Lucas v. State, O-25
| Decision Date | 09 November 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. O-25,O-25 |
| Citation | 257 So.2d 261 |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Bernice LUCAS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
Ernest D. Jackson, Sr., Jacksonville, for appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and George R. Georgieff, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Appellant-defendant appeals from a conviction of performing an abortion. Appellant's primary point on appeal involves the admissibility of testimony relating similar facts tending to prove that defendant committed separate crimes. Evidence adduced at trial pertaining to this issue is as follows:
On December 22, 1969, one Linda Scott (the victim) was seeking an abortion. She met a third person in a bar and the two of them proceeded to a nearby motel. Defendant arrived a few minutes later carrying a brown paper bag. She then attempted to cause the victim to abort by the method of inserting a catheter into the victim's uterus. The victim was told to return home and that she would abort within 24 hours. Abortion did not follow so the victim again met defendant at a different motel nine days later. Defendant performed the same procedure as before and left but returned a few minutes later accompanied by two police officers. She had been stopped in the parking lot by the police who told her they suspected that an abortion had been performed and asked her to accompany them back to the motel room, where she was informed of her rights. The victim and defendant were both questioned and both admitted that the defendant had performed an abortion on the victim. The defendant was arrested, and a speculum, two catheter tubes and a sponge clamp were recovered from her purse. The victim was taken to the Medical Examiner's office where she was given antibiotics and a catheter was removed from her uterus. Several days later she aborted a fetus. Defendant later signed a written confession admitting performance of the abortion.
Following all the above testimony the State then found it necessary to introduce the testimony of two other witnesses who claimed that defendant had performed abortions on them in the same manner on different dates. One of these witnesses claimed to have gone to defendant's home on February 6, 1970, wherein defendant had attempted to perform an abortion on her by the same procedure. The abortion had again been unsuccessful and this witness claimed she then developed infection, chills and fever, and had to spend around 12...
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