State v. Ingram
| Decision Date | 08 January 1935 |
| Docket Number | 42296. |
| Citation | 258 N.W. 186,219 Iowa 501 |
| Parties | STATE v. INGRAM. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from District Court, Polk County; Allan A. Herrick, Judge.
Appellant was tried and convicted of the crime of statutory rape. From such conviction, he appeals.
Affirmed.
Richard E. Reichmann and Edward Robinson, both of Des Moines for appellant.
Edward L. O'Connor, Atty. Gen., Walter F. Maley, Asst. Atty Gen., and Carl A. Burkman, Co. Atty., and Francis J. Kuble Asst. Co. Atty., both of Des Moines, for the State.
The defendant was indicted and convicted of the crime commonly called statutory rape committed upon his daughter, who was then under fifteen years of age. From such conviction, he appeals.
Several errors are alleged by appellant as grounds for reversal. The appellee contends that these alleged errors cannot be considered, for the reason that they have not been properly preserved, and for the further reason that the statements of such errors do not conform to the rules of this court. Without going into a discussion as to the necessity of preserving errors or the application of the rules of this court in criminal cases, we may say that sufficient has been set out from which we are able to determine the chief grounds of appellant's contention that the case should be reversed, and that, in a criminal case involving the serious penalty imposed in this case, we do not feel inclined to avoid a full inquiry because of technical provisions of our statutes or rules.
I. Defendant's first ground for reversal is that the verdict was contrary to and not supported by the evidence. We have read not only the abstract of the evidence but the transcript thereof, and we find no support for this contention of the appellant. It is true that this court will not hesitate to set aside a verdict in a criminal case, if it is clearly against the weight of the evidence. In this case, however, there is ample evidence to support the verdict.
II. It is contended by the appellant that the verdict is contrary to law, because there was not sufficient corroboration, and because an instruction given by the court did not require the corroboration to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The state, upon the motion of the defendant, was required to elect as to which one of the several alleged acts of intercourse with the prosecutrix it would stand upon, and elected to stand upon the act which it claimed was committed about the end of December, 1932. There was direct corroboration as to this act by the sister of the prosecutrix. It is claimed, however, that the instruction given by the court did not require the corroboration to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The jury was properly instructed that the defendant could not be convicted unless there was evidence, other than that of the prosecutrix, tending to connect him with the commission of the crime. The instruction given was substantially the same as that given in State v. Bosch, 172 Iowa, 94, 153 N.W. 73, 75, which, although subject to criticism, we held it to be free from reversible error. We think that, as stated in that case, " taking the charge as a whole, it states clearly the usual rules as to the necessity that each and every material fact in the state's case be established beyond a reasonable doubt."
III. Several objections are made to the trial court's rulings on evidence. It is alleged that the court erred in allowing prosecutrix to testify as to her angry feelings toward the defendant. The witness in this case was describing her own feelings and not those of some other person, as was true in the cases cited by appellant. It is claimed that the trial court erred in allowing a doctor to testify as to the possibility of intercourse with the prosecutrix when she was nine years of age. This evidence was received in response to a question as to the possibility of such intercourse with a child of that age. It involved the doctor's expert knowledge as to the development of the organs in a child of that age, and was not subject to the objection made in cases cited by appellant where a doctor was allowed to give his opinion as to matters which were not the subject of expert testimony. Objection is also made to the court's ruling on evidence as to the details of a conversation between the prosecuting witness and her aunt, which occurred several months after the alleged wrongful intercourse. This evidence was not introduced for the purpose of establishing the fact that complaint had been made, as appellant seems to claim. It was not brought out by the state until after the appellant, on cross-examination of the prosecutrix, had developed the details of the conversation to which objection was later made. We find no reversible error in the rulings on evidence of which complaint is here made.
IV. It is urged that the trial court erred in refusing to allow the appellant, as a witness, to testify to trouble which he had had with his wife, and the wife's avowed purpose of marrying another man, as tending to show the wrongful motive actuating the prosecution. Appellant cites State v. Jackson, 128 Iowa, 543, 105 N.W. 51, in support of his claim that this was prejudicial error. In our opinion, the case cited does not support the appellant's contention. In that case the court instructed the jury that they might consider whether the prosecution was conducted for the purpose of vindicating the criminal law or for the collection of a debt, and the instruction was condemned. In its discussion the court stated that the motive of a prosecuting witness or of any witness could be shown for the purpose of testing his credibility, but there is nothing in that case that sustains the allegation of error relied on in this case. The appellant's wife was not a witness in this case, and the matters which he offered to prove and which were refused by the court did not tend to prove an improper motive for the prosecution, even if this were permissible. Moreover, the trouble which appellant alleged occurred between himself and wife happened several years before the trial of the case. We find no error in the court's refusal to allow the evidence in question to be introduced.
V. Complaint is made as to the court's instruction No. 4 in which the jury was told:
It is claimed by appellant that this instruction does not comply with the requirements of section 13918 (Code) which provides that, " where there is a reasonable doubt of the degree of the offense of which the defendant is proven to be guilty he shall only be convicted of the lower degree." It is alleged that the language of the instruction given was so indefinite and ambiguous that the jury was probably misled into believing that they should find the defendant guilty of the highest degree of crime with which he was charged. In our opinion, the instruction is not vulnerable to the objection thus made to it. The language used is similar to that used in an instruction complained of in State v. Butler, 157 Iowa, 163, 138 N.W. 383, in which the...
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