State v. Manning
Court | United States State Supreme Court of Iowa |
Citation | 128 N.W. 345,149 Iowa 205 |
Parties | STATE v. MANNING. |
Decision Date | 16 November 1910 |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from District Court, Polk County; Jesse A. Miller, Judge.
Defendant was indicted for criminal conspiracy. Upon trial to a jury, he was convicted, and from the judgment imposed appeals. Affirmed.Mills & Perry, for appellant.
H. W. Byers, Atty. Gen., and Chas. W. Lyon, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
The defendant and one John Mitchell were jointly indicted for the crime of conspiracy by securing and procuring the presence of certain female persons in the city of Des Moines, Polk county, Iowa, for purposes of prostitution, adultery, and lewdness, and with the intent to cause the said females to become prostitutes and to commit adultery, fornication, concubinage, the said females being Bertha Lindell and Carrie Sprague, and did willfully, unlawfully and feloniously conspire and confederate together to entice the said females aforesaid, they being heretofore reputed virtuous, to the city of Des Moines by false, fraudulent, and wrongful representations, for false and malicious purposes, to wit, prostitution, adultery, fornication, and lewdness, in the city of Des Moines, Polk county, Iowa. They were separately tried and each convicted. In this case it is contended (1) that the testimony is insufficient to support the verdict; (2) that the trial court erred in permitting testimony as to the acts and declarations of defendant's co-conspirator to go to the jury; (3) erred in permitting a letter and envelope to go to the jury; and (4) erred in giving one of its instructions.
1. We shall first take up the ruling on testimony. One, if not both, of these rulings, involves, however, a third question, and that is the sufficiency of the testimony to show a conspiracy. The letter and envelope in which it was inclosed, which the state was permitted to offer in testimony, was proved to have been written and addressed by John Mitchell to one of the girls referred to in the indictment, and the letter reads as follows: This letter was postmarked at Des Moines October 20, 1909, addressed to Carrie Sprague at Jefferson, Iowa, and reached the latter place October 21, 1909. Its receipt by the addressee is shown, and it also fairly appears that it was one of the inducements to lead the girls to come to Des Moines. Defendant contends, however, that these items of evidence should not have been received, because it may not tend in any degree to establish a conspiracy. Conceding this to be true, it was undoubtedly admissible, provided a prima facie case of conspiracy was made out, as showing the means used to induce the person or persons to whom it was addressed to come to Des Moines. With the proper foundation laid, it was permissible to show the acts and conduct of each conspirator in furthering their contemplated ends and purposes. It is also contended that the trial court was in error in permitting any testimony as to the acts, declarations, and conduct of Mitchell, because no proper foundation was laid for the introduction of such testimony. The rule is well understood that acts, declarations, and conduct of an alleged co-conspirator are not admissible in evidence until the state has made out a prima facie case of conspiracy, but we have also said: “The matter of requiring prima facie proof of the conspiracy prior to such admission is a matter largely in the discretion of the court.” State v. Grant, 86 Iowa, 216, 53 N. W. 120. We think the trial court was justified in holding that proper foundation was laid for the introduction of the testimony complained of.
2. The instruction complained of reads as follows: That a conspiracy may be established by circumstantial evidence is fundamental. State v. Sterling, 34 Iowa, 443;State v. McIntosh, 109 Iowa, 209, 80 N. W. 349. But it is said that the italicized portion of the instruction quoted is erroneous for the reason that it permits the jury to find a conspiracy from the acts and conduct of...
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