Court Opinion

ID: 9725267
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:38:03.020581+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:13.215157
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion
Jackson, J.
The majority opinion is, in my opinion, erroneous and I therefore dissent thereto.
Appellant was charged by amended affidavit with the crime of sodomy which, omitting formal parts thereof and signature thereto, reads as follows:
“EDWARD A. SALISBURY being duly sworn . upon his oath says that ALONZO EDWARD ESTES on or about the 7th day of May, A.D., 1961, at said County and State as affiant verily believes did then and there unlawfully and feloniously commit the abominable and detestable crime against nature with one MICHAEL STONE-STREET, who was then and there a boy twelve (12) years of age. ...”
To the amended complaint defendant (appellant) addressed a motion to quash, which omitting caption, signature and endorsements on the back, reads as follows:
“MOTION TO QUASH
“The defendant moves the’ Court to quash the amended affidavit as amended herein on the following grounds:
“1. The facts stated in said amended affidavit as amended do not constitute a public offense.
“2. Said amended affidavit as amended does not state the offense charged with sufficient certainty.
“MEMORANDUM:
“The allegations of the amended affidavit as amended are so vague and uncertain as to be violative of the defendant’s constitutional right to be informed of the ‘nature and cause of the accusation against him’ as provided in Article 1, Section 13 *698of the Constitution of the State of Indiana and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”
The motion to quash the amended affidavit was overruled, to which ruling appellant excepted, waived arraignment, entered a plea of not guilty and requested trial by jury, which was thereafter waived by both parties.
Trial was had to the court resulting in a finding of guilty, sentence was deferred for investigation by the Probation office of Vanderburgh County until May 28, 1962, at which time appellant was fined in the sum of $100, ordered to pay the- costs therein and sentenced to the Indiana State Prison for not less than two .(2) years nor more than fourteen (14) years. - -
Thereafter on June 15,1962, appellant filed his timely motion for a new trial, which motion, omitting caption, signatures and endorsements on the back thereof, reads as follows:
“The defendant, Alonzo Edward Estes, moves the Court for a new trial on each of the following grounds:
“1. The finding of the Court is contrary to law.
“2. The finding of the Court is not sustained by sufficient evidence.
“3. Error of law occurring prior to the trial and excepted to- by the defendant, in this, to-wit:
“The Court erred in overruling the defendant’s motion to quash the amended affidavit filed herein.
“WHEREFORE, the defendant, Alonzo Edward Estes, prays the Court for a new ' trial of said cause.”
The motion for new trial was overruled and this appeal followed.
*699The assignment of error is on the single ground that “[t]he court erred in overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial.”
The statute on which the prosecution was based is Acts 1905, ch. 169, §473, p. 584, being §10-4221, Burns’ 1956 Replacement, and reads as follows:
“Sodomy. — Whoever commits the abominable and detestable crime against nature with mankind or beast; or whoever entices, allures, instigates or aids any person under the age of twenty-one [21] years to commit masturbation or self-pollution,_ shall be deemed guilty of sodomy, and, on conviction, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars [$100] nor more than one thousand dollars [$1000], to which may be added imprisonment in the state prison not less than two [2] years nor more than fourteen [14] years.”
The amended affidavit does not state an offense under the statute. This court has previously stated in Baumgartner v. State (1953), 232 Ind. 236, 111 N. E. 2d 727, as follows:
“The charge is sodomy. Appellant contends that the affidavit is insufficient because it does not aver the commission of the alleged act ‘with mankind or beast,’ as the statute requires. Section 10-4221, Burns’ 1942 Replacement. The Attorney General of Indiana has filed a brief in which he agrees with appellant, and states that he feels this constitutes reversible error.
“We have examined the affidavit and the statute. We find the appellant and the Attorney General correct.
“Judgment reversed, with instructions to sustain appellant’s motion to quash the affidavit.”
We are further confronted with the fact that when the finding of the court in a criminal case is challenged as being contrary to law and not being sus*700tained by sufficient evidence, as in the case at bar, we are called upon to look to the record not to weigh the evidence, but to determine whether or not the evidence does in fact support the conviction.
In the case at bar appellant was accused of having committed an act of sodomy with one Michael Stone-street on May 7, 1961. The only evidence to that effect is the testimony of the prosecuting witness Stone-street. The State presented Allen Tucker as the corroborating witness who was supposed to have witnessed the alleged act. On direct examination the witness Tucker was asked the following question:
“Do you recall seeing the defendant have unnatural relationship with Michael Stonestreet in the basement of your church on May 7, 1961?”
He answered: “I don’t remember.”
Under these circumstances and in view of the fact that the crime of sodomy is such an “abominable and detestable crime against nature” that a specific act need not be stated in the affidavit, how could a witness to such an act forget it? Furthermore, the failure of the corroborating witness to testify as to the commission of the act, in my opinion, totally obliterates the probative value of the testimony of the prosecuting witness. The State made no attempt to explain or modify the testimony of Tucker and thereby acquiesced in the truth thereof as indeed they were bound to accept his testimony as true as they produced him as their witness.
Doubt and suspicion having been cast upon the testimony of the prosecuting witness and there being no other evidence to support the finding and judgment below, I think the statement of this court in Penn v. *701State (1957), 237 Ind. 374, 382, 148 N. E. 2d 240, is appropriate and reads as follows:
“We conclude therefore that in this case the uncorroborated testimony of the prosecutrix was so improbable and incredible that no reasonable man could say that the appellant’s guilt had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The cause should be reversed and remanded to the trial court with instructions to sustain appellant’s motion to quash the amended affidavit and for a new trial.
Note. — Reported in 195 N. E. 2d 471.