Court Opinion

ID: 9614180
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:23:19.424623+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:03:27.551912
License: Public Domain

Lockett, J.,
concurring: I concur in the majority’s determination that under the circumstances, the complaint, although it only alleged that the possession of wildlife was unlawful, was not jurisdictionally defective and that the district court erred in granting defendant’s motion for an arrest of judgment. I disagree with the majority’s determination that while the two principles cited in State v. Jamieson, 206 Kan. 491, 480 P.2d 87 (1971), remain good law, the Jamieson court made a mistake in application of the principles to the facts in that case. I would not overrule Jamieson.
In Jamieson, the defendant was convicted of the offense of procuring an abortion contrary to the provisions of K.S.A. 21-437 (Cor-rick) and was sentenced to 1 year in the county jail. The defendant appealed, claiming the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion to dismiss. He argued the information under which he was *472charged was jurisdictionally defective in that it failed to allege that the statutory exception — that the act was not “necessary to preserve the life of such woman” — was not satisfied. Jamieson reasoned that the omission of a central element of the offense rendered his conviction void for lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter. The Jamieson court noted that the statute (21-437) in effect at the time of the offense charged read:
“Every physician or other person who shall willfully administer to any pregnant woman any medicine, drug, or substance whatsoever, or shall use or employ any instrument or means whatsoever, with intent thereby to procure abortion or the miscarriage of any such woman, unless the same shall have been necessary to preserve the life of such woman, or shall have been advised by a physician to be necessary for that purpose, shall upon conviction be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment.” (Emphasis supplied.)
The Jamieson court noted the well-established rule in all jurisdictions that an exception which constitutes an integral part of the offense and is defined in that statute must be specifically negated in the charging information. It pointed out that the general rule at the time was found in 1 C.J.S., Abortion § 21, which stated:
“Following die rules applicable to indictments and informations generally, where there is an exception in the statute defining abortion, which exception forms a part of the description of the offense so that the ingredients thereof camiot be accurately stated if the exception is omitted, the indictment must negative the exception, otherwise the offense defined by the statute is not charged. This averment should be made in terms which are direct and certain, and it should not be set out parenthetically or in ambiguous terms.”
The Jamieson court further noted that in 1 Am. Jur. 2d, Abortion § 18, the general rule stated:
“Under statutes which provide in effect for the punishment of anyone who supplies or administers a medicine, drug, or substance to a pregnant woman, or uses or employs any instrument or other means whatever, with intent thereby to procure the miscarriage of such woman, unless such act is necessary to preserve her life, the authorities generally hold that the indictment must allege that production of a miscarriage was not necessary to save her life.”
The Jamieson court concluded that the exception in 21-437 was an integral part in the definition of the offense of abortion and the *473failure to include the exception in the information constituted a fatal defect. The Jamieson court held that where there is an exception in the statute defining abortion, and the exception forms an integral part of the offense defined, the information must negate the exception in order to properly charge the offense. The Jamieson court set aside the defendant’s conviction and discharged him from the judgment and sentence.
Here, the defendant was charged with a violation of K.S.A. 32-1002(a)(2), which provides:
“(a) Unless and except as permitted by law or rules and regulations adopted by the secretary in accordance with K.S.A. 32-805 and amendments thereto, it is unlawful for any person to: . . . (2) possess, any wildlife, dead or alive, at any time or in any number, in this state.”
The majority here concludes that the exceptions stated in the statute are not a material part of the description of the offense. It reasons that the exceptions are more in the nature of a parenthetical expression referring to other parts of the act and regulations which render the possession under the statute unlawful. It concludes that under such circumstances, the exceptions set out in the other statutes and regulations are affirmative defenses and need not be stated in the complaint.
In Jamieson, the portion of the statute omitted from the complaint was an integral part of that statute. In this case, the omitted portion was not an integral part of the statute and was not required to be included in the complaint. The rule that where there is an exception in the statute defining the crime, and the exception forms an integral part of the offense defined, the information must include the exception in order to charge the offense was correctly applied in Jamieson. The rule is also correctly applied in this case. Because Jamieson was correctly decided, I must disagree with the majority’s holding which overrules Jamieson.