People v. Fry, 31045.

• Decision Date: 22 September 1949
• Docket Number: No. 31045.,31045.
• Citation: People v. Fry, 403 Ill. 574, 87 N.E.2d 780 (Ill. 1949)
• Parties: PEOPLE v. FRY.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

403 Ill. 574

87 N.E.2d 780

PEOPLE

v.FRY.

No. 31045.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Sept. 22, 1949.

Charles C. Fry was convicted in the County Court of De Kalb County, Latham Castle, J., of contributing to the delinguency of minor females by committing indecent and lascivious acts in the presence of the minors, and he brought error to the Appellate Court for the Second District.

To review a judgment of the Appellate Court, 336 Ill.App. 313, 83 N.E.2d 385, affirming the conviction, the defendant brought error.

The Supreme Court, Fulton, J., held that the information was not defective and affirmed the judgment.Paul F. O'Neil, Rochelle, for plaintiff in error.

Ivan A. Elliott, Attorney General, and Clark H. Countryman, State's Attorney, De Kalb (Harry L. Pate, Tuscola, of counsel), for the People.

FULTON, Justice.

The defendant, Charles C. Fry, brings this writ of error to review the action of the Appellate Court for the Second District in affirming a judgment of the county court of De Kalb County, finding him guilty of contributing to the delinquency of minors and sentencing him to four months in the county jail and to pay a fine of $100 and costs. An information was filed on October 21, 1947, in the county court charging that the defendant on the 18th day of October, 1947, at De Kalb, ‘was then and there guilty of attempting to have indecent and immoral relations with a female child under the age of 18 years, and did then and there by the acts so committed create on the part of the said minor child indecent and lascivious conduct.’ The defendant made a motion to quash this information on the ground that the same did not state the name of the person injured by the offense charged. This motion was denied and leave was given the State's Attorney to file an amended information which was filed on December 9, 1947, and alleged that on October 18, 1947, the defendant ‘* * * did then and there in a theater building in De Kalb, Illinois, known as the Fargo Theater and located on East Lincoln Highway in said city, do acts in the presence of said female children which were acts of indecent and lascivious conduct, said minor children being, to-wit: Loretta Herndon and Caroline Mathers.’ The defendant filed a motion to quash the amended information on the grounds that it attempted to charge two offenses in one count and, further, that it was so indefinite that it failed to reasonably inform the defendant of the offense with which he was charged. This motion to quash the amended information was denied and the matter was then heard before the court without a jury. After a full hearing the court found the defendant guilty and sentenced him to serve four months in the county jail and to pay a fine of $100 and costs. A motion was made by the defendant at the close of the People's case for judgment, which was denied, and likewise a motion in arrest of judgment was also denied.

The defendant then appealed to the Appellate Court for the Second District, 336 Ill.App. 313, 83 N.E.2d 385, which court rendered its opinion affirming the judgment of the county court. He has brought a writ of error to this court to review this judgment of conviction. There was no stenographic report taken of the testimony at the hearing and he seeks a reversal solely on the ground that the amended information should have been quashed, and that it was not sufficient to support a conviction.

Rule 39 of this court, Ill.Rev.Stat.1947, c. 110, s 259.39, requires that the concluding subdivision of the statement of the case shall contain a brief statement of the errors relied upon for reversal, but the defendant has not so recited the errors upon which he seeks to reverse the cause. A careful reading of his brief indicates that the sole contentions made by him are that the amended information was defective...