Neff v. United States, 11384.

• Decision Date: 01 August 1939
• Docket Number: No. 11384.,11384.
• Citation: 105 F.2d 688
• Parties: NEFF v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

105 F.2d 688 (1939)

NEFF v. UNITED STATES.

No. 11384.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

August 1, 1939.

G. P. Linville, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for appellant.

William B. Danforth, Asst. U. S. Atty., of Mason City, Iowa (Edward G. Dunn, U. S. Atty., of Mason City, Iowa, on the brief), for the United States.

Before GARDNER and THOMAS, Circuit Judges, and WYMAN, District Judge.

WYMAN, District Judge.

The appellant, Claire R. Neff, was convicted under count one of an indictment which charged him with a violation of Sec. 398, Title 18 U.S.C.A., commonly known as the Mann Act, and brings the case to this court by appeal from the judgment entered upon such conviction. For the sake of convenience the parties will be hereinafter referred to as plaintiff and defendant, as in the court below.

The appeal is based upon alleged error on the part of the trial court in the admission, over timely objections by the defendant, of certain evidence as to the appearance of the prosecuting witness and the condition of her clothing some hours subsequent to the commission of the offense, and certain other evidence tending to show that the defendant had upon two other occasions attempted to induce other girls to indulge in sexual intercourse with him.

The evidence presented on the part of the plaintiff was to the effect that the prosecuting witness, Bettie Hanson, first saw the defendant, Neff, driving an automobile on the streets of Decorah, Iowa, at about 4:30 or 5 o'clock on the afternoon of February 17th, 1938; that later the same day she saw him again and had some conversation with him at Decorah, Iowa, at which time he took her into his automobile and drove to a picnic ground in the state of Iowa some few miles from the city of Decorah; that the parties stayed at the picnic ground for some time and during that trip and while at the picnic ground the defendant repeatedly attempted to induce the prosecuting witness to submit to sexual intercourse with him, but without success; that upon leaving the picnic ground the defendant turned his car north on Highway 52 and drove to Rochester, in the state of Minnesota, and that at some point on Highway 52, after the car had turned north (whether it was in the state of Iowa or the state of Minnesota does not appear), the defendant told the prosecuting witness that he was going to have sexual intercourse with her; that they arrived at Rochester, Minnesota, about 8:30 o'clock in the evening of February 17th, 1938, and drove in the city and its vicinity until about 2 o'clock in the morning of February 18th; that during the time said parties were in Rochester, Minnesota, the defendant, upon several occasions, left the said Bettie Hanson alone in the car while he went into a night club, a filling station, and the Kahler Hotel, and while they were driving in and about the city of Rochester the defendant repeatedly endeavored to induce the said Bettie Hanson to submit to sexual intercourse with him, but without avail; that on the way from Rochester back to Decorah, Iowa, at some time subsequent to the hour of 2 o'clock in the morning of February 18th, 1938, at a point on Highway 52, about three miles from the town of Marion, Minnesota, the defendant and the prosecuting witness, Bettie Hanson, indulged in the act of sexual intercourse; that he then drove the automobile to a point about two miles north of Decorah, Iowa, where Bettie Hanson left the car and walked to the home of Dolores Fagerlie, one of her girl friends in the city of Decorah, where she arrived between 8 and 8:30 o'clock on the morning of February 18th, 1938. As a part of her direct examination the prosecuting witness, without objection on the part of the defendant, made the following statement: "When I arrived in Decorah I was nervous, upset and tired; there was several buttons off at my neck; where the skirt was sewed on the waist was ripped and my belt buckle was broken, and I had a couple of runs in my stockings."

As a part of its main case the plaintiff called Dolores Fagerlie as a witness and over the objection of the defendant, she was permitted to testify as to the appearance of the prosecuting witness and the condition of her clothing upon her arrival at the home of the said Dolores Fagerlie on the morning of February 18th, and the same witness was permitted to testify, over timely objection, as to the details of an experience which she had with the defendant at about the middle of December, 1937, when, according to her testimony, he induced her to get into the automobile at Decorah, Iowa, and drove to a point in the same state near the village of Spillville, where he attempted to induce her to have sexual intercourse with him.

Gladys Arneson, another witness for the plaintiff, was also, over objection by the defendant, permitted to relate the details of an occasion on the evening of February 18th, 1938, when the defendant, according to her testimony, took her in his automobile from the city of Decorah, Iowa, to a point in the same state, a few miles distant, where he attempted to induce her to submit to sexual intercourse with him.

The defendant contends that the admission of this testimony as to the appearance of the prosecuting witness and the condition of her clothing, as well as the testimony of Dolores Fagerlie and Gladys Arneson as to the occasions when the defendant made improper advances and took undue liberties with each of them, was prejudicial error. On the other hand, it is the contention of the plaintiff that the testimony of Dolores Fagerlie as to the appearance of the prosecuting witness and the condition of her clothing was competent as corroborating the story of the prosecuting witness, and that the testimony of the witnesses Fagerlie and Arneson as to the defendant's improper conduct with each of them was competent evidence as bearing upon the intent of the defendant, and that it was properly admitted for that purpose only by the Court.

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