Case Title: State of Oregon v. Elliott

Citation: 204 Or. 460, 277 P.2d 754

Docket Number: 

State: oregon

Court: Oregon Supreme Court

Date: 1954-12-08T00:00:00Z

Document:
Affirmed December 8, 1954.
Petition for rehearing denied January 5, 1955.
Certiorari denied May 23, 1955.
*461 Leo Levenson, Portland, argued the cause and filed briefs for appellant.
James J. Kennedy, Deputy District Attorney, Portland, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were John B. McCourt, District Attorney, and Charles E. Raymond, Deputy District Attorney, Portland.
Certiorari denied by United States Supreme Court May 23, 1955.
AFFIRMED.
LATOURETTE, C.J.
Dr. Ross H. Elliott, a chiropractor, was convicted and sentenced for the violation of § 23-927, OCLA *462 (ORS 161.310), previously referred to by this Court as the Oregon Nuisance Act, it being charged that he and another unlawfully kept and maintained an office for the purpose of producing abortions. The appeal comes to us on a demurrer to the indictment, which indictment follows:
The Nuisance Act, upon which the indictment was based, is as follows:
For the first time, on appeal, the constitutional question is raised that the Nuisance Act is vague and uncertain and therefore void by virtue of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. This act has been construed and upheld by this court in numerous cases. In State v. Atwood, 54 Or 526, 102 P 295, 104 P 195, we had before us an indictment which parallels in all material respects the present indictment and we there held that the indictment was sufficient under the Nuisance Act. We quote from that opinion as follows:
1. It is a universal rule that a penal statute must be definite and certain and if not it is void by virtue of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The fundamental purpose of this doctrine is to warn individuals of the criminal consequences of their conduct. Jordan v. DeGeorge, 341 US 223, 95 L ed 886, 71 S Ct 703.
In State v. Anthony, 179 Or 282, 169 P2d 587 (certiorari denied, 330 US 826, 91 L ed 1276, 67 S Ct 865), the "void for vagueness" doctrine involving the precise constitutional question here raised was before us in a case where a party was convicted upon an indictment charging the commission of an act of sexual perversity. The statute upon which the indictment was drawn is § 23-910, OCLA (ORS 167.040), which reads in part as follows:
In upholding the conviction in the Anthony case, supra, Mr. Justice BRAND, in a well-reasoned and exhaustive opinion, traced the genesis and progress of the doctrine, treating the cases, both state and federal, bearing upon the subject. It would serve no useful purpose for us to restate the principles involved in this doctrine since a perusal of the opinion in that case will give a full understanding of the subject.
2. The Nuisance Act has been on the statute books of this state for nearly a century and its constitutionality, until now, has never been challenged. When *465 we decided in the Atwood case, supra, that the maintaining of abortion clinics violated the Nuisance Act, such holding became a part of the statute as if written into it at the time of its enactment. State ex inf. Harvey v. Missouri Athletic Club, 261 Mo 576, 170 SW 904. See 50 Am Jur 199, Statutes, § 221.
Since the cardinal purpose of the "void for vagueness" doctrine is to warn individuals of the criminal consequences of their conduct, it ill-behooves defendant to claim at this late date that the statute is indefinite and that he was not forewarned that his nefarious practices were a violation of the same since State v. Atwood, supra, has been the law of this state for over 40 years.
3. Defendant argues that the Nuisance Act is indefinite and vague in that it is a catchall and leaves to the whim and caprice of a prosecutor the determination of what grossly disturbs the public peace or health, etc. How the act might affect the actions of others is of no concern to defendant for "It is an accepted rule that he who challenges an act under the 14th Amendment must be one against whom the act in fact operates without due process. This defendant is not such a person." State v. Anthony, supra.
We hold that the act challenged is constitutional and not violative of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
It is argued that since the Nuisance Act contains the provision: "If no punishment is expressly prescribed therefor by this code" the indictment in the present case must fail because it charges the crimes of conspiracy to commit a felony, manslaughter by abortion and an attempt to commit a crime and an assault, for all of which punishment is expressly prescribed by the code.
*466 4. Defendant's contention is without merit since the gravamen of the charge in the indictment is unlawfully keeping and maintaining a public place for the purpose of producing illegal abortions, which act grossly disturbed the public peace and health and openly outraged public decency, being injurious to public morals. The allegations in the indictment respecting conspiracy, abortions, etc., were merely elements, incidents, means or circumstances by which the substantive crime was committed and not the substantive crime itself.
In State v. Atwood, supra, we find the following language:
5. The claim of duplicity likewise fails in that the indictment charges only one crime.
6. It is next claimed that the "facts alleged in the indictment do not fall within the purview of section 23-927, OCLA, for the acts are not openly done." The answer to this proposition will be found in the Atwood case where we said:
7. There is a further reason why this proposition merits very little attention. There are three acts stated *467 disjunctively which come within the purview of the Nuisance Act. In this case the indictment charges that the act not only openly outraged public decency, etc., but it also grossly disturbed the public peace and health. It is a well-recognized rule that if such acts are stated conjunctively in the indictment it will suffice if one is proven. State v. Laundy, 103 Or 443, 204 P 958, 206 P 290; State v. Gerritson, 124 Or 525, 265 P 422.
8. Counsel earnestly and ingeniously argues in his reply brief that State v. Buck, 200 Or 87, 262 P2d 495, is authority for holding the indictment fundamentally deficient. There are several reasons why his position is untenable. In the first place, the indictment charged Dr. Buck with a violation of the manslaughter statute and not the nuisance statute. Furthermore, Dr. Buck was a medical doctor while here it is conceded that defendant is a chiropractor. Under the Oregon Medical Code there are certain abortions which duly licensed physicians and surgeons may lawfully perform. These provisions, however, do not apply to chiropractors. It is claimed that the indictment in the present case must fail because there are exceptions which make some abortions legal and that such exceptions must be negatived in the indictment. Counsel picks from the context of the Atwood case, supra, certain passages which tend to give credence to his position. However, the rule on negation is succinctly laid down in that case in the following language:
9. Illegal abortions are mala in se, denounced by the law, and where one conducts an abortion mill he brings himself within the class clearly condemned by the Nuisance Act. It is said in 1 Wood on Nuisances, 3d ed, § 24, p 46:
See State ex rel. Peterson v. Martin, 180 Or 459, 176 P2d 636; People v. Hoffman, 103 NYS 1000, aff. 82 NE 1130; People v. Curtis, 136 NYS 582, aff. 100 NE 1131; 39 Am Jur 302, Nuisances, § 21.
Affirmed.