State ex rel. Wilkins ex rel. Wilkins v. Markway

353 S.W.2d 727, 1962 Mo. LEXIS 773
Supreme Court of Missouri·Decided February 12, 1962·No. No. 48600·Published

Opinion

DALTON, Judge.

This is an action for $50,000 actual and $50,000 punitive damages based upon the charge that in April 1955, Jo Ann Wilkins, a minor under the age of 17 years and confined in the Cole County Jail in Jefferson City, was unlawfully and criminally assaulted and sexual intercourse had with her on several occasions by defendant Man-kin, a deputy sheriff and jailer in charge of said jail; and that as a result of such intercourse she became pregnant and subsequently gave birth to a child on January 19, 1956, whom she has had to care for and support. The acts were charged to have been done by the sheriff and his deputy maliciously, wantonly, wrongfully and without just cause or provocation and that they constituted misconduct and abuse of official authority.

The action was brought in the name of the State of Missouri at the relation of Jo Ann Wilkins, a minor, by her mother and' next friend against Ben Markway, Sheriff of Cole County, his bonding company, National Automobile and Casualty Company of California, and Earl Mankin, a former-deputy sheriff and jailer for defendant; Markway. The penalty of the bond sued on was for $5,000 and was conditioned that Ben Markway, the duly elected Sheriff of' Cole County, Missouri, for a term beginning January 1, 1953, “shall faithfully and’ honestly discharge the duties of said office, then this obligation shall become void,, otherwise to remain in full force and effect.”

At the close of plaintiff’s evidence the-Court directed a verdict and entered judgment thereon for all of the defendants on the ground that plaintiff had failed to make a case for the jury. After her motion to., set aside the directed verdict and for a. new trial were overruled, plaintiff appealed-to this Court.

Defendant Markway’s official position as-Sheriff of Cole County during 1954, 1955. and 1956, the execution of the official bond in question, that Earl Mankin was duly appointed a deputy sheriff by Markway and; served as such, and that Jo Ann Wilkins,, a minor child, more than 16 years of age, was an inmate of the Cole County Jail from. October 27, 1954 to July 5, 1955, are admitted facts.

Plaintiff offered portions of a deposition, of defendant Markway tending to show that he was in charge of the Cole County Jail during 1954, 1955 and 1956; that he-had three deputies working under him, each one for an eight-hour shift; that Earl Man-kin’s shift was from 12 midnight to 8 a. m. during the spring of 1955; and that he let Mankin go in May 1955. As to why he let Mankin go, he said: “I had a report on this deal up there * * Markway did not say he asked Mankin to quit, but said: “We talked it over a little, I believe.” As to plaintiff’s pregnancy while in his jail, Markway said: “Well, looks that way [729] she got pregnant while she was up there around the jail * * She was not out of the jail that he knew of. Each jailer had a set of keys to the cells and the tanks. The tanks had five cells and a hall. Male prisoners were not permitted to .go back to do any work in the part of the jail where plaintiff was held. Only the sheriff and his deputies had keys to the •cell block where plaintiff was held and no ■one else could get into that part of the jail.

Portions of a deposition of defendant Mankin tended to show that he was employed by the Sheriff of Cole County in 1955 as deputy sheriff and jailer; that he ■worked from 8 p. m. to 8 a. m.; that the ■colored women in the jail were separated .from the colored men and from the white •men; that doors separating the several parts of the jail were kept locked; that while plaintiff was a prisoner in the jail he had never seen her outside the jail building; and that so far as he knew she had not left the jail during her stay there.

Plaintiff’s testimony tended to show that ■she was born July 28, 1938; and that, when she was 12 years old, she had difficulty ■about going to school and was sent to the Little Blue Home, a school for juvenile boys and girls, in Kansas City. She ran away from that home the next year and was sent to the Tipton Training School for Negro girls in November 1951. In July 1953, she ran away from the Tipton Training School and returned to Kansas City, but was caught and returned to the Tipton Training School in November 1953. In June 1954 she was transferred to the women’s penitentiary in Jefferson City, apparently under the provisions of Sec. 219.230 RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S.

During the riot in the State penitentiary in October 1954, plaintiff started a fire in the women’s penitentiary and was later charged with arson and sent to the Cole County Jail on October 27, 1954. She was then 16 years old. She remained in the Cole County Jail until July 5, 1955, when she entered a plea of guilty to a charge of arson and was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and sent to the women’s farm. She was released from the women’s penitentiary on November 3, 1956.

Concerning her imprisonment in the Cole County Jail, plaintiff testified that she and two other colored girls, Shirley Skinner and Shirley Kempker, were placed in a cell block containing six cells. There was a steel door at the end of the cell block which was locked at all times, except when meals were sent in. The deputy on duty had the key to this door. The only person who came into this cell block was the trusty who brought the food and who was always accompanied by a deputy. No man ever came into the cell block alone while she was there. There was a sort of hall in front of the cells and, after four or five months, the girls had the freedom of the cell block and this hall.

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State ex rel. Wilkins ex rel. Wilkins v. Markway, 353 S.W.2d 727, 1962 Mo. LEXIS 773 (Mo. 1962).

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