State v. Lahmon

1 N.W.2d 629, 231 Iowa 448
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedDecember 10, 1940
DocketNo. 45232.
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 1 N.W.2d 629 (State v. Lahmon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Lahmon, 1 N.W.2d 629, 231 Iowa 448 (iowa 1940).

Opinion

Bliss, C. J.

On December 10, 1940, this court, by an opinion of that date, reversed the judgment of the trial court. A rehearing was granted on the petition of the State, and on resubmission this opinion affirming the judgment of the trial court is substituted for the aforesaid opinion, appearing in 295 N. W. 148.

*449 Section 13900 of the Iowa Code provides that in a prosecution of this kind, the defendant “cannot be convicted upon the testimony of the person injured, unless she be corroborated by other evidence tending to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense.” In the trial court, the defendant contended by motion to direct a verdict in his behalf, submitted at the close of the State’s case, and also at the close of all the evidence, and by motion for new trial, that there was no such corroboration as required by the statute. Each motion was rightly overruled, and the jury returned a verdict of guilty. The defendant in this appeal reasserts the contention made below as ground for reversal.

Because the members of the court have not been in entire accord in this appeal, a fuller statement of the facts and the law as they bear upon the question of corroboration seems necessary. The legislative enactment involved is salutary and wise. Men and women are so closely and extensively associated in so many necessary and proper relations in business, social, and other varied activities, that if one accused might be convicted upon the testimony of the complainant alone, injustice might often result. It is true, that it may allow a guilty one to escape, but the scales of justice tip strongly in favor of the rule. But courts, insofar as possible, must direct their earnest efforts that this rule of procedure designed as a protecting shield, shall not be used to camouflage an attack.

The language of the Code section, itself, is the authoritative measure of the required corroboration. Attempted elaboration or clarification of its meaning serves no purpose. It is clear and definite. The “other evidence” need not certainly connect the defendant, nor conclusively point him out as the assailant. It need only “tend” to connect him with the commission of the offense, to the end that the jury may say that they have no reasonable doubt of his guilt. State v. French, 96 Iowa 255, 257, 65 N. W. 156. Its tendency must be 11 such as, when considered with the complainant’s testimony,” establishes the defendant’s guilt. “The statute does not fix the quantum or kind of evidence required, nor is its sufficiency to be determined by excluding the evidence of the injured party. State v. McLaughlin, 44 Iowa, [82] 85. If, considered in connection therewith, the *450 other evidence tends to identify and single out the accused as the perpetrator of the crime, it is of that character contemplated by the statute, and its sufficiency is to be passed upon by the jury.” State v. Baker, 106 Iowa 99, 100, 76 N. W. 509, 510. See also State v. Norris, 122 Iowa 154, 155, 97 N. W. 999; State v. Hetland, 141 Iowa 524, 526, 119 N. W. 961, 18 Ann. Cas. 899; State v. Norris, 127 Iowa 683, 684, 104 N. W. 282.

‘ ‘ Evidence is, in its nature, corroborating, if it tends to strengthen and confirm the testimony of the prosecutrix or accomplice in connecting the accused with the commission of the offense charged.” State v. O’Meara, 190 Iowa 613, 621, 177 N. W. 563, 568.

In State v. McGhuey, 153 Iowa 308, 314, 133 N. W. 678, 681, this court found no fault with an instruction on corroboration which stated: “ ‘ This does not mean that the state is required to prove the act by direct testimony other than that of the prosecu-trix, or by eyewitnesses of the transaction. ’ ” As stated in State v. Greiner, 203 Iowa 248, 250, 212 N. W. 465, and quoted with approval in State v. Teager, 222 Iowa 391, 394, 269 N. W. 348, 349:

“It is the rule in this state that, if there is any testimony, independent of that of the prosecuting witness, tending to single out and designate the defendant as the guilty one, its sufficiency is a question of fact for the jury.” (Italics ours.)

Speaking through Justice Stiger in State v. Diggins, 227 Iowa 632, 637, 288 N. W. 640, 642, we said:

“It was sufficient if she was corroborated as to some material fact tending to designate defendant as the perpetrator of the offense.”

Likewise, in State v. Powers, 181 Iowa 452, 465, 164 N. W. 856, 860, is this language:

“The law prescribes no standard for the strength of corroborating evidence, and there is a failure to corroborate only if there be no evidence legitimately having that effect.”

*451 Whether any item of evidence is corroboration, or whether the statutory corroboration, as a whole, is sufficient, is a question of law for the court, but the weight and the probative force of this testimony, as of all other testimony, is a question for the determination of the jury. State v. O’Meara, supra (190 Iowa 613, 621); State v. Teager, supra (222 Iowa 391, 394); State v. Crouch, 130 Iowa 478, 486, 107 N. W. 173; State v. Bricker, 135 Iowa 343, 345, 112 N. W. 645; State v. Norris, supra (127 Iowa 683, 684); State v. Baker, supra (106 Iowa 99, 100); State v. Norris, supra (122 Iowa 154, 155).

Bruises and other physical evidences of an assault upon the person of the victim cannot ordinarily be of any aid in identifying the one who made them, although they confirm and corroborate her statement that the crime was committed. Her prompt complaint of the attack is also not statutory corroboration, but it does corroborate and add to the credibility of her charge that she was ravished. Especially is this true when the complaints are in fact a part of the res gestae. State v. Wheeler, 116 Iowa 212, 213, 89 N. W. 978, 93 Am. St. Rep. 236.

The fact of the commission of the offense may be established solely by the testimony of the one attacked. State v. Beltz, 225 Iowa 155, 279 N. W. 386; State v. Ralston, 139 Iowa 44, 116 N. W. 1058; State v. Speck, 202 Iowa 732, 735, 210 N. W. 913; State v. Mueller, 202 Iowa 1067, 208 N. W. 360; State v. Robinson, 170 Iowa 267, 152 N. W. 590; State v. Wheeler, supra (116 Iowa 212); State v. McLaughlin, supra (44 Iowa 82, 86); State v. Geier, 184 Iowa 874, 877, 167 N. W. 186; State v. Grimm, 212 Iowa 1193, 237 N. W. 451; State v. Christopher, 167 Iowa 109, 111, 149 N. W. 40.

We have many times said that mere opportunity, alone, is not, in itself, sufficient statutory corroboration. See State v. Wheeler, 116 Iowa 212, 89 N. W. 978, 97 Am. St. Rep. 236; State v. Chapman, 88 Iowa 254, 55 N. W. 489; State v. Stowell, 60 Iowa 535, 15 N. W. 417; State v. Lamberti, 200 Iowa 1241, 1243, 206 N. W. 128; State v. Ashurst, 210 Iowa 719, 231 N. W. 319; State v. Brundidge, 204 Iowa 111, 214 N. W. 569 ; State v. Smith, 194 Iowa 639, 644, 190 N. W. 27. But evidence of opportunity is always admissible, and whether it furnishes the corroboration *452 required by the statute depends upon the occasion of the opportunity, and all of the preceding and attending circumstances.

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1 N.W.2d 629, 231 Iowa 448, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lahmon-iowa-1940.