State v. Brooks

• Decision Date: 24 November 1936
• Docket Number: 43371.
• Citation: 269 N.W. 875,222 Iowa 651
• Parties: STATE v. BROOKS.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

269 N.W. 875

222 Iowa 651

STATE v. BROOKS.

No. 43371.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

November 24, 1936

Appeal from District Court, Polk County; Joseph E. Meyer, Judge.

The defendant was indicted for the crime of rape alleged to have been committed in Polk county, Iowa, on September 8, 1935. He was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in the State Penitentiary. The court overruled defendant's motion for a new trial, and defendant appeals.

Reversed.

Carl E. Patterson, of Des Moines, for appellant.

Edward L. O'Connor, Atty. Gen., Walter F. Maley, First Asst Atty. Gen., and Carl A. Burkman, Co. Atty., and Francis J Kuble, Asst. Co. Atty., both of Des Moines, for the State.

PER CURIAM.

The defendant was indicted by the grand jury of Polk county for the crime of rape alleged to have been committed upon Helen Van Ginkle, a female under sixteen years of age, in Polk county, Iowa, on or about September 8, 1935. The defendant entered a plea of not guilty, the case was tried to a jury in the district court of Polk county on September 30, 1935, and a verdict of guilty of the crime charged in the indictment was returned. Defendant filed a motion for a new trial, which was overruled, and defendant appeals.

Among the grounds urged for a new trial was that the State failed to prove the venue by sufficient evidence. Appellant contends that the evidence fails to show that the offense was committed in Polk county, Iowa.

It is the well-settled law in this State that the jurisdiction of the district court is limited to offenses committed within the county in which the court is held. Section 13449, Code 1935. This statute provides that: " The local jurisdiction of the district court is of offenses committed within the county in which it is held."

Under this statute a conviction cannot be sustained unless the State proves that the crime was committed within the county in which the indictment was returned. This is the general rule and needs no citation of authorities to sustain it. But see State v. Carr, 60 Iowa 453, 15 N.W. 271.

In that case, 60 Iowa 453, loc. cit. 456, 15 N.W. 271, 272, this court said: " The prosecuting witness testifies that the offense was committed at her father's house. Her father testifies that he lived in Appanoose county when the cause was tried; but there is no proof as to where he lived when the offense was committed, which was nearly a year before the trial. * * * These defects in the evidence are doubtless the results of oversight, which will be corrected upon the retrial." (Italics ours.)

By instruction No. 5 the jury was told that:

" The burden of proof in this case as to the crime charged in the indictment * * * is upon the state and before you can find the defendant guilty the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt each of the following propositions:

1. * * *

2. * * *

3. That the act was unlawfully committed by the defendant in Polk County, Iowa. * * *

If you find affirmatively beyond a reasonable doubt as to each of the foregoing propositions, then it will be your duty to find the defendant guilty of the crime of rape as charged in the indictment. If you fail to find affirmatively beyond a reasonable doubt as to any one of the foregoing propositions then you cannot convict the defendant of the crime of rape. * * *"

This instruction was not excepted to, and is, therefore, the law of the case. Under it the State was required to prove that the offense was committed in Polk county, Iowa.

Some of the witnesses testified that the defendant lived on Ohio street, and that the place where the offense was alleged to have occurred was in a garage on the same premises. Other witnesses testified as to certain streets and places where the prosecuting witness went, on the night prior to the alleged commission of the offense charged; on the night of the offense; and on the day following the same. This testimony shows that these places were all on certain streets, but not one of the witnesses was asked, nor did they testify, that they lived in the city of Des Moines or that the streets and places referred to were in the city of Des Moines or in Polk county.

Some of the streets referred to were Ohio street, Willow street, East Locust street, Raccoon street, University avenue bridge; and some of the buildings referred to were the Broadlawns General Hospital, visited by the prosecutrix and the defendant immediately after the offense was alleged to have been committed, a certain cemetery, Lincoln School, Riverview Park, the commissary, the Columbia Pool Hall, the De Lux Pool Hall, etc....