State v. Norman

Citation140 N.W. 815,160 Iowa 158
PartiesSTATE v. NORMAN.
Decision Date09 April 1913
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Iowa

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Appeal from District Court, Fremont County; A. B. Thornell, Judge.

The defendant, having been convicted of the crime of seduction, appeals. Affirmed.Tinley, Mitchell & Thornell, of Council Bluffs, for appellant.

George Cosson, Atty. Gen., and John Fletcher, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

LADD, J.

The accused was indicted in March, 1912, for having seduced prosecutrix in November previous, and was convicted in April following. He contends that the conviction was erroneous in that: (1) Prosecutrix was not proven to have been an unmarried woman; and (2) was proven to have been of unchaste character. There was no direct evidence that prosecutrix was unmarried, but she testified that she had lived with her parents all her life, told where they had lived and stated that her parents, two brothers, three sisters, with herself, constituted the family. Her mother also testified that she had lived with her all her life. Counsel for defendant repeatedly, during her cross-examination and in examining defendant, referred to her as “Miss Le Fever,” and the defendant, in relating an incident, testified that “Miss Mae Le Fever went with me to the theater.”

[1] She was but 23 years of age, and the trial evidently proceeded on the theory that she was a single woman. More strict proof of status may be exacted in some states. See People v. Krusick, 93 Cal. 74, 28 Pac. 794;State v. Wheeler, 108 Mo. 658, 18 S. W. 924. But all that is essential, under the decisions of this court, is that the facts and circumstances disclosed be such as to fairly warrant the inference that prosecutrix was unmarried at the time of the seduction alleged. State v. Moffit, 136 N. W. 908;State v. Heatherton, 60 Iowa, 175, 14 N. W. 230;Breiner v. Nugent, 136 Iowa, 322, 111 N. W. 446;Egan v. Murray, 80 Iowa, 180, 45 N. W. 563. Enough appears in the record to justify the finding of the jury.

2. Nor should the jury's finding that prosecutrix was of previous unchaste character be interfered with.

[2] She was presumed to have been chaste and no evidence whatever bearing thereon, except of her relations with defendant, was adduced. The development of their intimacy was rapid; but if, as the jury might have concluded, defendant began paying his attentions with the purpose of gratifying his passions, it cannot be said, as a matter of law, that, in permitting him improper liberties with her person or in yielding on short acquaintance, she was necessarily of unchaste character. Conception of what is permissible without...

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1 cases
  • State v. Norman
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Iowa
    • April 9, 1913

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