State v. Brown

• Decision Date: 02 October 1895
• Citation: 64 N.W. 277,95 Iowa 381
• Parties: STATE v. BROWN ET AL.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

95 Iowa 381

64 N.W. 277

STATE

v.BROWN ET AL.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Oct. 2, 1895.

Appeal from district court, Washington county; D. Ryan, Judge.

The defendants were convicted of the crime of conspiracy, and each was adjudged to be imprisoned in the penitentiary at Ft. Madison for the term of three years. From that judgment they appeal. Affirmed.H. M. Eicher, for appellant Brown.

J. F. Henderson, for appellant Fernald.

Milton Remley, Atty. Gen., for the State.

ROBINSON, J.

The defendants are A. W. Brown and P. A. Fernald. The indictment on which they were tried and convicted charges them with the crime of conspiracy, committed one-fourth of a mile southwest of Wellman, in Washington county, on or about the 24th day of July, 1890, “to injure the person of one Etta Jones, and to do an act injurious to the public morals.” The indictment further charges that the defendants “verbally agreed that said P. A. Fernald should procure said Etta Jones, and, in the nighttime, take her to a place where said Brown should meet them, and keep himself concealed while said Fernald should have intercourse with said Etta Jones, after which said Brown would make himself known, and, by threats to publish the same, induce the said Etta Jones to submit to sexual intercourse with said Brown; that said Brown and said Fernald then and there, wrongfully and feloniously, did make an assault upon the body and person of her, the said Etta Jones, and said Brown, with force, carnally knew her, and did injure the said Etta Jones, and did an act injurious to the public morals.”

1. To the indictment above set out the defendants entered a plea of not guilty, and, in writing, pleaded a former acquittal. That plea was based upon a trial and acquittal on an indictment which reads substantially as follows: “The grand jury of the county of Washington, Iowa, accuse P. A. Fernald and A. W. Brown of the crime of compelling a woman to be defiled against her will, committed as follows: The said P. A. Fernald and A. W. Brown, on July 24, 1890, in the county of Washington, Iowa, did unlawfully and feloniously, and against her will, take one Etta Jones, and, with force, menace, and duress, compel her, the said Etta Jones, to be defiled by him, the said A. W. Brown, and said P. A. Fernald; and A. W. Brown did then and there, unlawfully and feloniously, by force and menace, threaten her, the said Etta Jones, that unless she would surrender up her person to the said A. W. Brown, and be by him defiled and carnally known, he, the said A. W. Brown, would circulate defamatory and scandalous reports, charges, and stories of and concerning her, the said Etta Jones, and, by force, menace, and duress, did put said Etta Jones in fear, and against her will, feloniously and unlawfully, did then and there compel her, the said Etta Jones, to be defiled and carnally known.” There was a trial on that indictment, which resulted in the taking of the case from the jury by the court. An appeal was taken by the state, and determined by an opinion reported in 88 Iowa, 554, 55 N. W. 534. To the plea of former adjudication the state filed a demurrer, which was overruled. As one of the grounds of the demurrer, it was stated, in substance, that the plea did not show an acquittal of the crime of conspiracy. Notwithstanding the ruling on the demurrer, the court refused to permit the defendants to introduce in evidence the record of the trial alleged to have resulted in the adjudication pleaded, and instructed the jury that there was nothing in the plea of former adjudication for them to consider. Of that ruling and instruction the appellants complain. It was within the power of the court to change its ruling during the trial,...