People v. McKenney

HOUSER, J.

Defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction of an “attempt to commit abortion”; also, from the “verdict”, as well as from each of the several orders made by the trial court by which, respectively, was denied to the defendant her motion for a new trial, her motion in arrest of judgment, and her motion “to dismiss the complaint”.

The first point made by appellant is that because “there was no testimony of any agreement with defendant to do anything, or to perform any operation, or to charge any price therefor”, and that because the only evidence “that defendant did anything wrong” was the statement made by the prosecuting witness that the defendant “performed an incomplete abortion”, it became the duty of the trial court to grant the motion requested by defendant, to wit, to advise the jury to acquit defendant. Such position, however, is untenable for two reasons: First, because the gist of the offense of which defendant was charged consisted in the act of attempting to perform an abortion; and not in what, if anything, she agreed to do, or for what price, if any, she agreed to do it. Secondly, the statement made by the prosecuting witness that “defendant performed an incomplete abortion” was sufficiently corroborated, not only by incriminatory circumstances as narrated in the testimony given by a woman who accompanied the prosecuting witness to the office of defendant on the occasion when, according to such prosecuting witness, defendant attempted to commit the abortion, but as well by the testimony of each of two physicians who gave the prosecuting witness a physical examination as well as medical care and treatment shortly following her visit to the office of defendant.

(People

v.

Balkwell,

143 Cal. 259 [76 Pac. 1017];

People

v.

Lee,

81 Cal. App. 49 [252 Pac. 763];

People

v.

Watson,

21 Cal. App. 692 [132 Pac. 836];

People

v.

Brewer,

19 Cal. App. 742 [127 Pac. 808].)