State v. Lacoshus

• Citation: 70 A.2d 203,96 N.H. 76
• Parties: STATE v. LACOSHUS et al.
• Decision Date: 03 January 1950
• Court: Supreme Court of New Hampshire

Page 203

70 A.2d 203

96 N.H. 76

STATE v. LACOSHUS et al.

Supreme Court of New Hampshire.

Jan. 3, 1950.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing Feb. 7, 1950.

William L. Phinney, Attorney-General, William H. Craig, County Solicitor, Manchester, and Warren E. Waters, Concord (Mr. Phinney, orally), for the State.

Robert J. Doyle, Nashua (by brief and orally), for the defendants.

JOHNSTON, Chief Justice.

In view of the fact that the defendant Lacoshus was not present at the time the girl was taken from the school grounds in Manchester and did not join her and Daigle until evening of that day of August 9th in Boston, the charges against the two defendants will be treated separately. The case of Henry Daigle will be considered first.

In re Petition of Morin, 95 N.H. 518, 68 A.2d 668 this Court held that Elaine Morin was legally committed to the custody of the State Industrial School. No claim is made that the consent of those in charge of the school was obtained for her leaving on the morning of August 9th, or that they even knew of it at the time. It positively appears otherwise.

The phrase 'any minor child' in the statute means any child under twenty-one years of age. People v. Edenburg, 88 Cal.App. 558, 566, 263 P. 857.

Although the elements of the crime charged must be proven, the fact that the child went willingly is no defense. 'The consent of the person so taken is, as a rule, immaterial, since, usually, only the parent or guardian can give consent.' 2 Burdick, Law of Crime, 61. State v. Suennen, 36 Idaho 219, 209 P. 1072. 'The consent of a minor child is no defense to the charge of kidnapping if the parent or guardian does not consent.' 36 Idaho 223, 209 P. 1073. The crime is against the parent or guardian as well as the child.

The indictment alleges two ways in which the offense was committed, those of concealment and of inveiglement. The charge is sustained if there was evidence of the unlawful use of either. The State is not obliged to elect the method by which it will prove the commission of the offense. State v. Metcalf, supra, 129 Or. at page 593, 278 P. 974.

There was evidence from which it could be found that the girl was unlawfully concealed from her legal custodian. Without any knowledge of the school authorities, she was taken into the Buick convertible of the defendant Daigle from the grounds of the school in Manchester as she was walking from the main building to the house occupied by the Superintendent. The defendant Daigle drove her away and by back roads took her quickly out of the state with the result that she was not apprehended for over a month. 'But it is not necessary that the person taken be detained for any particular length of time, and it is immaterial whether the defendant intended to detain him for a few hours, or a few days, or permanently.' 2 Brill, Cyclopedia Criminal Law, 1217.

The following definition of the word 'concealment' as used in an act of Congress, found in 8 Words and Phrases, Perm.Ed. pages 328, 329, is applicable to the present situation: 'What amounts to a concealment, under a law of Congress prohibiting any person from harboring or concealing a fugitive from justice, etc., may depend much on the circumstances. It does not necessarily require that the subject of it be secreted in a garret, cellar, barn, or covered wagon. The highway of a remote and uncultivated country like Indiana may be a better place of concealment than the highway of many other places, and the limits of the whole country as good a place to secrete a fugitive from a distant state as any that could be imagined, especially if the fugitive have a committee of sympathizers to watch over his interests, and give him warning of the approach of danger. Van Metre v. Mitchell, 28 Fed.Cas. pages 1036, 1040, [No. 16,865].'

The jury could have found that the defendant Daigle inveigled Elaine into leaving the school. 'The word 'inveigle,' in its ordinary acceptation, carries the idea of deception for the accomplishment of an evil purpose, * * *.' State v. Rivers, 84 Vt. 154, 78 A. 786, 788. That the purpose was not merely to aid an inmate in escaping from the industrial school but was primarily to assist the defendants in avoiding the just penalties of the charges brought against them in the municipal court of Nashua, could well be found. At the time Lacoshus was thirty-three...