and means “the taking- and carrying away of a child,” etc., and that “when a statute makes the particular act an offense, and sufficiently describes it, by terms having a definite and specific meaning, without specifying the means of doing the act, it is enough to charge-the act itself, without its attendant circumstances.” But here the statute does describe the means- of doing the act, not in terms having a definite or specific meaning, but in generic terms having a general, comprehensive, and a varied' meaning, and under which many things may be done which-may constitute the offense.
We do not deem it necessary to further review cases. We-have reviewed those apparently most relied on by the state, and have carefully considered all cited by it. We do not think any of them support its contention. To the contrary, the authorities, with substantial unanimity, hold such an information as this, under similar statutes as here, fatally defective; and such, in effect, has been the holding of this-court since- its organization.
A further rather ingenious argument is made by the state-that, when the evidence is looked to, it will be seen that “the-prosecution did not attempt to show at the trial any threats, devices, or schemes, but did’ show, as we contend, certain-.
Furthermore, much of the evidence relating to the question in hand — the certain promises, the only thing which the. state claims was attempted to be proved — is as vague and uncertain as the information itself. It is shown that in Salt Lake City there was maintained a “stockade,” an inclosed cluster of houses of prostitution. The houses were occupied and the business of prostitution conducted therein by different so-called “landladies” who received and employed their own inmates and prostitutes. The buildings were owned by ,an-investmtent company of which the defendant was a stockholder and in which she was interested. She rented them to different landladies, collected the rents, maintained an office in the stockade, and was a sort of supervisor or director of the stockade. She had nothing to do with procuring or employing the inmates. So far as disclosed by the .evidence, she exercised no control or direction over them except the inmates were required to report at her office for a physical' examination as to health and cleanliness by a physician employed for such purpose. .The physician reported to the defendant the result of the examination, and she gave the inmate a certificate, either of health or for free entrance to a hospital for treatment if diseased or sick. The inmate of one' of the houses of prostitution, No. 140, whom the state claimed and alleged was an inmate therein, and whom it is alleged the defendant, by promises, etc., caused and induced to remain therein as such inmate, voluntarily entered the house of prostitution occupied and conducted by one of the landladies, and there for hire voluntarily prostituted her person to divers men, some of whom had roomed at her mother’s-, rooming house and with whom she was acquainted. She at will left the house in the morning and returned in the evening. The next day, she with other inmates, voluntarily reported to the defendant’s office for an examination. There-she met the defendant. It is not charged or claimed that the-
This is all the evidence in the record on the part of the state bearing on the question of any promises having been made by the defendant, or of her causing, persuading, or inducing the inmate to remain an inmate of a house of prostitution, and is all in support thereof that is pointed to by the state. Putting it in the Attomey-General’s own language, the defendant said to the inmate “that she was not too young to be in that business; that she was just the right age; that
We have thus reviewed such matters, not from the standpoint of the defendant’s evidence, but wholly from that of the state. Nor does the evidence of the defendant aid the
There is other evidence relating, to the inmate’s conduct in •entering the house of prostitution and' becoming an inmate therein, but as it is not charged or claimed that she was, against her will, caused of induced to enter the house and to become such inmate, or that the defendant had anything to •do in causing or inducing her to do so, w© have not in detail referred to that. There is also much evidence to show the manner in which the unlawful and disreputable business was carried on in the stockade, the defendant’s interest in, her ■connection with and supervision over it, and that she was an active and the principal factor in fostering and maintaining it. The evidence amply shows that the law in such particulars was violated, that the business ought to have been suppressed, and the defendant and all other offenders prosecuted and punished for such violations. But she was not charged with, nor tried for, or convicted of, that. There is also evidence to show that the defendant told one of the witnesses who also was charged with pandering “to lie like hell,” and some to justify the inference that both the mother and the inmate were unwilling witnesses for the state, and that they, especially the mother, through collusion or otherwise with the defendant seemingly colored their testimony in the defendant’s favor, and, in some particulars, attempted to shield her
Even though the evidence should support a good information, yet, for the reasons already stated, the prosecution must fail because of the fatally defective information; such a defect being incurable by evidence or verdict. An information or indictment when assailed as to substance must stand or fall by its own structure. It is not a technical, but a sound and fundamental, rule in the law of criminal procedure that the accused be apprised, not by the evidence adduced, but, at the outset, by the indictment or information,, with reasonable certainty of the exact nature of the accusation against him. This rule cannot be bent to meet exigencies of a particular case, nor the class or grade of the person accused. The Constitution and the statute prescribe the rules by which the sufficiency of an information may be determined, and they apply to all alike. They do not prescribe one rule for a keeper or director of a house of prostitution and another for a nun, nor one rale for one offense and another for another offense.
The order therefore is that the judgment of the court below be reversed, and the case remanded to the district court, with directions to discharge the defendant.