Shama v. United States

• Decision Date: 31 January 1938
• Docket Number: No. 10972.,10972.
• Citation: 94 F.2d 1
• Parties: SHAMA v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

94 F.2d 1 (1938)

SHAMA v. UNITED STATES.^*

No. 10972.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

January 31, 1938.

David F. Loepp, of Sioux City, Iowa (Fred H. Free, of Sioux City, Iowa, on the brief), for appellant.

William B. Danforth, Asst. U. S. Atty., of Mason City, Iowa (Edward G. Dunn, U. S. Atty., of Mason City, Iowa, on the brief), for the United States.

Before GARDNER, SANBORN, and THOMAS, Circuit Judges.

THOMAS, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment upon a verdict of guilty under an indictment charging violation of the White Slave Act, Act of June 25, 1910, § 3, 18 U.S.C.A. § 399. The indictment charged that the appellant unlawfully persuaded and induced Bernice Templeton to be transported as a passenger in interstate commerce from Parsons, Kan., to Sioux City, Iowa, and that he caused her to be so transported with the intent and purpose that she should engage in the practice of prostitution.

At the close of all the testimony appellant moved for a directed verdict on the ground of insufficiency of the evidence to support a verdict of guilty. The overruling of this motion and the admission over objection of certain evidence are assigned as errors.

Upon the question of the sufficiency of the evidence this court will inquire only whether there is substantial evidence to support the verdict; and in considering that question that view of the evidence will be taken, where, as here, the jury has found the appellant guilty, which is most favorable to the government. Galatas v. United States, 8 Cir., 80 F.2d 15; Marx v. United States, 8 Cir., 86 F. 2d 245.

When so considered, the evidence in brief is as follows:

The appellant, Shama, was the proprietor of the New Arcade Hotel, a 50-room hotel which occupied the second and remaining floors above of a building in Sioux City, Iowa. There were two parlors in the hotel in which beer was served, there being no other bar on the premises. During the latter part of July, 1936, two girls were employed there as entertainers, their duties being to serve beer to the customers, and talk, drink, and dance with them. These girls were paid a commission upon the beer they served. H. R. Mills was an employee of the hotel who acted as bar tender. One of the guests of the hotel at that time was Roy Coots, who was connected with a carnival then in Sioux City, and who was living with one of the carnival's dancing girls registered as his wife.

Mills testified that in the latter part of July, 1932, in a conversation between himself, Shama, and Coots, Shama said that the hotel needed more entertainers. Coots replied that he knew a girl down in Kansas who would like to work at the hotel. At Shama's direction, Mills wrote to the girl asking her to come from her home in Parsons, Kan., to Sioux City. The following day Shama asked Coots to wire the girl and see if she was coming. Mills then telephoned the telegraph company and ordered the following message to be sent, and charged to Shama:

"Wrote You The Other Day Regarding Job Here Stop If You Can Come Do So Immediately Stop Let Me Know Western Union If You Need Bus Fare

"Roy Coots"

The next day Coots received the reply: "Wire Train Fare Will Leave Tonight."

When Shama learned of this, he asked Mills to get the money and send the woman her ticket. Mills thereupon took the necessary amount out of the cash register and paid it to the local railroad agent, who notified the railroad at Parsons, Kan., to furnish the woman a ticket from Parsons to Sioux City. A day later the woman arrived at the hotel, met Shama, and was employed as an entertainer.

This woman, called as a witness for the government, testified that in the latter part of July, 1936, she received a letter from Sioux City signed by Roy Coots saying that the man who owned the hotel where he was staying would like to have her come up and go to work there. She said that she received another letter from Sioux City about that same time, but could not remember whose name was signed to it. She then told of receiving Coots' telegram, her reply to it, and her trip to Sioux City upon receiving word from the railroad that a ticket had been furnished for her.

She further testified:

"When I arrived in Sioux City I went to the New Arcade Hotel. I saw Mr. Mills and Mr. Shama about the same time. I talked to Mr. Shama something about the weather. He showed me to my room, and I told him I wanted to find out what terms and how I was working there. He told me how much my board and room would be a week and that out of every date I filled how much I would have to turn in to the desk. It was 50¢ out of every $1.50 date, and $1.00 out of every $3.00 date, and so on. My room and board was to be $5.00 a week.

"Q. Did you then go to work at the hotel? A. Yes, later on that evening I cleaned up and talked to Mr. Coots.

"Q. Just state what you did, what your work was? A. Well, kind of stay in the beer room and different men would come up, I would fill a date with them, sexual intercourse I guess you call it.

"They paid me for having sexual intercourse with them. I saved part of the money, spent part of it and had to turn part of it in to the desk. * * *"

It is contended first that there is no evidence that the purpose of Shama in inducing the woman to come to Sioux City was that she should engage in prostitution after her arrival. It is the inducement and transportation, not the subsequent conduct, which constitutes the federal offense. "An immoral purpose first conceived at the end of the journey is not sufficient." Drossos v. United States, 8 Cir., 16 F.2d 833, 834.

There is evidence that Coots, who recommended the employment of this woman, had been a close friend of hers when he was a taxi driver in Parsons, Kan., and that she had at one time lived with him. By her own admission the woman had practiced prostitution in several cities prior to her employment in Sioux City. Her testimony to the conversation with Shama immediately upon her arrival at the hotel is evidence of Shama's intention at that time. Appellant's contention is that upon this evidence the jury was required as a matter of law to infer that at the time Shama sent for her he did not know what kind of a woman he was employing, or that he suddenly acquired his evil intention between the time he ordered Mills to buy the ticket and the time when she arrived at the hotel.

Appellant invokes the rule that when all of the substantial evidence is as consistent with innocence as with guilt it is the duty of the appellate court to reverse a conviction. Fulbright v. United States, 8 Cir., 91 F.2d 210; Haning v. United States, 8 Cir., 21 F.2d 508; Wright v. United States, 8 Cir., 227 F. 855.

The evidence in this case can be deemed consistent with innocence only if it be assumed that at the time of buying the railroad ticket Shama intended that the woman's employment be for no immoral purpose, an intention which he subsequently changed. It is well settled that in prosecutions for this offense the jury may infer intent from all the circumstances in evidence. Carey v. United States, 8 Cir., 265 F. 515; Hamilton v. United States, 8 Cir., 255 F. 511; Kelly v. United States, 9 Cir., 297 F. 212; Ghadiali v. United States, 9 Cir., 17 F.2d 236; Elrod v. United States, 6 Cir., 266 F. 55; Nokis v. United States, 8 Cir., 257 F. 413; Blackstock v. United States, 8 Cir., 261 F. 150; Kulp v. United States, 3 Cir., 210 F. 249; Beyer v. United States, 9 Cir., 251 F. 39 (C.C.A.9).

In Kelly v. United States, supra, where two women were transported from Seattle to Alaska to play the piano and sing in a place of amusement, evidence of the conduct of the parties at the end of the journey was held sufficient to sustain a conviction.

In the present case it is contended that there is a reasonable explanation for the interstate journey other than the intent that the woman engage in prostitution in Sioux City. Shama took the witness stand and testified that Coots had sent for the woman to come...