State of Oregon v. Dewey

292 P.2d 799, 206 Or. 496, 1956 Ore. LEXIS 362
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 18, 1956
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 292 P.2d 799 (State of Oregon v. Dewey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of Oregon v. Dewey, 292 P.2d 799, 206 Or. 496, 1956 Ore. LEXIS 362 (Or. 1956).

Opinions

LUSK, J.

The appellants, Dr. H. R. Dewey, Doris Hofstra (spelled Hoffstra in the indictment) and Johanna Eizema, and others, were jointly indicted of the crime of “committing on act grossly disturbing the public peace and health, openly outraging public decency and injurious to public morals,” alleged to have been committed as follows:

“The said Dr. H. R. Dewey, Dr. Kenneth E. Dewey, Doris Hoffstra, Johanna Doe, whose true [499]*499name is unknown, and Jane Doe, whose true name is unknown, on the 30th day of April, A. D. 1951, in the County of Multnomah and State of Oregon, then and there being and then and there unlawfully conspiring, confederating and agreeing with each other thereto, did on the said day in the said county and state, wilfully and wrongfully set up, equip, furnish with apparatus, and thence continuously until the 26th day of June, 1951, and ever since said time, keep and maintain a certain public place, known as the Dewey Clinic, in the Alisky Building, in the City of Portland, said county and state, with the intent and purpose of them, the said Dr. H. R. Dewey, Dr. Kenneth E. Dewey, Doris Hoffstra, Johanna Doe, whose true name is unknown, and Jane Doe, whose true name is unknown, of wilfully, wrongfully and unlawfully committing, producing and procuring abortions in said public place, upon women pregnant with child, and so having set up, furnish, equipped, kept and maintained said public place with the intent and for the purpose aforesaid, the said Dr. H. R. Dewey, Dr. Kenneth E. Dewey, Doris Hoffstra, Johanna Doe, whose true name is unknown, and Jane Doe, whose true name is unknown, did on the 25th day of June, 1951, in the said public place known as the Dewey Clinic in said county and state, wilfully and wrongfully commit and produce an abortion upon one Ila Cowles, she, the said Ila Cowles, then and there being a woman pregnant with child, and did then and there between the 30th day of April, 1951 and the 26th day of June, 1951, and ever since said time, wilfully and wrongfully commit and produce upon women then and there pregnant with child, the names and numbers of which women are to the Grand Jury unknown, abortions contrary to the Statutes in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Oregon.”

The indictment charges a violation of ORS 161.310, generally known as the “Nuisance Statute.” State v. Nease, 46 Or 433, 440, 80 P 897.

[500]*500The defendants first hereinabove named were convicted as charged and have appealed from the consequent sentence.

The questions raised by the defendants’ first contention, vis., that the indictment does not state facts sufficent to constitute a crime, because the statue under which the prosecution was brought is void for vagueness and because the indictment charges acts for which punishment is expressly provided by the Code, are set at rest by our recent decision in State v. Elliott, 206 Or 82, 277 P2d 754 (rendered after the briefs in the present case were filed), which reaffirmed the doctrine of State v. Atwood, 54 Or 526, 102 P 295, 104 P 195. Because of the decision in the Elliott case learned counsel for defendants waived the contention at the oral argument.

As a second assignment of error the defendants assert that the court committed reversible error in overruling defendants’ objections to the admission of certain testimony which it is claimed was incompetent under the rules of res judicata or estoppel by judgment. One of the acts charged in the indictment was that on June 25,1951, the defendants did “wilfully and wrongfully commit and produce an abortion upon one Ila Cowles, she, the said Ila Cowles, then and there being a woman pregnant with child.” Ila Cowles was called as a witness by the state. Before she testified the prosecuting attorney informed the court that the defendant, Dr. H. R. Dewey, along with the defendants, Doris Hofstra and Johanna Eizema, had been indicted for the crime of manslaughter by abortion performed upon Ila Cowles and that Dewey had been separately tried on the charge and acquitted. At a later point in the trial the record in that case was received in evidence. It showed that the indictment was returned [501]*501July 6, 1951, and a judgment of acquittal of the defendant, Dr. H. E. Dewey, entered December 17, 1951. The indictment in the case now under consideration was also returned July 6, 1951, but the trial was not commenced until June 1, 1953.

After having advised the court of this situation, the prosecuting attorney stated that the purpose of the testimony to be given by Ila Cowles was to show arrangements made with the defendants in connection with their business of performing unlawful abortions. Over appropriate objections of counsel for the defendants the court permitted the witness to testify to the following effect: She stated that her home was in Eugene, that she was a married woman with two children, and that on June 25, 1951, she was pregnant with child and in good health, and on that day went to the Dewey Clinic (the name under which the defendant, Dr. H. E. Dewey, operated) to have an abortion. She saw the defendant, Doris Hofstra, in the office and showed her a slip of paper, whereupon Doris Hofstra said:

“Oh, yes, there isn’t anything to it. We give abortions all the time. We’re the only ones that give it with an anesthetic. There is nothing to it. We do it all the time for girls from California and they go home in about four hours.”

Acting under the instructions of the defendant, Doris Hofstra, the witness, Ila Cowles, put on a hospital gown and waited for about an hour in a small room in the defendants’ suite. The defendant, Dr. H. E. Dewey, finally came and made a pelvic examination and told her she was three months pregnant. She said that she was only two months pregnant. After that Mrs. Hofstra told her that the charge would be $310.00, but the witness said that she did not have that much [502]*502money, and Mrs. Hofstra then came down in her price to $210.00. The witness said that she wonld have to see her mother-in-law, who had accompanied her to Portland from Engene and was waiting for her in the automobile. Mrs. Hofstra said that there would be a charge of $10.00 for the examination. The witness paid this amount, sought out her mother-in-law, and, finding that between the two of them they had $180.00, they both went to the Dewey Clinic with the money, paid it to Dr. Kenneth E. Dewey (one of the defendants), and, at his demand, delivered to him her wrist watch to secure payment of the remaining $30.00. Dr. Kenneth E. Dewey also required the witness and her mother-in-law to sign a printed form concerning which he said, “You know, this is outside of the law, and you have to sign this to protect us if anything should happen.” The witness did not know what the words on the printed form were. Thereupon, the witness, acting under Dr. Kenneth E. Dewey’s instructions, went into the same little room and put on a hospital gown, and was told to lie down and sleep if she could. The witness further testified that on a second visit to the Dewey Clinic she saw several little rooms with cots in them and another room in which there was an operating table with stirrups on the side that you could raise and lower. She testified that When Dr. H. R. Dewey made the pelvic examination he had tools like a doctor.

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Bluebook (online)
292 P.2d 799, 206 Or. 496, 1956 Ore. LEXIS 362, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-oregon-v-dewey-or-1956.