State v. Sullivan
| Decision Date | 17 October 1919 |
| Docket Number | 32930 |
| Parties | STATE OF IOWA, Appellee, v. D. SULLIVAN, Appellant |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Ringgold District Court.--HOMER A. FULLER, Judge.
DEFENDANT was convicted, in the court below, of the crime of resorting to a house of ill fame for the purpose of lewdness, and appeals from the judgment of the court sentencing him to a term of five years in the penitentiary.
Reversed.
Spence & Beard, and F. F. Fuller, for appellant.
H. M Havner, Attorney General, for appellee.
The indictment charges defendant with the crime of resorting to a house of ill fame for the purpose of lewdness, and is based upon Section 4943 of the Code, which is as follows:
"If any person, for the purpose of prostitution or lewdness, resorts to, uses, occupies or inhabits any house of ill fame or place kept for such purpose, or if any person be found at any hotel, boarding house, cigar store or other place, leading a life of prostitution or lewdness, such person shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not more than five years."
Although no direct proof of prostitution at the place designated as a house of ill fame was offered, the record discloses that it was a rendezvous for immoral men and women, and fully justified the jury in finding that it was a house of ill fame. Counsel for the defendant insist, however, that the evidence wholly fails to show that he visited the place for the purpose of lewdness, as charged. The keeping of a house of ill fame is, by Section 4939 of the Code, made a crime, and the keeper thereof may, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not less than six months, nor more than five years. The section quoted above makes it a crime for any person to resort to a house of ill fame, or place kept for the purpose of lewdness or prostitution, for the purpose thereof, or for any person to use, occupy, or inhabit the same for purposes of prostitution, or to be found in any hotel, boarding house, cigar store, or other place leading a life of prostitution or lewdness, which crime is punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not more than five years. Lewdness is defined as lustful and lascivious conduct; a synonym of unchastity, sensuality, and debauchery. State v. Wilson, 124 Iowa 264, 99 N.W. 1060. This may consist of a single act of sexual indulgence, or other lustful, sensual, or lascivious acts or conduct. State v. Shaw, 125 Iowa 422, 101 N.W. 109; State v. Mitchell, 149 Iowa 362, 128 N.W. 378; State v. McDavitt, 140 Iowa 342, 118 N.W. 370; State v. Rayburn, 170 Iowa 514, 153 N.W. 59; State v. Gardner, 174 Iowa 748, 156 N.W. 747.
The obvious purpose of the legislature in enacting the foregoing statutes was to make adequate provision for the protection of the community and society from the demoralizing and degrading influence of persons and places of the character named. To this end, provision has been made whereby not only the keeper who provides and maintains a place resorted to by immoral persons for the purpose of prostitution, but also the inmate and frequenter thereof may be punished. The crime charged consists in resorting to or visiting a house of ill fame for the purpose of lewdness. The lewdness contemplated by the statute is some immoral, lustful, or lascivious act, in keeping with the immorality common to the place.
The evidence in this case shows that one of the inmates of the place in question was taken there by the defendant; that he paid her board, bought her clothing, and was frequently seen in her company upon the streets, in an automobile, at a picture show, and other places. The place complained of was occupied by three women: one an elderly woman another a woman with three children, aged 6, 4, and 2 years, respectively; and the woman above referred to. Various persons residing in the vicinity thereof were called as witnesses on behalf of the State, and testified that the defendant...
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