State v. White
State v. White
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The defendant was charged with unlawfully and feloniously persuading, inducing, enticing, and procuring Jessie Hahn, a female person, to go from the restaurant of the defendant on Sumner street in Arkansas City to the Alamo rooming house in Arkansas City for the purpose of prostitution and fornication. - He was convicted of thus inducing and persuading Jessie Hahn to go from the St. Charles rooming house to the Alamo rooming house in that city.'
The statute under which the defendant was prosecuted, so far as it is material, reads:
“Any person . . . who shall persuade, induce, entice or procure . . . any female person . . . to go from one place to another within this state, for-the purpose of prostitution, fornication or concubinage, shall be deemed guilty of a felony.” (Gen. Stat. 1915, § 3646.)
2. The statute provides that no conviction shall be had on the uncorroborated testimony of the woman. It is contended that such evidence was wanting in this case. We think not. There could seldom be a conviction for any crime involving illicit sexual intimacy if corroborating eyewitnesses were indispensable. The statutory requirement of corroboration can readily be satisfied by evidentiary facts and circumstances, if they are of sufficient potency to satisfy the jury. (The State v. Waterman, 75 Kan. 253, 88 Pac. 1074 ; 33 Cyc. 1498; 35 Cyc. 1360 et seq.)
This palpable error in the instruction was probably an inadvertence, but this court cannot say that it was nonprejudicial. Counsel for the state make no answer to this assignment of error; and we can think of none which would not do violence to the settled rules of trial in criminal cases. This necessitates a reversal of the judgment and that the cause be remanded for a new trial.
It is so ordered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The State of Kansas v. James White
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- SYLLABUS BY THE COURT- 1. Criminal Law — Fornication—Injormation Charges a Felony. Any person who induces a female person to go from one place to another for the purpose of fornication, although the one place and the other are both within the same city — as from a restaurant to a rooming house, is guilty of a felony under section 319 of the crimes act (Gen. Stat. 1915, § 3646). 2. Same — Fornication — Evidence — “Uncorroborated Testimony of Woman.” The statutory requirement that no conviction shall be had under section 319 of the crimes act on the uncorroborated testimony of the woman’ may be satisfied by evidentiary facts and circumstances, not necessarily by eyewitnesses. 3. Same — Verdict-r-Variance. In a criminal prosecution, where an instruction of the trial court and the jury’s verdict are at material variance with the criminal charge and likewise at variance with the evidence, and where the appellate court cannot say with assurance that the variance was nonprejudicial, the, judgment must be reversed.