Title: State v. Temple
Citation: 240 N.C. 738, 83 S.E.2d 792
Docket Number: 218
State: north-carolina
Issuer: north-carolina Supreme Court
Date: October 13, 1954

83 S.E.2d 792 (1954) 240 N.C. 738 STATE v. Vernon R. TEMPLE. No. 218. Supreme Court of North Carolina. October 13, 1954. *794 Harry McMullan, Atty. Gen., Ralph Moody, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State. J. R. Barefoot, E. Reamuel Temple, Jr., Benson, for defendant, appellant. HIGGINS, Justice. The defendant was indicted under Section 14-43 of the General Statutes of North Carolina, as follows: The indictment charged elopement, not abduction. Defendant's counsel contend the court should have sustained the motion for judgment as of nonsuit for the reason that Estelle Dunn at the time of the elopement was not an innocent and virtuous woman, for that she had admitted that on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday before leaving on Sunday she had had sexual intercourse with the defendant because as she said, "she wanted to." The elopement was first planned on Saturday and the actual leaving took place on Sunday night. However, for more than a year the defendant had been professing his love for Mrs. Dunn. He seemed to have gained a welcome to the home by furnishing liquor to the husband and making love to the wife. The Dunn's spent the year 1951 on Temple's farm and made a crop there. The evidence showed that Temple was frequently in and about the home. The last of December, 1951, or the first of January, 1952, the Dunn's moved away from the Temple farm and moved to the Johnson place. In November of 1952 the defendant spent approximately two weeks in the Dunn home. During that time the son of 15 became so concerned about what was going on that he went for the deputy sheriff and had the defendant arrested. For approximately one month, March 20th to April 20th, the defendant had again lived in the Dunn home. According to the wife's story he had asked her to marry him about a week before they left. The proposal of marriage was before the first act of intercourse. The indictment charges that at the time of the commission of the offense the wife was an innocent and virtuous woman. The law requires proof of that fact before a conviction can be had. Mrs. Dunn testified that even as to the defendant she had retained her innocence and virtue through more than 15 months of professions of love and until after he had asked *795 her to marry him. It is not surprising, therefore, that this conduct led to elopement. If innocence and virtue existed at the beginning of the acts on the part of the defendant which in sequence led to the elopement, the requirement of the statute is fulfilled. In the case of State v. Hopper, 186 N.C. 405, 413, 119 S.E. 769, 773, this Court said: While the motion for judgment as of nonsuit was properly overruled, nevertheless the case must go back for a new trial because of error committed in the charge, the objection to which is raised by defendant's exception No. 57. The court charged: The court charged: "It is necessary for the State * * * to satisfy you from the evidence and beyond a reasonable doubt * * * (2) That at the time or at some time prior to the elopement the married woman was a chaste and pure, or innocent and virtuous woman." The charge, as given, lifts part of the burden the statute placed upon the State. The statute says: "Provided, that the woman since her marriage has been an innocent and virtuous woman." The charge, as given, permitted the State to carry the burden imposed by showing that the woman, at some time prior to elopement was an innocent and virtuous woman. Every woman is innocent and virtuous at some time. The battle line of the case was whether the wife, at the time of elopement (as hereinbefore defined) was an innocent and virtuous woman as contemplated by the first proviso in the Act. The charge as given was equivalent to striking out this *796 proviso. The error, therefore, was prejudicial. Some serious questions arise on the record with respect to the admissibility of evidence. Witnesses were permitted to testify to hearsay statements of a prejudicial nature if made in the presence of the defendant, regardless of whether the statements were of such character as might be deemed to require an answer on the part of the defendant or that his failure to answer might lead to an inference of guilt or guilty knowledge. To make competent the statement of others, more must appear than the mere fact the statements were made in the presence of the defendant. With respect to the admissibility of this type of evidence, the correct rule is stated by former Chief Justice Stacy in the case of State v. Wilson, 205 N.C. 376, 171 S.E. 338, 339, from which we quote: We refrain from discussing further the exceptions to the admissibility of evidence on the ground that the questions presented by them may not arise on another trial. On account of the prejudicial error in the charge, the case must go back to the Superior Court of Johnston County for a New Trial.