State v. Kocher

119 P.2d 35, 112 Mont. 511, 1941 Mont. LEXIS 94
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 24, 1941
DocketNo. 8,220.
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 119 P.2d 35 (State v. Kocher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Kocher, 119 P.2d 35, 112 Mont. 511, 1941 Mont. LEXIS 94 (Mo. 1941).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE ANGSTMAN

delivered the opinion of the court.

The defendant was tried and convicted of the crime described by section 11005, Eevised Codes. From the judgment, from the order denying a new trial and the order denying a motion in arrest of judgment he appealed.

The record discloses that the prosecutrix was nine years of age; that on the second Sunday before Christmas, 1940, she, in the company of her nephew, a child two years of age, was walking on the streets of Cut Bank, and that about 2:30 P. M. she was accosted by a man whom she described as being rather tall, having black hair, stained, crooked teeth and wearing a greenish blue suit and reddish brown shoes; that the man spoke to her and asked her to come to his room and play with him; that she went to his room on the second floor of a rooming house a short distance away; that upon the two children entering the room the man locked the door and took off his jacket; that the man then requested the prosecutrix to take off her dress; that she said nothing, whereupon the man put his hand upon her shoulder and tried to unbutton her dress; that failing to *514 do so, he requested the prosecutrix to do it, and that as she stepped back her nephew started to cry and the man opened the door and allowed the two to depart. The prosecutrix identified the man to be the defendant here, and pointed him out in a local barber shop, some time before the trial as well as in the court room during the trial.

The record is not clear as to when the prosecutrix made these facts known, but it appears that she recited them to her mother and a girl friend some time later.

The first contention made by defendant is that the information is fatally defective in that there is no lewd and lascivious act alleged. The information alleges: “That Oliver A. Kocher, late of the county of Glacier, on or about the Sunday prior to Christmas Day A. D. 1940 at the county of Glacier in the State of Montana, did commit the offense of a lewd and lascivious act upon a female child under the age of 16 years. That said Oliver A. Kocher, a male person over the age of 18 years, on or about the Sunday prior to Christmas Day A. D. 1940, and before the filing of this Information, at the said county of Glacier, and in the said State of Montana, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously and lewdly request one [here follows the name of prosecutrix] a minor child under the age of 16 years, to-wit, 9 years, to remove her dress, and the defendant did then and there wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously and lewdly place his hands upon the body and person of said [naming prosecutrix], and attempted to remove her dress, with the intent of then and there arousing, appealing to, and gratifying the lust and passion and sexual desires of said [naming prosecutrix] or of the defendant.”

The statute, section 11005, supra, under which the information was drawn, is as follows: “Any person over the age of eighteen (18) years, who shall wilfully and lewdly commit any lewd or lascivious act, other than the acts constituting crimes provided in sections 11000 to 11007, upon or with the body or any part or member thereof, of a child under the age of sixteen (16) years, with the intent of arousing, appealing *515 to, or gratifying the lust or passion or sexual desires of such person, or of such child, shall be guilty of a felony, and shall be imprisoned in the state prison not exceeding five (5) years.”

The defendant argues that there is nothing in the information to show that any contact with the body of the child was lewd or lascivious; that all it alleges is that the defendant attempted to remove her dress which, he argues, is insufficient under our statute to show the commission of the crime charged, or any crime save that of assault. We cannot agree with defendant’s argument. The information is plain and states that the defendant “did then and there wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously and lewdly place his hands upon the body and person of said [prosecutrix] and attempted to remove her dress, with the intent of then and there arousing, appealing to, and gratifying the lust, passion and sexual desires of said [prosecutrix] or of the defendant.” There is alleged an act of placing the hands on the body with the intent to arouse passion, which is sufficient under the statute to state the offense there contemplated.

The next contention urged by the defendant is that there was a failure of proof. The record demonstrates that prosecutrix- told the facts, with no attempt to elaborate on them or to draw any conclusions as to what they meant. The legal question in this connection is whether or not the facts as related by prosecutrix are sufficient to sustain a conviction under section 11005, supra. An analysis of this section shows that the elements of the crime described are as follows: First, the offender must be over the age of eighteen years; second, a lewd or lasvicious act must be committed upon or with the body, or any part or member thereof, of a child under the age of sixteen years; third, the act must be committed with the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust or passions or sexual desires of such person, or of such child.

It is evident that the legislature meant a physical contact between the perpetrator and the child when it used the language “upon or with the body or any part or member thereof.” The lewd and lascivious act must of necessity be *516 related to the intent with which the act is committed. (People v. Hunt, 17 Cal. App. (2d) 284, 61 Pac. (2d) 1208; People v. McCurdy, 60 Cal. App. 499, 213 Pac. 59.) An act of the most intimate nature performed by a doctor would not be considered lewd and lascivious when performed in the practice of his profession. Therefore, we must look to the intent with which the act is done to determine whether it is lewd or lascivious. (State v. Marvin, 197 Iowa, 443, 197 N. W. 315; State v. Weaver, 182 Iowa, 921, 166 N. W. 379.) In determining what the intent is, we are guided by the rule set out in section 10727, Revised Codes, which states: ‘ ‘ The intent or intention is manifested by the circumstances connected with the offense, and the sound mind and discretion of the accused.”

In the case before us we have a total stranger asking a nine-year old girl to his room, locking the door and asking her to remove her dress, and then placing his hand upon her shoulder in an attempt to remove the dress. We hold that this evidence was sufficient to warrant the jury in believing that the defendant had the intent to arouse or gratify his sexual desires in some depraved manner.

We have held that there must be a physical contact between the two parties to constitute an act under the statute. In this case the defendant tried to unbutton the girl’s dress. There is no evidence that he touched her arm, neck, or shoulder or made a “flesh to flesh” contact. We think the statute may be violated without such contact. To make such a distinction would put outside the pale of the law many lewd and lascivious acts, which could be made upon the body of the person and yet no “flesh to flesh” contact occurring.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
119 P.2d 35, 112 Mont. 511, 1941 Mont. LEXIS 94, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kocher-mont-1941.