State v. Walters
| Decision Date | 30 April 1929 |
| Citation | 199 Wis. 68,225 N.W. 167 |
| Parties | STATE v. WALTERS. |
| Court | Wisconsin Supreme Court |
Question certified from the Circuit Court for Portage County; Byron B. Park, Circuit Judge.
F. A. Walters was convicted of manslaughter and, the circuit court certifies question to the Supreme Court. Question answered.--[By Editorial Staff.]
The defendant was convicted of the crime of manslaughter, under section 340.16 of the Statutes. On January 9, 1929, after trial and conviction of the defendant, but before judgment, the court certified the following question to this court, pursuant to section 358.08, Stats.: “Does section 340.16 of the Statutes apply to a case where the fetus has not quickened into a child, but the death of the mother resulted from an illegal abortion performed to accomplish the removal of the unquickened fetus?”
Section 340.16, Stats., reads as follows: “Any person who shall administer to any woman pregnant with a child any medicine, drug or substance whatever, or shall use or employ any instrument or other means with intent thereby to destroy such child, unless the same shall have been necessary to preserve the life of such mother or shall have been advised by two physicians to be necessary for such purpose, shall, in case the death of such child or of such mother be thereby produced, be deemed guilty of manslaughter in the second degree.”John W. Reynolds, Atty. Gen., J. E. Messerschmidt, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Walter B. Murat, Dist. Atty., and Geo. B. Nelson, both of Stevens Point, for the State.
Fisher & Cashin, of Stevens Point (C. B. Bird, of Wausau, of counsel), for defendant.
The answer to the question is “yes.” The language of the statute is not difficult of construction. If the death of the child or of the mother results from an illegal abortion, the offense is manslaughter in the second degree. In this case the question concerns the death of the mother.
It is contended by the defendant that “child” refers only to a “quick” child, as defined, by the common law, and that, unless the mother was pregnant with a quick child, the death of the mother resulting from an illegal abortion is punishable only under section 351.22, Stats.
Section 340.16, Stats., was construed by this court in State v. Dickinson, 41 Wis. 299, and that case has not been overruled or modified. In Foster v. State, 182 Wis. 298, 196 N. W. 233, we held that, where the prosecution was for the death of the child, the child had to be...
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In re Vt. Gas Sys., Inc.
...from intrusion of every kind which would interfere in any degree with their complete use for this public end"); Minn. Power & Light Co., 225 N.W. at 167 ("It seems reasonably clear that the [power] line [involving removal of foliage and erection of four or five towers] is inconsistent with ......
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