State v. Stone

120 P. 76, 66 Wash. 625, 1912 Wash. LEXIS 819
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 16, 1912
DocketNo. 9673
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 120 P. 76 (State v. Stone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington 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. Stone, 120 P. 76, 66 Wash. 625, 1912 Wash. LEXIS 819 (Wash. 1912).

Opinion

Ellis, J.

The appellant was convicted under an information reading as follows:

“Then and there being the said defendant Fred L. Stone, at Bellingham, Whatcom county, Washington, on or about the 5th day of October, 1910, did feloniously and unlawfully place a female named Delema Le Comte in the charge of another person, his wife, Belle Stone, for immoral purposes to wit: for the purposes of prostitution, with intent that she, the said Delema LeComte, should live a life of prostitution.”

With the exception of the italicized words, the information was sworn to by the county attorney on March 1, 1911. A demurrer to the information was sustained on March 7, 1911. It was then amended by adding the italicized clause, but not reverified. After the jury was empaneled a second demurrer was interposed and overruled. The appellant was then arraigned and entered a plea of not guilty, the jury [627]*627was sworn and trial had resulting in a verdict of guilty. Motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment were overruled, and judgment and sentence pronounced by the court, from which this appeal was prosecuted.

Appellant first contends that the court erred in overruling the demurrer to the amended information, and in overruling the motion in arrest of judgment. It is claimed that the failure to reverify the information was fatal, in that Rem. & Bal. Code, § 2051, requires that all informations shall be verified. Reliance is placed upon the case of State v. Van Cleve, 5 Wash. 642, 32 Pac. 461, in which this court held that when an information has been amended in a material allegation it must be reverified. In that case, however, the amendment was in a vital particular and was made after a plea of not guilty and after the commencement of the trial. The defendant had no opportunity to object to the amended information or to enter any plea thereto. This is not the case here. The appellant’s demurrer to the amended information raised the question of its legal sufficiency to charge the crime sought to be charged, but it did not raise any objection that it was not reverified nor was this objection raised in any other manner. The record shows that appellant was arraigned and waived a reading of the information, and without further objection pleaded “not guilty.” By so doing he waived the objection now urged.

“The only object of the verification is to insure good faith in instituting the proceedings. It bears the same relation to an information in a criminal action that it does to a complaint in a civil action. It is no substantial part of either the one or the other, and we see no reason why it may not be waived without prejudice to any substantial right of the defendant, or why he should not be held to have waived any irregularity or defect therein by not objecting before pleading to the merits.” Hammond v. State, 3 Wash. 171, 28 Pac. 334.

[628]*628It is next claimed that the court erred in denying appellant’s motion for an instructed verdict for the reason that there was no competent evidence corroborating that of the prosecuting witness, as required by Rem. & Bal. Code, § 2443. She testified that appellant took her to the Melrose House, of which defendant and his wife were proprietors, and introduced her to his wife; that immediately his wife and another female inmate of the house explained to her how easily she could make money and wear pretty clothes, in effect proposing to her, in defendant’s presence, a life of prostitution; that defendant said “Yes, Eliza makes lots of money here, and Minnie went away with $375;” that another man came in while defendant was present; that when she suggested that she must go home, defendant’s wife said, “No you are not going home, you might as well stay here;” and sent defendant for the witness’ nightgown; that while he was gone, the witness, on the urgent demand of defendant’s wife, went to a room with the other man where her downfall occurred; that on defendant’s return, his wife told him the girl had already made $2 and he said, “That is good;” that thereafter, for three or four weeks while she remained at the house, she continued at different times to go to the room with men and practice sexual intercourse with them; that while there she paid $8 a week for her room, and that during all this time appellant was there nearly every day, often in the evenings, and took his meals there, ate at the same table with the prosecuting witness, and sometimes saw men go to the room with her. This, if there was any evidence corroborating it, was amply sufficient to establish the crime charged against the appellant. The corroboration chiefly relied on was the testimony of several witnesses that the Melrose House had the reputation of being a house of prostitution. Clearly this evidence was competent for that purpose. The house was conducted by the appellant and his wife. If it was a house of prostitution he knew that fact when he took the girl there. State v. Ilomaki, 40 Wash. [629]*629629, 82 Pac. 873. The evidence as to the character of the house was competent as showing his purpose in taking her there and placing her in charge of his wife. On a charge such as the one before us, the character of the house in which the female is placed and of the person in whose custody she is placed are put in issue by the statute.

In further corroboration a witness for the state testified to hearing a conversation between the prosecuting witness and another inmate of the house showing clearly the bad character of the house. This is also assigned as error. Counsel for appellant at first objected to the questions on the ground that appellant was not present when the conversation .took place. The court evinced an intention to sustain the objections, but when it became apparent that the witness was reluctant to testify, the objection was withdrawn, obviously in the belief that the answers would be adverse to the state. This was a chance voluntarily taken by appellant, and he cannot now successfully predicate error upon the fact that the answers, contrary to expectation, were adverse to him. Moreover, the evidence was emphasized by appellant’s cross-examination. All of this evidence was corroborative and competent. Its weight was for the jury.

On cross-examination the prosecuting witness denied having stated to a policeman that she was married, that her husband’s name was Settles, and that they lived together at the Beck Hotel in Bellingham. On motion of the state to strike this, the court said that, if he considered it material, he would strike it but it was immaterial. This is assigned as error. The court, however, afterwards admitted this very matter over the state’s objection and also much other evidence of the same kind. The obvious purpose of this evidence was to prove prior specific instances of unchastity. Previous chaste character is not made an issuable fact by the statute. In cases of this kind, evidence of specific instances of unchastity is therefore inadmissible. The only competent evidence of this nature is that of prior general reputation [630]*630of the prosecuting witness for unchastity, particularly as bearing upon her credibility, and the introduction of that evidence was afterwards permitted. 33 Cyc. 1482; State v. Coella, 3 Wash. 99, 28 Pac. 28; State v. Workman, ante p. 292, 119 Pac. 751.

The court sustained an objection to the question, asked on cross-examination of the prosecuting witness as to whether appellant ever kept her from going where she pleased while she was at the Melrose House.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
120 P. 76, 66 Wash. 625, 1912 Wash. LEXIS 819, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-stone-wash-1912.