173 N.E. 355 | Ill. | 1930
Lead Opinion
Sophie Hassil, plaintiff in error, was tried and convicted in the municipal court of Chicago under an amended information in which it was alleged that on or about December 24, 1928, she unlawfully and willfully did knowingly, without lawful consideration, take, accept and receive the sum of $25 from Helen Karczewska, a female person, which $25 was a part of the earnings of Helen Karczewska from the practice by her of prostitution. The court overruled a motion in arrest of judgment and sentenced plaintiff in error to six months in the house of correction and to pay a fine of $300 and costs. The judgment provided that in default of payment of the fine and costs, plaintiff in error after the expiration of the term of imprisonment should stand committed to the house of correction until the fine and costs should have been worked out at the rate of $1.50 per day or until the fine and costs were paid or she discharged according to law. A writ of error to review the *288 record has been sued out of this court under the contention that the Pandering act, under which conviction was had, is unconstitutional.
Convictions under the Pandering act (Cahill's Stat. 1929, chap. 38, pars. 475-478,) have been upheld by this court in a number of cases, in some of which its constitutionality has been subjected to attack. (People v. Braun,
Plaintiff in error next contends that the charge as laid in the amended information is predicated upon an amended statute which violates section 13 of article 4 of the constitution of Illinois because embracing in the amendment a non-related subject. The argument seems to be that the portion of the statute making it unlawful for any person knowingly, without lawful consideration, to take, accept or receive any money or other thing of value from any female person from the earnings of her prostitution does not define any act which constitutes pandering. The statute is entitled, "An act in relation to pandering, to define and prohibit the same, to provide for the punishment thereof, for the competency of certain evidence at the trial therefor, and providing what shall not be a defense." Following the indication of its title it proceeds to define what shall constitute the crime of pandering, and the acts charged in the within information are enumerated, along with *290
others, as constituting that crime. There is no merit in the contention. (State v. Pippi,
It is urged that because the statute contains no definition of the words "without lawful consideration," it does not apprise everyone of what may or may not be done under it, and is therefore so incomplete and uncertain that it cannot be enforced. As the court said in Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co.
v. Interstate Commerce Com.
Plaintiff in error next contends that the information does not detail the acts relied upon to constitute an offense, viz., "without lawful consideration," and that in the absence *291
of such particulars the information is void. There was no motion to quash the information or for a bill of particulars. Whether or not plaintiff in error was entitled to a detailed statement of the circumstances attending the alleged taking of money from the prostitute if the point had been presented at an appropriate earlier stage of the proceedings, the conviction is sufficiently supported by the information under which the trial was had. Young v. People,
The contention is also made that the information does not charge the plaintiff in error with the commission of any crime because it does not aver that the prostitute earned the money subsequent to the enactment of the statute in 1917 and within eighteen months of the time when plaintiff in error took it. The original information was filed September 10, 1929, and the amended information, under which the conviction was had, was filed October 14, 1929. The date of commission of the offense by plaintiff in error is alleged therein as December 24, 1928. The point was not made below and is raised for the first time in this court. There is no merit in it. Young v. People, supra;People v. Rhodes, supra; State v. Schuman, supra; State v.Kelly, supra; State v. Howe,
Plaintiff in error contends, finally, that the statute dealing with pandering is a complete act in itself, providing a penalty in the form of fine or imprisonment, and that in providing that in lieu of payment of the fine plaintiff in error should work it out at the rate of $1.50 per day the court added an additional punishment, which is improper. It is provided by statute that any person convicted of any misdemeanor punishable under the laws of this State may be required, by order of a court of record in which the conviction is had, to work out such fine and costs at the rate of $1.50 per day. (Cahill's Stat. 1929, chap. 38, *292 par. 384.) This latter provision has been upheld as applied to sentences under the statute here involved, (People v. VanBever,supra,) and we see no valid reason for not upholding the sentence here.
The judgment of the municipal court is affirmed.
Addendum
The foregoing opinion reported by Mr. Commissioner Edmunds is hereby adopted as the opinion of the court, and judgment is entered in accordance therewith.
Judgment affirmed.