Stokes v. State
| Decision Date | 28 May 1891 |
| Citation | 92 Ala. 73,9 So. 400 |
| Parties | STOKES v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Appeal from city court of Montgomery; THOMAS M. ARRINGTON, Judge.
Appellant, Nora Stokes, was indicted, tried, and convicted of the offense of being a night-walker. The indictment charged that she "was a common night-walker, and did walk and ramble in the streets and common highways *** at unreasonable hours of the night, without having any lawful business, and without any necessity therefor, for the unlawful purpose of picking up men for lewd intercourse." Defendant asked the court to charge that the jury must acquit unless they believed that she walked or rambled the streets for unlawful purposes, and in order to pick up men for sexual intercourse, for gain; but the charge was refused.
W. L. Martin, Atty. Gen., for the State.
The defendant was convicted of the offense of night-walking. A "night-walker" has been defined to be one who has a habit of being abroad at night for the purpose of committing some crime, of disturbing the peace, or doing some wrongful or wicked act. Night-walking, at common law, is a common nuisance. 1 Bish. Crim. Law, (7th Ed.) § 502, and note. Night-walkers are persons who stroll the streets at night for immoral purposes, or, as charged in the indictment, for the unlawful purpose of picking up men for lewd purposes, and are indictable at common law. 2 Whart. Crim. Law, § 1445. Persons who eavesdrop men's houses, "to hearken after discourse, and thereupon to frame slanderous and mischievous tales," "to cast men's gates, carts, and the like," are nigh-walkers. Thomas v. State, 55 Ala. 260. The expectation of gain is not an essential ingredient to constitute the offense of "night-walking," and the refusal of the trial court to give a charge which asserted this proposition was correct. The evidence fully warranted the charges given at the request of the solicitor. The sufficiency of the evidence was a question for the jury.
Affirmed.
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...also indicates that the term has been given both a broad and a narrow meaning, with the latter becoming more prevalent. In Stokes v. State, 92 Ala. 73, 75, 9 So. 400, the court pointed out that a night walker has been defined both as one 'who has a habit of being abroad at night for the pur......
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