State v. Keever

458 P.2d 974, 10 Ariz. App. 354, 1969 Ariz. App. LEXIS 589
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedSeptember 17, 1969
DocketNo. 1 CA-CR 172
StatusPublished

This text of 458 P.2d 974 (State v. Keever) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Keever, 458 P.2d 974, 10 Ariz. App. 354, 1969 Ariz. App. LEXIS 589 (Ark. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

STEVENS, Judge.

The information charged an illegal abortion, A.R.S. § 13-211. The date of the alleged offense was stated to be on or about 12 February 1966. Defendant was a duly licensed practicing medical doctor. The prosecutrix was a 20-year old Go-Go dancer, married, and the mother of two full-term naturally born children. The verdict and judgment were “guilty”. The defendant was placed on probation and appealed. An appeal lies under these circumstances. State v. Veres, 7 Ariz.App. 117, 436 P.2d 629 (1968), review denied.

The trial was long and it was well and vigorously presented by both sides. The appeal raises many interesting legal points which we need not decide in view of the opinion we have reached.

Article II of Title 13 of the Arizona Revised Statutes is entitled “Abortion.” Section 13-211 reads as follows:

“A person who provides, supplies or administers to a pregnant woman, or procures such woman to take any medicine, drugs or substance, or uses or employs [355]*355any instrument or other means whatever, with intent thereby to procure the miscarriage of such woman, unless it is necessary to save her life, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than two years nor more than five years.”

Under the evidence presented, if the offense charged was proven, it was accomplished by the use of instruments. The essential elements which were required to be established, each beyond a reasonable doubt, were:

1. that the prosecutrix was pregnant;

2. that instruments were used by the defendant ;

3. that the defendant used the instruments with the intent to procure a miscarriage ; and

4. that the procedures used were not necessary to save the life of the prosecu-trix.

The defendant testified that he performed a vaginal examination of the prosecutrix and there were instruments used in conducting the examination. The prosecutrix testifed that instruments were used. She was unable to identify or describe them.

The first question to he resolved is whether, at the time in question, the pros-ecutrix was pregnant. We must examine the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict and the judgment of guilt. Many of the matters which are stated as fact in this opinion when approached from this point of view were seriously contested at the time of the trial. We believe that some of the details of the testimony may be omitted and that it is sufficient to state generally portions of the evidence.

In the fall months of 1965, the prosecu-trix was a married woman. She had previously given natural birth to two full-term children. Her age was then 20 years. She worked as a Go-Go dancer in a local bar. She was generous with men in the use of her body. For a time in the fall of that year she used oral contraceptive pills. By mid-December of 1965 her use of the pills was inadequate in number and irregular in time. Her last menses was about mid-December. Her intimate association with men not her husband continued without the use of contraceptive devices. She experienced symptoms of pregnancy such as frequent urination, the enlargement of her breasts and some morning nausea. She had experienced the same symptoms during her prior pregnancies. She believed herself to be pregnant. Without disclosing her symptoms, she called upon a local doctor, not the defendant in this cause, who sent her to a laboratory for a Gravindex test. The test was conducted on 4 February 1966, and the result was positive for pregnancy. The Gravindex test seeks to determine the presence or absence of a hormone called “human chorionic gonadotropin” often referred to as the HCG. This hormone is produced during pregnancy.

Thereafter, her employer contacted the defendant by telephone and made an appointment for an office meeting between the defendant and the prosecutrix. The testimony of the employer as to the preliminary conversation strongly suggests that the employer advised the defendant that the prosecutrix was pregnant and that the defendant said that he could take care of it. There was testimony as to an agreed fee and that the agreed fee was paid. We must again bear in mind that much of the evidence for the State was sharply contested.

On 12 February 1966, the prosecutrix and her employer went to the defendant’s office. She testified that shortly after arriving at the defendant’s office, she had a conversation with him, in part, as follows:

“A. The doctor asked me about how far along I thought I was. And I told him that I thought maybe two months. And I asked him if that was too far along, and he said no.”

She testified she was then administered two cc’s of Demerol, a pain killing drug. She was placed upon an examining table with her legs spread in the position which the witnesses agreed was the-usual position for [356]*356a pelvic examination. She was draped and could not see the instruments actually used by the defendant. The prosecutrix testified that she “felt a stretching sensation * * * in the vaginal area * * * then * * * I felt tugging and sort of a pulling-down sensation, like my insides were being lowered a little bit.” In response to a question as to the degree of pain she stated:

“A. It sort of elevated itself in degrees until the tugging and that was the most discomforting feeling.”

When asked to describe the pain or discomfort, she stated:

“A. I would describe it as bearable.” After the noon recess, she testified:

“ * * * The first sensation that I felt was a stretching. And it was followed more or less by a pulling and a tugging. And there was more pain involved with that. And it seemed that after that had quit for a little while, there was a slight scraping. Not a scraping on something rough, but just a rubbing feeling, a feeling of something being moved across —a scraping, I guess.”

When asked further about the “scraping sensation” she replied:

“A. That was the same. It was — it wasn’t really generalized. It was generalized, is what it was. It was there, all over.”

She testified that there was not any comparison between the sensations she experienced on 12 February and the sensations she felt during previous pelvic examinations.

Upon the completion of the procedures administered by the defendant, she testified that she observed:

“ * * * some paper waddings with red discolorations on it.”

She described the size of these spots as being:

“A. Maybe a quarter of an inch and maybe numbering in two.”

After she dressed, she testified that she again talked to the defendant. She attributed the following to the defendant:

“A. I asked the doctor if he could tell what it had been.
Q. What did the doctor say?
A. The doctor said, ‘No, you weren’t far enough along.’ ”

She further testified that the defendant prescribed some pills:

“A. He handed me a packet of pills called Darvon.

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Related

State v. Veres
436 P.2d 629 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
458 P.2d 974, 10 Ariz. App. 354, 1969 Ariz. App. LEXIS 589, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-keever-arizctapp-1969.