State v. Stoughton
| Decision Date | 20 November 1916 |
| Docket Number | No. 1846.,1846. |
| Citation | 189 S.W. 601 |
| Parties | STATE v. STOUGHTON. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Criminal Court, Greene County; Arch A. Johnson, Judge.
Guy Stoughton was convicted of wife abandonment, and he appeals. Judgment affirmed.
Moon & Moon, of Springfield, for appellant. Sam M. Wear and Warren L. White, both of Springfield, for the State.
Defendant was convicted of wife abandonment under section 4495, R. S. 1909, as amended (Laws 1911, p. 193).
The information, in the language of the statute, charged that the defendant did, on and from the 18th day of October, 1915, until the 30th day of November, 1915, then and there willfully, unlawfully, and without just cause abandon, and fail, neglect, and refuse to maintain and provide for her, the said Eva Stoughton (his wife), against the peace and dignity of the state. The information appears to be in proper form.
The evidence introduced on the part of the state shows that the defendant and his wife, the prosecuting witness, lived together in a rented house in Springfield, Mo., and maintained a home there for the family, which included the husband, wife, and a child; also, that without good cause or justification defendant left his wife and child, not leaving her any money or means of support and maintenance; that he notified certain merchants in Springfield with whom the family had been dealing to no longer sell his wife anything on his credit; that the rent on the house in which they were living was paid for something like 12 days after the date on which defendant left, and that no provision was made by him for the payment of the rent thereafter; and that the wife was without property or means of support, except some articles of furniture which were left in the house, and some of which she did sell in order to obtain money to provide necessities of life for herself and child. The evidence for the state further shows that the defendant, soon after the date on which he left his wife, took a trip to Colorado and stayed there some four weeks. It was shown that he was an able-bodied man, and, while there was no showing that he owned any property other than that which had been pledged for his debts, yet from the evidence introduced that he had been maintaining his wife in a home prior to the time he left her, and that he had sufficient money on hand to make a trip to Colorado and remain there as stated, the jury had a right to infer that he had sufficient means to maintain and provide for his wife on and after the date of abandonment. The further testimony of the wife that he had no just cause for leaving her, and the fact that he had notified merchants not to sell her anything on his credit, was sufficient from which the jury could logically draw the conclusion that he intended to abandon her unlawfully. The facts are sufficient to sustain the verdict. State v. Williams, 136 Mo. App. 304, 116 S. W. 1128; State v. Weise, 156 Mo. App. 135, 136 S. W. 238.
The cases relied upon by appellant (State v. Tietz, 186 Mo. App. 672, 172 S. W. 474; State v. Thornton, 232 Mo. 298, 134 S. W. 519, 32 L. R. A. [N. S.] 841; State v....
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