Gregg v. People
| Decision Date | 02 December 1918 |
| Docket Number | 9118. |
| Citation | 176 P. 483,65 Colo. 390 |
| Parties | GREGG v. PEOPLE. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Error to District Court, Las Animas County; A. Watson McHendrie Judge.
Bill by the People of the State of Colorado against James Gregg. Decree for the People, and defendant brings error. Affirmed.
Earl Cooley, of Trinidad, George Blickhahn, of Walsenburg, and John Betts, of Trinidad, for plaintiff in error.
Leslie E. Hubbard, Atty. Gen., and Bertram B. Beshoar, Asst. Atty Gen., for the People.
Chapter 123, S. L. 1915, p. 360, under which this action is brought may be summarized as follows:
Sec. 2. The building, the ground upon which it is situated, together with the furniture, fixtures, musical instruments, and contents, when used or resorted to as a public or private place of lewdness, assignation, or prostitution, is deemed a nuisance, and may be restrained and prohibited in equity by injunction.
Sec. 3. Whenever there is reason to believe that such a house or place is kept or exists, the district attorney must, in the name of the people, and any citizen may, maintain an action in equity to perpetually enjoin the keeper from maintaining the same, and the owner of the building from permitting such a nuisance to be kept on his place, and to abate and prevent the nuisance.
Sec. 4. Whenever, in such an action, either by verified complaint or affidavit, the keeping of such a house is shown to the satisfaction of the court or judge, he shall allow a temporary writ of injunction to prevent its continuance or recurrence and to abate the nuisance.
Sec. 5. On the trial of the case evidence of the general reputation of the place, and of its habitués, is admissible for the purpose of proving the existence of the nuisance.
Sec. 6. Any violation or disobedience of any injunction or order provided for by the act is punishable as a contempt of court.
Sec. 7. If, on the trial, the existence of such a house or place is established by the evidence as provided by the act, the court must enter an order abating the nuisance, directing the removal from the place or building, and sale as under execution, of all fixtures, furniture, musical instruments, and movable property, used in keeping the place; also directing the effectual closing of the building or place against its future use for any purpose, and keeping it closed for one year unless sooner released in the manner provided by the act, and, while the closing order remains in effect, the building or place shall remain in the custody of the court.
Sec. 8. Section 8 provides how the proceeds from the sale shall be applied.
Sec. 9. Section 9 provides if the owner of the building or place has not been guilty of contempt of court in the proceedings, and appears and pays all costs, fees, and allowances (and these are made a lien on the building or place), and filed a bond in the full value of the property, to be ascertained by the court, with sureties to be approved by the court or judge, conditioned that he will immediately abate any such nuisance existing at such building or place, and prevent such a house from being established or kept thereat, within a period of one year thereafter, the court or judge may, if satisfied of his good faith, order the closed premises to be redelivered to the owner, and the order canceled so far as it relates to the owner of the building, but the release of the building shall not release it from any judgment, lien, penalty, or liability to which it may be subject by law.
Sec. 10. The act provides that any fine in the proceedings against the owner of the building for contempt of court, and the costs, fees, and allowances, shall be a lien upon the building or place, which may be enforced by special execution.
The complaint alleges that defendant below, James Gregg, is the owner of a building or place, describing it, used and resorted to as a public and private place of lewdness, assignation, and prostitution; that such a place is kept and exists, and that defendant is the keeper of the place. The complaint prays for a temporary writ of injunction, to be made perpetual on final hearing, to restrain the keeping of such a house, and for the abatement of the nuisance.
A temporary injunction was issued restraining defendant from keeping or permitting to be kept such a house or place in his building, which, on final hearing, was made perpetual.
Defendant was served with notice, and on the day set for hearing the case was tried to the court without a jury. Defendant appeared without counsel, and the court, after hearing the evidence, found that such a place or house was kept and existed as described in the complaint, and that defendant was the owner and keeper of the place or house, and was also the owner of the ground or building at which the place was kept, and entered a decretal order that the fixtures, furniture, musical instruments, and movable property used in conducting and keeping the place be removed and sold under execution, and that the building be closed against its use for any purpose, and kept closed for one year unless sooner released as provided by law, and, until released, that it remain in the custody of the court, and taxed the costs against the defendant.
J. E. Kane, acting sheriff of the county for 1 1/2 years, testified in substance: The place has been used as a bawdyhouse. It has the general reputation of being a bawdyhouse--a sporting house. Gregg owns the place. Have had frequent complaints from that vicinity about the house.
J. W. Coe, deputy sheriff of the county, testified in substance: Was out to the place on the 3d of July. J. M. Johns, a colored man, was in charge of the place. Saw quite a number of men and one woman in the building. Johns said his girls had all gone but one and he had not had time to get out and get any more. The place has the general reputation of being a bawdyhouse; have heard so a dozen different times or more. Gregg lives in an adjacent building 30 feet away from the main building.
Tobe Dennis, deputy sheriff, testified in substance: The place has the general reputation of being a bawdyhouse; have seen sporting women there at different times; have had complaints about the place.
The record then shows that, after the people rested. Gregg came forward and was sworn as a witness in his own behalf and stated to the court that he was without a lawyer. Whereupon, the court asked him what he had to say about the case, and he said in substance: That he owned the house or place, but had had it rented to Johns, a colored man, for about two years, at $30 a month, but that he did not know what Johns was doing with it, and if it was being run as a bawdyhouse that he had no knowledge of that fact.
1. The fact that a building is used or resorted to as a public or private place of lewdness, assignation, or prostitution embraces the definition of a 'bawdyhouse.' Therefore, to sustain the judgment, it was necessary for the people to show, to the satisfaction of the court by a preponderance of the evidence, that such a house existed or was kept at the premises; that defendant was the owner of the premises; and that he knowingly permitted the place to be used and occupied for such purposes.
2. It is strenuously insisted that the evidence is not sufficient to support the allegation that the place was a bawdyhouse.
The reputation of a house is obtained through the character of the inmates and the class of people who resort there. Ordinarily, the fact that a house is such a place cannot be proven by its general...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Pompano Horse Club, Inc. v. State
...149 Mass. 550, 22 N.E. 55, 5 L. R. A. 193, 14 Am. St. Rep. 446; State v. Ryder 126 Minn. 95, 147 N.W. 953, 5 A. L. R. 1449; Gregg v. People, 65 Colo. 390, 176 P. 483. See, also, Murphy v. United States, 47 S.Ct. 218, 71 L.Ed. 446, decided Dec. 6, 1926. When the statute has properly declared......
-
State ex rel. Cahalan v. Diversified Theatrical Corp.
...that the abatement statutes of Washington and Nebraska 'were modeled after the Iowa abatement statute'.6 See, E.g., gregg v. People, 65 Colo. 390, 176 P. 483 (1918); State v. Humphrey, 94 Wash. 599, 162 P. 983 (1917); Chase v. Proprietors of Revere House, 232 Mass. 88, 122 N.E. 162 (1919); ......
-
King v. Commonwealth
... ... was invoked a constitutional provision in favor of trial by ... [238 S.W. 376] ... the Supreme Court of Colorado said in Gregg v ... People, 65 Colo. 390, 176 P. 483: ... "Keeping ... a bawdyhouse is a statutory offense, and was a crime at ... common ... ...
-
People v. Milton
...One Lot Emerald Cut Stones and One Ring v. U.S., 409 U.S. 232, 235-36, 93 S.Ct. 489, 492, 34 L.Ed.2d 438 (1972); Gregg v. People, 65 Colo. 390, 396-97, 176 P. 483, 485 (1918). We are thus satisfied that an action pursuant to the Public Nuisance Statute is a civil proceeding and that the for......
-
Colorado Common Law Actions to Abate the Mishandling of Hazardous Materials
...100 Mont. 480, 50 P.2d 255 (1935) (threat must be of a kind that could lead to irreparable harm). 13. Cf., Gregg v. People, 176 P. 483, 65 Colo. 390 (1918) (court found liability of landlord who knew that premises were being used as a bawdyhouse, which constituted a public nuisance under Co......