Court Opinion

ID: 9740254
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:31:00.647611+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:17.112796
License: Public Domain

Bronson, J.
(dissenting). I must respectfully dissent from the opinion of my colleagues. The majority opinion fails to adequately1 address defendant’s claim that the statute under which he was charged is inapplicable to the facts of his case as established at trial. Careful consideration of this issue convinces me that defendant’s conviction must be reversed.
The statute under which defendant was charged and convicted reads in part:
"Any male person who, in public or in private, commits or is a party to the commission of or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of any act of gross indecency with another male person shall *135be guilty ofa felony * * MCL 750.338; MSA 28.570 (emphasis added).
The information specifically charged defendant under the emphasized portion of the statute. As he did in the trial court, defendant asserts on appeal that the Legislature’s use of the word "procure” means that the statute contemplates a three-party situation; that is, that the intent is to punish a "male person” who obtains the services of a second "male person” for the commission of . an act of gross indecency with a third "male person”. He asserts that since the facts established at trial revealed only a two-party situation (or a series of two-party situations), the prosecution did not sufficiently establish its case under the statute.
The dictionary definition of "procure” is helpful to the extent that it does not absolutely rule out either possibility:
"PROCURE. To initiate a proceeding; to cause a thing to be done; to instigate; to contrive, bring about, effect, or cause. * * * To persuade, induce, prevail upon, or cause. * * * To obtain, as intoxicating liquor, for another. * * * To find or introduce; — said of a broker who obtains a customer. * * * To bring the seller and the buyer together so that the seller has an opportunity to sell. * * *.” Black’s Law Dictionary (4th ed), p 1373.
The definition of "procurer”, however, goes further in supporting defendant’s claim:
"PROCURER. One who procures for another the gratification of his lusts; a pimp; a panderer; one who solicits trade for a prostitute or lewd woman. * * * One that procures the seduction or prostitution of girls * * * 55 *136Similarly, the Latin procurare and procuratio means to take care of another’s affairs in an agency-type relationship. In French law, a procureur was an attorney, in fact or at law, who acted on behalf of another. A "procuration” refers to an agency or proxy. Clearly these terms all refer to a process by which one person deals with others on behalf of a third.
The circumstances under which the word "procure” is used in other statutes concerning sex-related offenses in Michigan also supports a conclusion that use of the term implies a three-party setting. Outside of the three gross indecency statutes,2 the Legislature chose to use the word "procure” in only two other statutes regulating sexual behavior. MCL 750.455; MSA 28.710, the pandering statute, seeks to punish "[a]ny person who shall procure a female inmate for a house of prostitution * * Similarly, MCL 750.456; MSA 28.711 makes it a crime for a man to place his wife in a house of prostitution, but it goes further and equally punishes one who "procures any other person to place or leave his wife in a house of prostitution * * Both of these statutes specifically use the word "procure” to describe a three-party situation.
There is little case law in Michigan to aid in the determination of this issue. In People v Johnson, 260 Mich 117, 119; 244 NW 251 (1932), the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction of a woman convicted under the pandering statute and held that "[t]he word procure, as used in the [pandering] statute, means to acquire or to get”. There was no need to go further, as the pandering statute already contemplates the ultimate involve*137ment of more than two parties. It is true that this Court has upheld a conviction for an attempt to procure an act of gross indecency under the statute in circumstances revealing only a two-party situation, but the Court did not address the applicability of the statute to such a setting, and the issue may not have been raised by the defendant. People v Dexter, 6 Mich App 247; 148 NW2d 915 (1967).
Reference to the text,of the statute itself supports the view that when making use of the term "procure” the Legislature envisioned a three-party situation. The statute proscribes essentially two types of conduct: (1) the actual commission of an act of gross indecency (including one who is a "party to the commission”), and (2) the actual procuring or attempt to procure an act of gross indecency. If "procure” means, at the least, "to acquire or to get”, People v Johnson, supra, then one who "procures” an act of gross indecency for himself has acquired the act for himself and, as such, has committed or been the party to the commission of the act. In short, construing the statute to be applicable to two-party transactions would make the statute redundant. Interpreting the procuring section of the statute to mean acquiring for another removes the redundancy and gives that section of the statute its own meaning.
This interpretation of the statute finds support in the Supreme Court’s decision in People v Loveday, 390 Mich 711; 212 NW2d 708 (1973). Loveday involved a charge under the provisions of a statute analogous to the one under which defendant in the instant case is charged. MCL 750.338b; MSA 28.570(2) (gross indecency between male and female). It proscribes with almost identical language the same two types of conduct prohibited by the *138gross indecency between males statute, described above. The defendant in Loveday pled guilty to a charge of attempted gross indecency, and was given a maximum sentence of five years. The Court noted that the gross indecency statute does not separately punish the attempt to commit an act of gross indecency and held accordingly that a defendant convicted of such an attempt cannot be sentenced to the five-year maximum provided by the statute, but only to the two and one-half year maximum allowed by the attempt statute.3 The prosecution argued that defendant could nevertheless receive the five-year maximum sentence because his acts constituted an attempt to procure an act of gross indecency which is specifically mentioned in the statute. The Court rejected this position as "untenable”. While the specific grounds of rejection were that defendant had never been charged with an attempt to procure, inherent in the Court’s decision is the fact that procuring and committing are not the same thing. If the attempt to procure may be punished in a greater manner than the attempt to commit (or, presumably, the attempt to be a party to the commission), the two must be distinguishable, and because "procure” means, at least, to get or to acquire, the inescapable conclusion is that in the setting of this statute procure means to get or to acquire an act of gross indecency other than for oneself.
The trial court took the position that an "attempt to procure” was essentially the same thing as an "attempt to solicit”. This of course cannot precisely be so, as there can be no such crime as an attempt to solicit. People v Richard Banks, 51 Mich App 685; 216 NW2d 461 (1974), lv den 392 Mich 765 (1974). A solicitation is complete when *139one speaks the words or makes the gestures intended to result in a sexual act. MCL 750.448; MSA 28.703. If the term procure is construed to encompass a two-party situation, then it is arguable that an "attempt to procure” is the same as a "solicitation”. This observation lends additional support to the argument that the word procure applies to three-party situations. The term "solicitation” unquestionably refers to a two-party situation. Because the Legislature has decided to punish in one section of the penal code what is unquestionably a two-party transaction by using the term solicitation, and in other sections has decided to punish what is unquestionably a three-party transaction by using the term "procure”, use of the term "procure” in the gross indecency statute should be construed to pertain to three-party situations. It is apparent that the ordinary use of the word "procure” in the context of sexual activity means the facilitation of sexual activity between two other individuals. See People v Samuel Lee, 66 Mich App 5, 8; 238 NW2d 397 (1975).
I would reverse.

 See majority opinion, footnote 7.

 MCL 750.338; MSA 28.570 (gross indecency between males), MCL 750.338a; MSA 28.570(1) (gross indecency between females), MCL 750.338b; MSA 28.570(2) (gross indecency between male and female).

 MCL 750.92; MSA 28.287.