People v. Platt

1 How. Pr. (n.s.) 402
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 15, 1885
StatusPublished

This text of 1 How. Pr. (n.s.) 402 (People v. Platt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Platt, 1 How. Pr. (n.s.) 402 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1885).

Opinion

Van Brunt, J.

The section of the Penal Code under which the defendant has been committed reads as follows:

“ A person who takes a female under the age of sixteen years for the purpose of prostitution or sexual intercourse, or without the consent of her mother, father, guardian or other person having legal charge of her person, for the purpose of marriage, &c., is guilty of a felony.”

The indictment charged the taking for purposes of prostitution. The evidence to support the indictment was that of the mother of the child as to her age, the evidence of the girl herself, also of a female physician as to the physical condition of the girl, and the evidence of two officers of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children as to the character of the place kept by the defendant and as to an [404]*404interview with the defendant. The evidence of the girl was to the effect that in the latter part of July, 1884, while strolling around New York with a companion, she came to 141 Chatham street; that she then saw the defendant for the first time, and she asked him how much it was to see the entertainment, and he said : “ JN othing, my little dear; come in.” That the defendant then treated them and asked if they were going to stay there; her companion said “ no,” and she said “ yes; ” that the defendant took them both up stairs and had sexual intercourse with them, and the girls then went down stairs and waltzed around until one or two o’clock and went up stairs to bed, getting up about ten or eleven o’clock.

That there were seven or eight other girls there; that after three or four days she asked the defendant to buy her a' new dress, and he bought it, and then she began to go up stairs with other men who paid her a dollar, which she gave to the bartender or to the defendant; that she stayed in the place until the end of August; that about half past six o’clock one evening she went to 107 Chatham street when the detectives were after her, and from there to the defendant’s brother’s place in Cherry street; that while the detectives were at defendant’s place, she went into a little closet, and when she came out the defendant said that she would have to go for a while until it would all be over.

Officer Stocking testified that he knew the defendant, and that he first saw the girl in question August 29, 1884, at 141 Chatham street, between nine and ten o’clock; that officer Wilson was with him; that he saw there quite a number of men and women, among whom was the girl in question, some dancing, some drinking going on, &c.; that the defendant was there; that when they went in they asked for the proprietor, and the defendant was pointed out; that they asked him and he said he was; that noticing a girl rather young for the place; he asked him if her name was not Kate Cavanagh, the girl in question, and if she did not come from [405]*405Newark; that the defendant denied knowing any girl by that name, 01 any girl from Newark; that upon turning again the girl was gone.

That witness further testified that up stairs the house was divided off into several rooms, and that every one had a bed, and that some had bunks three tiers high; that the place was a dance hall and a house of prostitution combined. The witness then testified to other things he saw at this time. A motion was made to strike out this evidence which was denied and exception.

The witness then testified to going there September seventeenth, and that he saw some ten or fifteen men and women arrested. Defendant’s counsel renewed his motion to strike out all of this evidence which was denied and exception. Officer Wilson testified to the same facts.

The learned recorder charged the jury, amongst other things, as follows:

“ It was immaterial for which of these prohibited purposes she was taken. If she was, at the time of the taking, under the age of sixteen years, and was feloniously taken for the purposes of prostitution or of sexual intercourse, the person who does so violates the provisions of the statute and is guilty of the crime of abduction.

“ There are two questions in this case which you are called upon to determine: Did the defendant take the girl Kate Cavanagh for the purpose of prostitution or sexual intercourse ? If you determine this question in the affirmative the next question for you to determine will be: ‘Was she, at the time she was so taken, a female under the age of sixteen years ? ’ If you find both of these questions in the affirmative you will convict the accused. * * * The first question for your determination, I repeat, is this: Did this defendant take the girl Kate Cavanagh for the purpose of prostitution or sexual intercourse ? If you determine that in the affirmative the next question will be, was she, at the time she was so taken, a female under the age of sixteen years ? If you find [406]*406both questions in the affirmative, it will be your duty to convict the defendant of the crime charged in the indictment.”

This is claimed to be error, because the only offense charged in the indictment was a taking for the purpose of prostitution. There, however, was no exception to this branch of the charge, and the attention of the learned recorder was not called-to the fact that there was only one count in the indictment.

It may be true that an appellate court may order a new trial if it be satisfied that the verdict against the prisoner was against the weight of evidence or against the law, or that justice requires a new trial whether any exceptions shall have been taken or not in the court below, but in the case at bar the verdict does not seem to be against the weight of evidence or against the law or that justice requires a new trial. There are no exceptions to evidence which are well taken.

The evidence of what the officers saw at the place on the twenty-ninth of August was competent, because the girl was then there, and the character of the place in which the girl was then being kept was material to show the object of the keeping. From the testimony showing that the house was then a house of prostitution and that the girl was then there, it may be fairly inferred that she was there for purposes of prostitution.

The motion as to the evidence of September seventeenth was too broad, as it included the striking out of the evidence as to August twenty-ninth as well as that relating to what was seen at the place on September 17, 1884. I think, however, that the question as to the character of the house being material in having been shown what it was while the girl was there, it was competent to prove what it had been both before and after, within reasonable limits, and that it was kept by the same proprietor and used for the same purposes, so as to show the character of the place. It is urged that there was error in allowing the jury to consider the general appearance of the girl, in connection with the other evidence, in determining her age. It is sufficient to say that both the [407]*407mother and the girl testified as to her age, and that the statute allows the jury to consider her appearance in determining the question of age.

The jury were not instructed to determine the age of the girl from her appearance alone, but that they might consider it in connection with the other evidence in the cause, and, therefore, were not allowed to “ speculate,” as is claimed by the counsel, as to the age of the girl.

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Bluebook (online)
1 How. Pr. (n.s.) 402, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-platt-nysupct-1885.