Court Opinion

ID: 9552335
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:08:54.904154+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:26:07.889668
License: Public Domain

*591BISTLINE, Justice,
dissenting.
In my judgment the Court’s majority opinion runs directly contrary to the pronouncements of the United States Supreme Court and to the earlier decisions of this Court. It is appropriate therefore that I briefly delineate the manner in which I believe the Court has strayed.
I.
Lopez appealed to this Court on the narrow and sole ground that the statute under which she was tried and convicted was facially vague and in violation of her rights under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Her assignment of error reads that the statute criminalizing prostitution “is unconstitutionally vague on its face in that it forbids engaging in ‘sexual activity as a business’ without defining the terms therein so that a person of common understanding could know what is forbidden.” More precisely still, her argument is that:
“In this case the Defendant is charged with engaging in ‘sexual activity as a business.’ What the terms ‘sexual activity’ and ‘business’ mean is not defined by the statute. The vagueness of these terms results because of the multiplicity of possible meanings, some of which would apply to conduct that is constitutionally protected.” (Emphasis added.)
Thus viewed, no complaint is made by Lopez that “prostitution” is not defined, but that the defining terms are not defined. Her conclusion is reached not by taking the entire phrase “otherwise engages in sexual activity as a business” in its context within the Idaho statute criminalizing prostitution, but by dissecting the phrase into the words “sexual,” “activity” and “business” and then turning to the dictionary definition of each.1 The results of such an approach are predictable for, as the mathematician Alfred North Whitehead once observed, one must murder to dissect.
I am surprised that Lopez is able to persuade the Court to piece together one of the dictionary definitions of “sexual,” one of “activity,” and another of “business” and thereby imagine a hypothetical situation where an innocent person might be prosecuted under the statute. Such an approach was totally and firmly rejected by the United States Supreme Court in American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 412, 70 S.Ct. 674, 690, 94 L.Ed. 925, 951 (1950):
“The argument as to vagueness stresses the breadth of such terms as ‘affiliated,’ ‘supports’ and ‘illegal or unconstitutional methods.’ There is little doubt that imagination can conjure up hypothetical cases in which the meaning of these terms will be in nice question. The applicable standard, however, is not one of wholly consistent academic definition of abstract terms. It is, rather, the practical criterion of fair notice to those to whom the statute is directed. The particular context is all important." (Emphasis added.) American Communications Ass’n v. Douds, 339 U.S. at 412, 70 S.Ct. at 691.
Let us rather examine the all-important particular context within which the supposedly offending phraseology is found. I.C. § 18-5613, effective at the time Lopez was tried and convicted, reads:
“Prostitution. — (1) Prostitution. A person is guilty of prostitution, a misdemeanor, if he or she: (a) is an inmate of a house of prostitution or otherwise engages in sexual activity as a business; or *592(b) loiters in or within view of any public place for the purpose of being hired to engage in sexual activity.” (Emphasis supplied.)
In short, section (l)(a) of the statute recognizes that prostitution may be a “house” arrangement, but that a person may engage in sexual activity as a business otherwise than in a house; section (l)(b) further criminalizes the conduct of those who loiter in, or within view of, any public place for the purpose of being hired to engage in sex. In my view it is inconceivable that this language presents any genuine problem. The rule of law is simply “that ‘men of common intelligence’ not be forced to guess at the meaning of the criminal law.” Smith v. Goguen, 415 U.S. 566, 574, 94 S.Ct. 1242, 1248, 39 L.Ed.2d 605 (1974). The majority agrees that,
“Among English speaking people the term prostitution has a meaning which is historic and may be said to be well understood by persons of common intellect.”2
The statute here did nothing other than simply criminalize prostitution; it does so regardless of whether the offender is a house inmate or otherwise follows the trade. The precise rule of construction governing the interpretation of the phrase “otherwise engages in sexual activity as a business” is that of ejusdem generis:
“We recognize and have often invoked the rule of construction that, where general words of a statute follow an enumeration of persons or things, such general words will be construed as meaning persons or things of like or similar class or character to those specially enumerated; usually designated the ‘ejusdem generis’ rule.” Pepple v. Headrick, 64 Idaho 132, 141, 128 P.2d 757, 760 (1942).
Or, as Judge Hagan so well expressed it:
“The word ‘prostitute’ is self-defining and needs no official definition as part of the statute. This is not disputed by the appellant. It is the phrase ‘sexual activity as a business’ which is specifically alleged as vague and indefinite. The key word, in my opinion, is the word ‘otherwise.’ From the interpretations of this word in statutory construction as contained in 30a Words and Phrases 228, et seq., it would appear the word ‘otherwise’ means under circumstances other than the basic proscription, but also refers to acts of the same general nature, or under similar circumstances as the general category of proscribed conduct. This, then, would mean the statute is confined to proscribing sexual activity conducted as a business under more or less the same circumstances as prostitution, or of the same general nature as prostitution. Under this interpretation, the statute would not be vague and would not reach those classes of activity which appellant has cited in her brief. The gynecologist, the doctor who performs vasectomies, and counselors in the performance of their usual duties would not be engaging in sexual activity for hire in the same general category as prostitution. The statute in effect creates two categories, in Subsection (a), of prostitutes. The first category includes those who are inmates of a house of prostitution and the second are prostitutes, or *593those who engage in similar conduct, who are not inmates of a house of prostitution. With this interpretation, I find the statute sufficiently definitive of the conduct which it proscribes and not unconstitutionally vague.”
The phrase “otherwise engages in sexual activity as a business” thus evidences a legislative intent to outlaw prostitution in whatever form and wherever found. The phrase “sexual activity” was used in addition to the word “prostitution” because, as the statute explains, and as the majority itself admits, other forms of sexual behavior than heterosexual intercourse were also intended to be covered. The phrase “as a business” is added because, as the United States Supreme Court has long maintained, it is “sexual relations for hire ” rather than promiscuity without hire which is proscribed. Cleveland v. U. S., 329 U.S. 14, 17, 67 S.Ct. 13, 91 L.Ed. 12 (1946).
Summing up, the language of the 1972 statute is extremely clear.3 I am unable to follow the logic of the majority: (a) that had the Idaho legislature left the word “prostitution” undefined, the statute would have passed constitutional muster; (b) that a fatal flaw occurred in 1972 when the legislature tried to expand I.C. § 18-5613 to include males, homosexuals and sexual deviates, and (c) that this attempted expansion vitiates the entire prostitution statute and renders it unconstitutionally vague because the new language fails “in clear and unambiguous language to provide notice of the proscribed conduct” to those who were the object of the old proscriptions. Appropriate to such an exercise in statutory construction is the statement of Mr. Justice Harlan:
“. . . almost any word or phrase may be rendered vague and ambiguous by dissection with a semantic scalpel. I do not, however, consider it a provident use of the time of this court to coach what amounts to little more than verbal calisthentics. [Citation omitted.] This kind of semantic inquiry, however interesting, should not occupy the time of federal courts unless fundamental rights turn on the outcome.” Cole v. Richardson, 397 U.S. 238, 240, 90 S.Ct. 1099, 1101, 25 L.Ed.2d 275, 276 (1970).
With the Court unwilling to heed the holdings of the United States Supreme Court in matters involving Fourteenth Amendment challenges to state statutes on grounds of alleged facial vagueness, I submit that the inmates of the state penitentiary will soon be buying dictionaries and sharpening their semantic scalpels.
II.
The State relied on Idaho authority as well as that from the United States Supreme Court in its argument before this Court. State v. Carringer, 95 Idaho 929, 523 P.2d 532 (1974), was handed down June 20, 1974 — which was about the time the Lopez case was on appeal before Judge Hagan. In Carringer, this Court upheld the constitutionality of I.C. § 18-6605 — which proscribes “the infamous crime against nature” — against a void-for-vagueness challenge. The standard applied was that enunciated by the United States Supreme Court:
“ ‘Void for vagueness’ simply means that criminal responsibility should not attach where one could not reasonably understand that his contemplated conduct is proscribed.” 95 Idaho at 930, 523 P.2d at 533 (quoting United States v. Nat’l Dairy *594Products Corp., 372 U.S. 29, 32, 83 S.Ct. 594, 598, 9 L.Ed.2d 561 (1963).4
Further on in Carringer, the Court, again citing as its authority United States v. National Dairy Products, supra, made a statement which assumes critical significance in the present case:
“Common to most if not all vagueness cases is the principle that the words of the questioned statute should not be evaluated in the abstract but should be considered with reference to the particular conduct of the defendants." (Emphasis added.) 95 Idaho at 930, 523 P.2d at 533.
What the United States Supreme Court actually said in that case was that,
“In determining the sufficiency of the notice, a statute must of necessity be examined in the light of the conduct with which a defendant is charged." (My emphasis.) United States v. Nat’l Dairy Products, 372 U.S. at 33, 83 S.Ct. at 598.5
The Court today, without observing that it misstated what was actually said in the National Dairy case, now relies upon that misstatement to distinguish Carringer from Lopez: “In Carringer, unlike the case at bar, the ugly facts of the specific conduct of the defendants was before the Court,” whereas here we are without “knowledge of the acts allegedly performed by Lopez.”
The proper procedure in challenging the constitutionality of a statute is to raise the objection “at the earliest possible moment consistent with good pleading and orderly procedure,” State v. Pollock, 80 Idaho 256, 260, 327 P.2d 781, 783 (1958), “otherwise it will be deemed to have been waived.” Brady v. Place, 41 Idaho 747, 752, 242 P. 314, 316 (1925). Obviously, a trial court faced with a constitutional challenge cannot avoid the issue and announce, as the majority, in essence, does today, that, “The court will reserve its ruling until it sees the evidence and finds out just what the specific conduct is in this case.” This issue is required to be raised early, and it must be passed on when made. The constitutionality of the challenged statute must be determined neither in the abstract, nor in hindsight after accumulating a full record, but in light of the conduct with which the defendant is charged. So said the United States Supreme Court in the case which this Court relied upon in Carringer, and I take it that such is the ultimate word in such Fourteenth Amendment challenges as this one.
Applying pool hall reverse english to the approach advocated by the majority, it would seem that counsel who took the appeal in Carringer were guilty of malpractice in bringing to this Court a complete record. Had counsel not brought to this Court a record of the “ugly facts of the specific conduct of the defendants,” then, under the rationale which the Court utilizes today, Carringer presumably would have prevailed on his appeal. The principle the majority today espouses can only result in our seeing a great number of appeals or post-conviction proceedings challenging the constitutionality of criminal statutes, but leaving the record back home.
I question also in the majority opinion the statement that, as to the State’s position, and inferentially as to the decision of Judge *595Hagan as well, that “[ijnherent therein is the assumption that Lopez performed some act which everyone knows or should know constitutes the crime of prostitution.” This remark suggests that the jury convicted Lopez without any evidence being produced as to what activity of hers led to her prosecution. Surely nothing was so assumed by the jury, by the trial magistrate, by Judge Hagan, or by the Office of the Attorney General. Lopez, on her succession of appeals, chose to leave the evidentiary record behind. Counsel for Lopez has never contended or suggested on this appeal that the evidence did not sustain the jury’s verdict that she was engaged in prostitution. He confined his attack to a challenge of facial vagueness — not vagueness as applied.
This Court, on an appeal, should not indulge in the presumption that there was error or irregularity in proceedings below. Just the contrary. The well-known rule is just the opposite, that all presumptions are in favor of upholding the proceedings below, and that the burden of showing error therein is on appellant. Here the Court violates every known rule of appellate review by basing its decision on the innuendo that the State is somehow at fault for not bringing up a record to show the precise details of the conduct which led to Lopez’ conviction.
The statutes and rules in effect at all times relevant to this appeal were authoritatively construed to the contrary in Dawson v. Eldredge, 89 Idaho 402, 405 P.2d 754 (1965). There it was held that both the Appellate Rules of the Supreme Court and the pertinent statutes “require an appellant to perfect his record for consideration by this court.” 89 Idaho at 405, 405 P.2d at 756. There it was held further that, in the absence of an adequate record on appeal, regularity of proceedings below would be presumed, and that the missing documents would not inure to the benefit of the appellant who lost below and who brought up an inadequate record on appeal:
“The transcript not containing all the testimony and other evidence, we must necessarily presume that the evidence justifies the decision and that the findings are supported by substantial evidence.” 89 Idaho at 407, 405 P.2d at 757, quoting from Nash v. Hope Silver-Lead Mines, Inc., 79 Idaho 137, 142, 314 P.2d 681 (1957).
In addition, it has been held that where further documentation was essential to resolving issues this Court had chosen to hear on appeal, record augmentation would be ordered by this Court on its own motion:
“This court has the power to order transmitted to it the original exhibits in a cause on appeal, if, upon examination of the record, a consideration and examination of such exhibits is required for the proper determination of the issues raised.” Eldridge v. Payette-Boise W.U. Ass’n, 50 Idaho 347, 348, 296 P. 1022, 1022 (1931).
Applying these principles to the present case, it has to be presumed that the evidence presented against Lopez convinced the jury and the presiding magistrate that she was, in fact, carrying on in the trade of prostitution. The majority errs mightily in denigrating the State’s presentation with that statement which I so vigorously challenge.
III.
A final word should be said regarding Lopez’ contention that the phrase “otherwise engages in sexual activity as a business” might be interpreted by law enforcement officials so as to apply to wholly innocent parties. By putting together a variety of cleverly chosen dictionary meanings, Lopez is able to argue that
“. . . this statute could well be interpreted to cover the practice of counselors, psychologists, and medical doctors in giving advice and instruction to patients concerning their sexual effectiveness within a marriage relationship a la a *596Masters and Johnson. Also, it would seem possible that this language would cover the activities of a surgeon who performs vasectomies or a gynecologist who performs hysterectomies.
“It also seems possible that the statutory language could be used in an attempt to prosecute exotic dancers for engaging in ‘sexual activity as a business.’ ”
I am not impressed and do not hesitate to label this argument as pure, unadulterated frivolity.
While Lopez may very well entertain a genuine concern for her innocent fellow men who may be ensnared in the processes of enforcing a law aimed at suppressing prostitution, it is a well-established principle of constitutional law that such concern does not confer upon Lopez the requisite standing to mount the attack:
“Embedded in the traditional rules governing constitutional adjudication is the principle that a person to whom a statute may constitutionally be applied will not be heard to challenge that statute on the ground that it may conceivably be applied unconstitutionally to others, in other situations not before the Court, [citations] A closely related principle is that constitutional rights are personal and may not be asserted vicariously, [citation] These principles rest on more than the fussiness of judges. They reflect the conviction that under our constitutional systems courts are not roving commissions assigned to pass judgment on the validity of the Nation’s laws, [citation]” Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U.S. 601, 610-11, 93 S.Ct. 2908, 2915, 37 L.Ed.2d 830, 839 (1973).
The power of a court to declare a legislative enactment unconstitutional dates back, in the federal system, to Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 2 L.Ed. 60 (1803). But the exercise of that power has always been sparingly invoked:
“ ‘In the exercise of that jurisdiction, it [the Court] is bound by two rules, to which it has rigidly adhered: one, never to anticipate a question of constitutional law in advance of the necessity of deciding it; the other, never to formulate a rule of constitutional law broader than is required by the precise facts to which it is applied.’ [Citation.] Kindred to these rules is the rule that one to whom application of a statute is constitutional will not be heard to attack the statute on the ground that impliedly it might also be taken as applying to other persons or other situations in which its application might be unconstitutional.” [Citations omitted.] United States v. Raines, 362 U.S. 17, 21, 80 S.Ct. 519, 522, 4 L.Ed.2d 524 (1960).
Until today those same principles have governed this Court when asked to declare a legislative enactment unconstitutional:
“ ‘ “Courts never anticipate a question of constitutional law before the necessity of deciding it arises.” [Citation.] . . .
“ ‘It is a fundamental principle of constitutional law that a person can be heard to question the constitutionality of a statute only when and insofar as it is being, or about to be, applied to his disadvantage. Cases. ... It follows “that one may not urge the unconstitutionality of a statute who is not harmfully affected by the particular feature of the statute alleged to be in conflict with the constitution.” ’ [Citation.]
“‘ . . . only someone who shows himself injured may complain; he cannot champion others who do not choose to complain.’ ” (Emphasis theirs.) Poffenroth v. Culinary Workers Union Local No. 328, 71 Idaho 412, 414, 232 P.2d 968, 969 (1951).
It seems inconceivable to me that this Court could not uphold the constitutionality of the present statute, whatever its inadequacies, if it had not forgotten its overriding obligation always to interpret statutes so as to fulfill the intent of the people and never to defeat it. Where, as here, a defendant has not even alleged that she was harmed by a supposed defect in statutory draftsmanship *597but only that, by wrenching the statutory language out of its obvious context, one might imagine hypothetical parties who might at some future date be aggrieved thereby, I see no reason to reach out and strike down a legislative enactment of the people of Idaho. Smith v. Goguen, supra, cited in the majority opinion, holds that a statute which may be facially vague or overbroad will be “corrected either by amendment or judicial construction.” Here it would be a simple matter for this Court to authoritatively construe the 1972 statute so as to hold it applies only to prostitutes, and not to gynecologists, psychologists, and exotic dancers.
IV.
Last but not least is that which should have come first, not only with this dissent but in the majority's disposition of the appeal. Justice Bakes concurs in reversing the conviction because of his belief that the complaint in this case fails to charge an offense. If he is correct — and the majority does not say that he is not — then the case should be decided on that ground. It is axiomatic that courts do not reach out and strike down statutes where other grounds are dispositive. Even more fundamentally, if Justice Bakes be correct in asserting that the complaint fails to state a criminal charge, then this Court lacks any jurisdiction over the case at all. It must follow, therefore, that the majority necessarily adheres to the general rule that a complaint framed in the language of the statute is sufficient. See, State v. Huff, 56 Idaho 652, 57 P.2d 1080 (1936), and cases cited therein. Of course, a complaint drawn in the bare language of the statute may fail to notify a defendant of the precise character of the offense so that he cannot prepare an adequate defense, or may be so imprecise that conviction thereof would not serve to bar a second prosecution for the same offense. This is a “specificity” defect and, as a matter of constitutional right, the defendant may, by timely motion, require the State to amend its complaint so as to provide further particulars. I.C. § R19-3901. State v. Pruett, 91 Idaho 537, 428 P.2d 43 (1967); State v. Sedam, 62 Idaho 26, 107 P.2d 1065 (1940). However, since a defendant’s constitutional right to insist on a more fully particularized complaint is personal to him, it may be waived. I.C.R. 12(f) provides that it is so waived if it is not raised prior to trial. It is only where the complaint fails to charge any offense at all (an “essential elements” defect) that the defect reaches jurisdictional proportions and may be noticed “at any time during the pendency of the proceedings.” I.C.R. 12(b)(2). See, Note: Indictment Sufficiency, 70 Col. L.Rev. 876 (1970). I would hold that the complaint under which Lopez was convicted sufficed to enable her to understand the nature of the charges brought against her and to prepare a defense thereto and that her failure to raise any objection to the complaint prior to trial constituted a waiver of such objections on appeal. Justice Bakes relies on some authority which “facially” would seem to justify the result he would achieve. However, a review of cases which in point of time are both before and after those cases cited leads inexorably to the conclusion that the statements in his cases are not well founded. The Court today should be upholding the decision rendered by Judge Hagan, on the one hand, and on the other, should clarify the law in the field opened up by Justice Bakes.

. Sexual. “Of, relating to, or associated with sex or the sexes . . . having or involving sex.”
Activity. “The quality or state of being active . . . vigorous or energetic action . . . natural or normal function: as . . . a process that an organism carries on or participates in by virtue of being alive . . . any similar process actually or potentially involving mental functions ... an active force ... a pursuit in which a person is active ... a form of organized, supervised, often extracurricular recreation ... an organizational unit for performing a specific function.”
Business. “[B]usies, engages time, labor as a principal concern or interest; a constant employment; regular occupation; work; any particular occupation or employment habitually engaged in for livelihood or gain.”

. Pursuant to legislative authorization, one hundred years ago the Boise City Council on March 12, 1877, passed what is apparently the first enactment in Idaho prohibiting prostitution. The council declared: “That it shall not be lawful for any person to keep a bawdy-house, house of ill-fame, or house kept for the purposes of prostitution, within the corporate limits of Boise City.” Ordinance No. 31, Section 1. Prostitution was thus recognized, but criminalizing it was, in the one instance, committed to the good judgment of the local authority in Boise City alone. Ten years later the law became:
“Every person who keeps any disorderly house, or any house for the purpose of assignation or prostitution, ... is guilty of a misdemeanor.” Revised Statutes of Idaho, 1887, § 6842.
Again, it was not considered necessary that prostitution be defined. In 1890, a conviction under this Act was obtained, and affirmed on appeal. Territory v. Bowen, 2 Idaho 640, 23 P. 82 (1890).

. The majority placed great reliance on the passage of an amendment to I.C. § 18-5613 by the 1977 legislature as proof of the vagueness of the statute under which Lopez was charged and convicted. The 1977 legislature is said to have achieved admirable clarification by striking out “sexual activity as a business” and replacing it with “sexual conduct, or sexual contact with another person in return for a fee.”
First, I point out that the legislature should not be presumed as having admitted any error in draftsmanship in the statute as it read in 1974. I rather surmise that, faced with the opinions which issued from this Court in June of 1976, the legislature decided it was easier for it to amend than for the Attorney General to continue to argue. Further, I fail to see how the new language offers precision in any particulars which the majority today finds vague.

. In United States v. National Dairy Products Corp., supra, the Court specifically noted that:
“. . . the approach to ‘vagueness’ goveming a case like this is different from that followed in cases arising under the First Amendment. There we are concerned with the vagueness of the statute ‘on its face’ because such vagueness may in itself deter constitutionally protected and socially desirable conduct.” 372 U.S. at 36, 83 S.Ct. at 599.
Perhaps this more stringent standard of review is that employed by the majority in reaching today’s decision. If so, it is done despite the fact that Ms. Lopez makes no allegation that the statute in question here violates her First Amendment rights or that she was engaged in “constitutionally protected and socially desirable conduct.”

. The 1972 statute surely served to advise Idaho’s prostitutes that their profession had been placed outside the law, hence “proscribed.”