State v. Dargatz

148 S.W. 889, 244 Mo. 218, 1912 Mo. LEXIS 318
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 20, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 148 S.W. 889 (State v. Dargatz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Dargatz, 148 S.W. 889, 244 Mo. 218, 1912 Mo. LEXIS 318 (Mo. 1912).

Opinion

BROWN, P. J.

On January 18, 1911, defendant was convicted in the criminal court of Jackson county, of the alleged “felony of abortion,” as denounced by section 4458, Revised Statutes 1909, and' appeals from a judgment of that court fixing his punishment at confinement in jail for one year and a fine of $250.

The following is a summary of the evidence:

On September 12,1910, the defendant was a practicing physician with .an office in Kansas City, Missouri. On that date one William A. Hawkins, desiring a criminal operation performed upon his wife, Marion Hawkins, for the purpose, of destroying pregnancy, called on defendant and requested the latter to perform the operation, stating that his said wife had [222]*222been pregnant for more than a month, and was not willing to bear a child. Defendant first declined to perform the operation, bnt on being told that Mrs. Hawkins was determined not to give birth to a child and would probably commit suicide if she could not be relieved of pregnancy, consented to perform the operation for the sum of ten dollars.

On September 13, 1910, Hawkins brought his wife to defendant’s office, and about five o’clock in the afternoon of that day, defendant attempted to produce a miscarriage or abortion on her, by inserting several instruments into her private parts and womb; and also placed a considerable quantity of “tape” or gauze in her womb. This operation did not really produce a miscarriage or abortion, nor did it produce any immediate results. About twenty-four hours later, Mrs. Hawkins became violently sick, and some ten hours later died.

A post mortem examination held the same day of her death did not indicate the presence of any disease or wound except that her womb and ovaries were black and swollen with clots of decomposed blood inside the womb, which in the opinion of the coroner were produced by some outside interference which had destroyed a living foetus or child three or four weeks old.

The coroner gave it as his opinion that Mrs. Hawkins died from a septic infection brought about by an operation to produce miscarriage, and that said operation might produce death within thirty to forty hours.

The evidence of the coroner was challenged on this point by the evidence of physicians summoned by defendant, who testified that such an operation as Mrs. Hawkins had undergone at the hands of defendant would not produce death so soon as thirty hours; that death when produced by an attempted miscarriage or abortion, would usually not occur sooner than six days, and often not that soon.

[223]*223Defendant in Ms own behalf testified that he agreed to treat the wife of HawMns for ten dollars, bnt did not agree to produce a miscarriage or abortion; that upon being informed that Mrs. HawMns was determined to get rid of her pregnancy, he surmised that something was wrong with her; that upon examination, he found her womb in an unhealthy and “doughey” condition, the neck being dilated and a foul smelling froth running out, which he thought indicated the existence of a dead foetus inside. Defendant further testified that to relieve Mrs. Hawkins, he inserted into her womb some medicated gauze, first thoroughly cleaning his tools to prevent infection; that his treatment was necessary to relieve the womb of Mrs. Hawkins of the dead matter therein and preserve her life.

The testimony of defendant was weakened by the evidence of the husband of Mrs. HawMns, who stated that he did not employ defendant for any purpose except to produce a miscarriage or abortion, and that at the time of the operation defendant stated that Mrs. HawMns was a healthy woman and ought not to experience any difficulty in getting well.

The State introduced evidence tending to prove that defendant’s reputation for morality was bad.

The defendant seeks a reversal of the judgment ' of the trial court on the following grounds:

1. Error in overruling defendant’s motion to quash the information.

2. Error in refusing to sustain defendant’s demurrer to the evidence.

3. Error in giving instruction numbered 2, which authorized the jury to convict the defendant of “the felony of abortion. ’ ’

4. Error in failing to arraign the defendant after the information had been amended.

5. That the verdict should have been special instead of general.

[224]*224Such additional parts of the evidence and pleadings as are necessary to a more complete understanding of the case will be recited in our opinion.

The information in the case charges the crime of manslaughter in the second degree, as defined in section 4458, Bevised Statutes 1909, and omitting the caption, signature and affidavit, is as follows:

“Now comes Virgil Conkling, prosecuting attorney for the State of Missouri, in and for the body of this county of Jackson, and files this his amended information, and upon his oath, informs the court, that Emil Dargatz, whose Christian name in full is unknown to said prosecuting attorney, late of the county aforesaid^ on the--day of September, 1910, at the county of Jackson, State of Missouri, with force and arms in and upon one Marion Hawkins, a. pregnant woman, then and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously did make an assault, and did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously use and employ in and upon the body and womb of the said Marion Hawkins a certain instrument or instruments (the exact nature •and description of which the prosecuting attorney is unable to give) and did then and there wilfully and feloniously thrust and force said instrument and instruments into the private parts and womb of the said Marion Hawkins, with the felonious intent then and' there to promote .and produce a miscarriage and abortion upon and to thé person of the said Marion Hawkins; he, the said Emil Dargatz, being then and there a licensed physician and then and there not intending necessary medical or surgical treatment, 'and not being then and there engaged in any act necessary to preserve the life of said Marion Hawkins, or that of an unborn child, and not then and there intending any injury other than the destruction of pregnancy, did by the means aforesaid and in' the manner aforesaid mortally wound, infect and disease the body and [225]*225womb of tbe said Marion Hawkins, in consequence of which she was made and became mortally sick and of which mortal sickness on the 15th day of September, 1910, at the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, she, the said Marion Hawkins, did die; and so the prosecuting attorney aforesaid, upon his oath aforesaid, doth say that the said Emil Dargatz her, the said Marion Hawkins, at the county and State aforesaid, in the manner and by the means aforesaid, unlawfully, wilfully and feloniously did kill and murder, against the peace and dignity of the State.”

I. The information is attacked on the ground that it does not specifically allege that the criminal acts of the defendant were not necessary to preserve the life of Mrs. Hawkins or that of an unborn child. We find the information charges that in attempting to produce the miscarriage or abortion, defendant was not “engaged in any act necessary to preserve the life of Marion Hawkins or that of an unborn child.” This was equivalent to stating that the unlawful acts of defendant in .attempting to produce a miscarriage or abortion were not necessary to preserve the life of Mrs. Hawkins.

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Bluebook (online)
148 S.W. 889, 244 Mo. 218, 1912 Mo. LEXIS 318, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dargatz-mo-1912.