State v. Rieman

235 P. 1050, 118 Kan. 577, 1925 Kan. LEXIS 241
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMay 9, 1925
DocketNo. 26,169
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 235 P. 1050 (State v. Rieman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Rieman, 235 P. 1050, 118 Kan. 577, 1925 Kan. LEXIS 241 (kan 1925).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Burch, J.:

Defendant appeals from a conviction under the following statute:

“Any person . . . who shall persuade, induce, entice or procure . . . any female person . . . to go from one place to another within thi's state, for the purpose of prostitution, fornication or concubinage, shall be deemed guilty of a felony.” (R. S. 21-937.)

The affair began in the evening of January 7, 1924. There were four boys, Jack, Zaclc, Yernon, and the defendant, Robert, and an automobile. Robert drove the car. They went to the place where [578]*578Frances, the complaining witness, worked. She was introduced to Robert by Jack, who knew her, and she got into the car when informed the intention was to pick up three other girls. Two other girls, Flora and Connie, who were sisters, were found, and were taken into the car. As thus constituted, the party went to the home of Goldie, on North Cedar street in Abilene. She could not go with them, and they remained there, talking, dancing to vietrola music, and otherwise amusing themselves without impropriety. About 10:30 o’clock Flora went home. She walked, and went alone. Later, Frances, Connie and Vernon suggested it was getting late, and said they must go home, and about eleven o’clock the four boys and Frances and Connie got into the automobile to go home. Frances sat in the front seat between Robert and Vernon. The others sat in the rear seat. Instead of taking either of the girls or any of the boys home, Robert drove to a barn on the road between Abilene and Enterprise. On the way, Frances heard Vernon say something about it being necessary for him to feed the mules. Robert and Vernon testified that soon after leaving the house Vernon asked to be taken to the barn to' perform an evening chore of turning off water running into a watering trough. Arriving at the barn, Vernon got out of the automobile and went into the barn. Frances testified that Robert pushed her out. Robert and Zack then got out, and she was led into a room of the barn, to get warm, although there was no stove there, and then into another part of the barn. She would not stay there, and returned to the automobile. Robert came to the automobile, and insisted that Connie get out, which she presently did, accompanied by Jack. Frances then got into the rear seat of the automobile, Robert followed her and, after making some threats, had sexual intercourse with her. When Vernon had finished whatever he did in the barn, he came out, went to the automobile, and had sexual intercourse with Frances in the rear seat. Robert offered to hold her for him. Connie continued in company with Jack inside the barn all the time they were there, ¡and Zack was a bystander. When Vernon was through with Frances, Robert took him home in the automobile. While Robert was gone, Zack took Frances into the barn and had sexual intercourse with her in a manger. When Robert returned, he took the two girls and the other two boys to their homes. Frances reached home at 11:45. She was pregnant at the time of the trial.

Defendant contends the court did not instruct the jury sufficiently [579]*579with reference to persuasion, inducement, and enticement, as essential elements of the offense to be found by the jury before they were warranted in convicting him. • There is no dispute that Frances went from the house on Cedar street to the barn, and there is no dispute about the occasion and manner of her going. The party at the house broke up. Flora had already gone home, and Frances and Connie wanted to go home. The four boys and two girls got into the automobile, and the defendant drove the automobile with its occupants, including Frances, to the barn. No persuasion, inducement or enticement was employed by way of gaining Frances’ consent to go to the bam, her will in the matter was not consulted, and if, before reaching the barn, she learned she was not going directly home, she entered no protest. The result is, the content of the instructions, which defendánt did not ask to have elaborated, is not now important, and the substantial question is whether the undisputed facts bring the case within the statute.

The statute contains the word “procure.” While procurement may be by coaxing, tempting, luring, and the like, which are •characteristic means of enticement, neither persuasion nor inducing or enticing attraction need be employed. Generally, in the criminal law, the word “procure” has the popular, which is also the dictionary meaning, to bring about; effect; cause. (Rosenbarger v. State, 154 Ind. 425; Hines v. State, 16 Ga. App. 411; Long v. State, 23 Neb. 33; Marcus v. Bernstein, 117 N. C. 31; United States v. Somers, 164 Fed. 259.)

In the active sense of the word, Frances did not “go” to the barn. ,She was taken there. But go is frequently used in the passive sense of to be conveyed, as “to go by train” (Webster’s New Int. Die.), ■“to go by automobile,” and the word as used in the statute includes •such meaning.

The conclusion is that the admitted facts show defendant procured Frances to go from the house on Cedar street to the barn, ■within the meaning of the statute.

The statute requires the procurement shall be for one of the im.moral purposes named. It was not necessary that Frances should share in the purpose, or know of it, or that on arrival at the barn .immoral conduct should take place. The offense was complete if •defendant procured her to go to the barn for one of the specified ^purposes. What was the purpose of the expedition to the barn? 'The evidence which has been stated warranted the inference that [580]*580feeding the mules or turning off the water was an ostensible purpose, serving to mask the dominating one, which was fornication.

Frances alone testified to accomplishment of the purpose for which she was procured to go to the barn. Robert, Vernon, and Zack denied that any impropriety occurred, and Connie and Jack said they knew nothing of what occurred in the rear seat of the car and in the manger. The statute provides that no conviction shall be had on the uncorroborated testimony of the woman. (R. S. 21-937.) Defendant contends there was no corroboration of Frances’ testimony.

As indicated above, the facts establishing procurement to go from the house to the barn are not disputed. The nature of the purpose only is disputed. Corroboration may be by evidentiary facts and circumstances (The State v. White, 111 Kan. 196, 206 Pac. 903).

On arrival at the barn, the car was stopped some twenty feet from the building, which consisted of an office and a main part entered through the office. Connected with the barn was a corral in which there were thirty or forty head of mules, watered by city water running through a faucet into a trough. The water was allowed to run slowly during the day, and was turned off in the evening. There is no dispute that Vernon was the first to leave the car, and he went directly into the barn. Defendant says he was with Frances, and on the way to the barn she sat between him and Vernon, on the front seat. Defendant drove directly from the house to the barn, and those in the rear seat were not apprised that they were being taken to the barn. They supposed defendant was taking the members of the party home. When they arrived at the barn,"no one had anything to do there except Vernon, and there was no occasion for young men and young women, possessed of decent regard for propriety, to leave the automobile and go into the barn together at that time of night.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
235 P. 1050, 118 Kan. 577, 1925 Kan. LEXIS 241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rieman-kan-1925.