State v. Dickerhoff

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa
• Writing for the Court: WEAVER
• Citation: 127 Iowa 404,103 N.W. 350
• Decision Date: 02 May 1905
• Parties: STATE v. DICKERHOFF.

127 Iowa 404
103 N.W. 350

STATE
v.
DICKERHOFF.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

May 2, 1905.

Appeal from District Court, Polk County; W. H. McHenry, Judge.

The defendant, with his wife, Emma Dickerhoff, was indicted upon the charge of enticing a virtuous female to a house of ill fame for the purposes of prostitution and lewdness. Upon trial to a jury he was adjudged guilty, and appeals. Affirmed.

[103 N.W. 351]

Joseph D. Laws, for appellant.

C. W. Mullan, Atty. Gen., L. De Graff, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Jesse Miller, Co. Atty., for the State.

WEAVER, J.

1. It is the appellant's first contention that the indictment upon which he was tried is fatally defective. The statute under which the indictment was returned (Code, § 4942) provides that: “If any person inveigle or entice any female, before reputed virtuous, to a house of ill fame * * * for the purposes of prostitution or lewdness, * * * he shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not more than ten nor less than three years.” The indictment does not follow in precise terms the language of the statute, but charges that at the time and place mentioned the said defendant John Dickerhoff “one Anna Tallman, a virtuous female then and there being, did willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously inveigle and entice to a house of ill fame for the purposes of prostitution and lewdness.” The objection raised is that the words “a virtuous female” in the indictment are not the equivalent of the statutory expression “a female before reputed virtuous.” While it is proper, and usually advisable, that the charge of an indictable offense be made in the very words of the statute, the failure so to do will not render the indictment invalid if the words actually employed have a like meaning, force, and effect. State v. Waite, 101 Iowa, 377, 70 N. W. 596;State v. Martin (Iowa) 101 N. W. 637. It is the law of this state that a charge of crime shall be made in ordinary and concise language with such certainty and in such manner as to enable a person of common understanding to know what is intended. Code, § 5289. It is also the law that no indictment shall be held insufficient because of any matter which was formerly deemed a defect or imperfection which does not tend to prejudice the substantial rights of the defendant upon the merits. Code, § 5290. The statute here in question was enacted for the preservation of society from the demoralizing arts of the procurer, and for that purpose it extends its protection not only to the virtuous woman, but to her also who is reputed to be virtuous. In other words, the offender against this law shall not be permitted...