State v. Mansfield

• Citation: 176 S.E. 761,207 N.C. 233
• Decision Date: 31 October 1934
• Docket Number: 290.
• Parties: STATE v. MANSFIELD.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina

176 S.E. 761

207 N.C. 233

STATE v. MANSFIELD.

No. 290.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

October 31, 1934

Appeal from Superior Court, Carteret County; Daniels, Judge.

Sheridan H. Mansfield was convicted of willfully neglecting and refusing to support his illegitimate child, and he appeals.

No error.

This is a criminal action tried before Judge F. A. Daniels and a jury at the March term, 1934, of the superior court of Carteret county, on appeal from the recorder's court of Carteret county.

On October 25, 1933, Leah Willis took out a warrant for the defendant, Sheridan H. Mansfield, charging that he unlawfully and willfully neglected and refused to support his illegitimate child, begotten on the person of Leah Willis. The said child being about six weeks of age. The defendant Sheridan H. Mansfield, in the recorder's court, pleaded not guilty. He was convicted and sentenced and appealed to the superior court. He was convicted in the superior court.

The judgment in the superior court is as follows: "Defendant charged with abandonment, appeal from Recorder's Court to Superior Court, November 7, 1933. Trial by jury, verdict guilty. Judgment, let the defendant be imprisoned in the County jail for a term of six months and assigned to work on the public highways and Public Works Commission. Judgment of imprisonment suspended on condition that the defendant pay to Dr. S.W. Thompson, the sum of $45.00 for attending Leah Willis, in her confinement and on condition that the defendant pay the cost of the action and a further condition that he pay to Leah Willis, on the 1st of each month beginning with the month of April, 1934, four dollars a week until the arrival of her infant at the age of ten years, and on further condition, that the defendant remain of good behavior."

The defendant made numerous exceptions and assignments of error and appealed to the Supreme Court.

Dennis G. Brummitt, Atty. Gen., and A. A. F. Seawell, Asst. Atty Gen., for the State.

A. B Morris, of Morehead City, for appellant.

CLARKSON Justice.

The defendant introduced no evidence, and at the close of the state's evidence, made a motion for judgment of nonsuit. C. S. § 4643. The court below overruled this motion and in this we can see no error.

Public Laws of North Carolina 1933, c. 228, § 1, is as follows: "Any parent who willfully neglects or who refuses to support and maintain his or her illegitimate child shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to such penalties as are hereinafter provided. A child within the meaning of this act shall be any person less than ten years of age and any person whom either parent might be required under the laws of North Carolina to support and maintain if such child were the legitimate child of such parent."

The following is section 7: "Upon the determination of the issues set out in the foregoing section and for the purpose of enforcing the payment of the sum fixed, the court is hereby given discretion, having regard for the circumstances of the case and the financial ability and earning capacity of the defendant and his or her willingness to cooperate, to make an order or orders upon the defendant and to modify such order or orders from time to time as the circumstances of the case may in the judgment of the court require. The order or orders made in this regard may include any or all of the following alternatives:

(a). Commit the defendant to prison for a term not to exceed six months;

(b). Suspend sentence and continue the case from term to term;

(c). Release the defendant from custody on probation conditioned upon the defendant's compliance with the terms of the probation and the payment of the sum fixed for the support and maintenance of the child;

(d). Apprentice the defendant to the superintendent of the county home to be employed there at a salary to be fixed by the Board of County Commissioners, or to some other person who will give bond for compliance with this act, at a salary to be fixed by the Board of County Commissioners, the proceeds of his earnings to be paid to such person as the court may direct for the support, maintenance and education of the said child; and

(e). Order the defendant to pay to the mother of the said child the necessary expenses of birth of the child and suitable medical attention for her;

(f). Require the defendant to sign a recognizance with good and sufficient security, for compliance with any order which the court may make in proceedings under this act."

The defendant excepted and assigned error as follows: "The Court erred in denying defendant's motion to dismiss at beginning of trial on former jeopardy plea and non-application of the statute." This exception and assignment of error cannot be sustained.

It was in evidence on the part of the state that an action was brought by the mother before a justice of the peace, on October 4, 1933, under chapter 6, Bastardy, C. S. § 265 et seq.

Section 9, c. 228 of Public Laws of 1933, is as follows: "All acts or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. In particular, the following sections of the Consolidated Statutes of North Carolina are hereby repealed: Sections 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 1632 sub-section 1."

The judgment in the action before the justice of the peace in part was: "That the said defendant, Sheridan H Mansfield, pay to the said plaintiff, Leah Willis, the sum of $100 and the cost of this action," etc. It is a fundamental principle that a person cannot be tried twice for the...