57 N.E.2d 371 | Ill. | 1944
Plaintiff in error, Ernest Gruhl, was convicted, in the municipal court of Chicago, of the crime of contributing to the delinquency of a child. He was sentenced to imprisonment in the House of Correction for a period of one year. The Appellate Court affirmed the judgment and sentence of the municipal court and the case is now in this court on a writ of error.
Only the common-law record is before us and the two questions raised and argued in the briefs are: (1) that the municipal court was without jurisdiction to enter the judgment and sentence because there was no counsel appointed to defend plaintiff in error; and, (2) that the information did not allege facts constituting the crime of which he was convicted.
The first contention in his behalf is that it appears from the record that plaintiff in error was not afforded the assistance of counsel in his defense, in violation of his constitutional rights guaranteed by the sixth amendment of the Federal constitution and by section 9 of article II of the State constitution of 1870. The case of Johnson v. Zerbst,
This question is not new in this State. In aggravated cases, where the record abundantly shows that one accused of murder has not received the advantage of all his available defenses by reason of his inability to speak and understand our language and to understand our laws and institutions, the court should not accept his plea of guilty, after he has confessed the killing, without the concurrence of counsel appointed to defend him.(Gardner v. People,
The second contention raised is equally without merit. It is argued that the conviction cannot be sustained because the information fails to allege that the child named in the *55
information became a delinquent as a result of the acts complained of and that the allegation that the child was three years of age conclusively demonstrates that it could not become a delinquent under any of the definitions enumerated in the statute. One of the elements enumerated is indecent or lascivious conduct. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1943, chap. 38, par. 103.) Paragraph 104 of the same statute provides in substance, that anyone, who shall knowingly or willfully do acts which directly tend to render any such child so delinquent, shall be guilty of the crime of contributing to the delinquency of children. The acts alleged against plaintiff in error were such as would directly tend to render such child guilty of indecent and lascivious conduct. Since the crime was complete when the acts were committed it was not necessary for the information to allege, nor for the trial court to find, that the child, who is the subject of the offense, should be or become, by reason of the acts committed, a delinquent child. People v. Klyczek,
The allegations in the information were sufficient to inform the defendant of the crime with which he was charged, and any jury could easily understand them. (People v. Westerdahl,
For the above and foregoing reasons, the judgment of the Appellate Court is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed. *56