Scott v. People

30 N.E. 329, 141 Ill. 195, 1892 Ill. LEXIS 972
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 24, 1892
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 30 N.E. 329 (Scott v. People) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scott v. People, 30 N.E. 329, 141 Ill. 195, 1892 Ill. LEXIS 972 (Ill. 1892).

Opinion

Mr. Chief Justice Magruder

delivered the opinion of the ‘Court:

This is an indictment against the plaintiff in error for an attempt to produce an abortion. He has been tried before a jury and found guilty, and sentenced by the Circuit Court to imprisonment for one year in the penitentiary.

The indictment contained four counts. Motion was made to quash, and was sustained as to the first and third counts, but overruled as to the second and fourth. After return of verdict of guilty, motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment were made and overruled, and exceptions taken.

First, it is charged by the plaintiff in error, that the second and fourth counts of the indictment are defective, because they do not allege an intent to procure an abortion.

The second count charges that Freeman J. Scott on, etc., at, etc., “did unlawfully, feloniously and wilfully use and employ a certain instrument, called a ‘speculum,’ and a certain instrument called a ‘catheter,’ and a certain instrument called a ‘sound,’ and a certain instrument called a ‘forceps,’ and a certain metallic instrument the name of which is to said jurors unknown, and in and upon one Ruth Aument, who was then and there a woman pregnant with child, by then and there forcing, thrusting and inserting said instruments into the private parts and womb of the said Ruth Aument, then and there did thereby unlawfully, feloniously and wilfully attempt to procure and produce the miscarriage of said Ruth Aument, it not being then and there necessary to procure or produce such miscarriage for the preservation of the life of the said Ruth Aument,” etc.

The fourth count charges that Freeman J. Scott on, etc., at, etc., “did unlawfully, feloniously and wilfully use and employ a certain instrument called a ‘speculum,’ and a certain instrument called a ‘sound,’ and a certain instrument called a ‘catheter,’ and a certain instrument called a ‘forceps,’ in and upon one Ruth Aument, then and there being a woman pregnant with child, by then and there forcing, thrusting and inserting said instruments into the private parts and womb of the said Ruth Aument, and then and there did thereby unlawfully, feloniously and wilfully attempt to procure and produce the miscarriage of the said Ruth Aument, and neither of said instruments was then and there used or employed by said Freeman J. Scott, as aforesaid, as necessary for the preservation of the life of said Ruth Aument, and said Freeman J. Scott did not then and there attempt, as aforesaid, to procure or produce the miscarriage of said Ruth Aument as necessary for the preservation of the life of said Ruth Aument, ” etc.

In Baker v. The People, 105 Ill. 452, we said in regard to such an indictment as this one: “We think the indictment is substantially good, and that consequently there was no error in overruling the motion to quash.” Although the point here urged was not specifically made in the Baker case, we think the observation above quoted is applicable to the second and fourth counts of the present indictment, notwithstanding the absence therefrom of an allegation of intent.

Section 468 of our criminal code provides that “every indictment or accusation of the grand jury shall be deemed sufficiently technical and correct which states the offense in the terms and language of the statute creating the offense, or so plainly that the nature of the offense may be easily understood by the jury.” .The statute, under which the present indictment was found, is as follows: “Whoever, by means of any instrument, medicine, drug, or other means whatever, causes any woman, pregnant with child, to abort or miscarry, or attempts to procure or produce an abortion or miscarriage, unless the same were done as necessary for the preservation of the mother’s life, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than ten years.” (1 Starr & Curts, pp. 753, 857, and secs. 3 and 468).

The counts as above set forth not only charge the offense in the language of the statute, but so plainly that the nature of the offense was easily understood by the jury. (Cole v. The People, 84 Ill. 216; Fuller v. The People, 92 id. 182; Loehr v. The People, 132 id. 504).

It is a principle of pleading that whatever is included in or necessarily implied from an express allegation, need not be otherwise averred. (Baysinger v. The People, 115 Ill. 419; Maynard v. The People, 135 id. 416). Although the statute does not use the word, “intent,” yet the word, “attempt,” which it does use, necessarily includes intent. (Thompson v. The People, 96 Ill. 158). “An .attempt is an intent to do a particular thing with an act toward it falling short of the thing intended.” (1 Bishop on Crim. Law, sec. 728). “When we say that a man attempted to do a thing, we mean that he intended to do., specifically, it, and proceeded a certain way in the doing.” (Id. sec. 729). “It seems impossible to doubt, that the only distinction between an intent, and an attempt to do a thing, is, that the former implies the purpose only, while the latter implies both the purpose and an actual effort to carry that purpose into execution.” (Prince v. State, 35 Ala, 367; Lewis v. State, id. 380; Gray v. State, 63 id. 73; Hart v. State, 38 Tex. 382; Johnson v. State, 14 Ga. 55). Counsel for plaintiff in error refer to several cases, where the indictments were framed under statutes which used the word, “intent;” but these cases have no application here, where the statute uses the word, “attempt,” only.

These counts sufficiently set out the facts, from which it would appear, that an attempt was made to produce a miscarriage. (Loehr v. The People, supra). They allege, that Scott used certain instruments, which are named, in and upon Euth Aument, a woman pregnant with child, by forcing and inserting them into her womb, and thereby attempted to produce the miscarriage, it not being necessary to do so to preserve her life. The statute is aimed at “those, who, with the intent and design of producing abortion, shall use any means to that end,” (Slattery v. The People, 76 Ill. 217).

Second, it is claimed that there was error in the giving and refusal of instructions. The eleventh instruction given for the plaintiff is objected to, upon the ground that the jury are required to find that the defendant attempted with instruments to produce the miscarriage as charged, but are not required to find that such attempt was made with the intent to produce a miscarriage. The observations already made in regard to the indictment apply to this instruction. If the jury found that defendant made the attempt, they must necessarily have found that a guilty intent was involved. But whatever defect may have existed in the eleventh instruction in this regard was cured by the seventh instruction given for the defendant, which contained the following direction: “unless the people have further proved to the satisfaction of the jury, beyond all reasonable doubt, that Freeman J. Scott, * * * inserted these instruments at the time and place as charged in the indictment, intending then and there to produce an abortion upon Ruth Aument, you should find the defendant not guilty.”

It is next assigned as error, that the court refused to give the twentieth instruction asked by the defendant.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
30 N.E. 329, 141 Ill. 195, 1892 Ill. LEXIS 972, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scott-v-people-ill-1892.