State v. White, 1.
| Decision Date | 20 November 1942 |
| Docket Number | No. 1.,1. |
| Citation | 129 N.J.L. 200,28 A.2d 774 |
| Parties | STATE v. WHITE. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
R.S. 2:140-1, N.J.S.A. 2:140-1, providing that "any person * * * who shall in private be guilty of any act of lewdness or carnal indecency with another," does not contemplate an act of private lewdness unless committed "with another."
Error to Court of Quarter Sessions, Essex County.
Edward E. White was convicted of a private act of lewdness, after denial of his motion to direct an acquittal, and he brings error.
Reversed.
October term, 1942, before BROGAN, C. J., and PARKER and PORTER, JJ.
Robert J. McCurrie, of Newark, for plaintiff in error.
William A. Wachenfeld, Prosecutor of the Pleas, and James L. McKenna, Asst. Prosecutor, both of Newark, for the State.
The writ brings up a conviction under an indictment charging that the defendant, on etc.; at etc., "Was in private guilty of an act of lewdness, grossly scandalous and tending to debauch the morals and the manners of the people by engaging in certain acts and practices so obscene and indecent that a minute description of the same would be offensive to the Court and improper to be placed upon the record thereof, wherefore a fuller description of the same is not set forth."
The evidence for the State tended to show that the defendant had enticed a little girl of seven years into his home and committed an act of disgusting indecency with her. When the State rested, counsel for defendant moved a direction of acquittal on several grounds, only one of which need be considered, viz., that the indictment did not charge a crime. The motion was denied, was renewed at the close of the evidence and again denied.
"[1,2] We are compelled to the conclusion that there was legal error in the denial of the motion, and that in consequence there must be a reversal. The language of the statute is as follows: "Any person who shall be guilty of open lewdness, or any notorious act of public indecency, grossly scandalous and tending to debauch the morals and manners of the people, or who shall in private be guilty of any act of lewdness or carnal indecency with another, grossly scandalous and tending to debauch the morals and manners of the people, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." N.J.S.A. 2:140-1. The clause particularly relevant is "Or who shall in private be guilty of any act of lewdness or carnal indecency with another." The fundamental point argued is whether an act of private lewdness is in violation of the statute if committed with no other person present. The language of the statute, particularly in connection with its...
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...lewdness committed 'with James Drake.' No mention of a nonparticipating witness appears in the opinion. Neither State v. White, 129 N.J.L. 200, 28 A.2d 774 (Sup.Ct.1942), affirmed on opinion below 130 N.J.L. 527, 33 A.2d 815 (E. & A. 1943), nor State v. Brenner, supra, lend support to defen......
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