Dempsey v. State

• Decision Date: 28 April 1913
• Citation: 157 S.W. 734
• Parties: DEMPSEY v. STATE.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

157 S.W. 734

DEMPSEY v. STATE.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

April 28, 1913.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Lonoke County; Eugene Lankford, Judge.

Will Dempsey was convicted of an offense, and he appeals. Affirmed.

Geo. M. Chapline, of Lonoke, for appellant. Wm. L. Moose, Atty. Gen., and Jno. P. Streepey, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

McCULLOCH, C. J.

The defendant, Will Dempsey, was indicted and convicted under the following statute: "If any man shall without good cause, abandon or desert his wife, or abandon his child or children under the age of twelve years, born in or legitimatized by lawful wedlock, and shall fail, neglect or refuse to maintain or provide for such wife, child or children, he shall upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not more than one year, or by a fine not less than fifty nor more than one thousand dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment." Acts of 1909, p. 134. In the case of Green v. State, 96 Ark. 175, 131 S. W. 463, Ann. Cas. 1912B, 279, we held that the statute is a valid one.

It is insisted that the testimony was not sufficient to sustain the verdict. The defendant and his wife lived in Lonoke county having children under the age named in the statute, and while living there it is claimed the defendant deserted his family and neglected to support them. The principal witness against the defendant was his wife, and in her examination it is clearly manifested that she had for some reason concluded to shield him as much as possible, though she had appeared before the grand jury when the indictment was returned. It appears from the testimony that some time during the summer of the year 1912 defendant began illicit relations with a married woman living in the neighborhood, and that he abandoned his wife on the former's account. The defendant came to Little Rock, and shortly thereafter the woman moved here with her husband, and the improper relations continued between her and the defendant. The indictment was returned by the grand jury on February 11, 1913, and it is proved that from the time defendant left his wife in November up to the date of the indictment he had returned to his family only three times, two of the visits being each of a few hours duration. On one of the visits he had spent the night in Lonoke. They lived in the country prior to the alleged desertion, but about that time a brother of the wife moved the family to the town of Lonoke. Defendant's wife stated that on one of...