People v. Dorn

VALLÉE, J. In a nonjury trial defendant was convicted of having committed abortion on three occasions in that he did unlawfully provide and supply medicine, drugs, and sub[615]stances to Diana Speer with intent thereby to procure a miscarriage. He appeals from the judgment and the order denying his motion for a new trial. His sole point is that the alleged abortee was not corroborated.

Diana Speer testified that in July 1955 she was pregnant ; she had no illness; defendant came to her home on four occasions—on July 28, 29, 30, and 31, 1955; on the first occasion defendant asked her how long she had been pregnant; she replied, eight weeks; defendant performed an abortion; she paid him $250; nothing happened that night; defendant returned the next morning; he told her she probably had lost the medication; he again performed an abortion; she asked him if she could refer anyone to him; the next day she telephoned defendant and told him she was very ill; he came to her home; he told her he had been “doing it for 30 years” and had had quite a few flare-ups, he would clean her out again and “then everything would be probably okeh then”; he then went through the same procedure as before; defendant visited her again the next day and went through the same procedure. Mrs. Speer further testified that three days later she was very ill, “had large clots and a lot of blood,” had a temperature of 102, and went to her own doctor, Dr. Manuele, who sent her to the hospital. About a month later defendant telephoned her and asked if she had referred Lynn Siebert to him, and she said, “Yes.”

Mrs. Daisy Petersen, the mother of Mrs. Speer, was living with her. Mrs. Petersen testified she saw defendant arrive on the first occasion he visited Mrs. Speer; he was carrying a roll of something wrapped in brown rubber sheeting; she saw him arrive on the second occasion carrying the same package; Mrs. Speer and defendant entered the bedroom; her daughter did not seem very well; she saw defendant arrive on the third occasion carrying the same package; she asked defendant what made her daughter so ill; defendant told her “not to worry, that she would be all right”; she saw defendant arrive on the fourth occasion; either on this occasion or the previous one she asked defendant why her daughter was so ill, that she was bleeding a lot; defendant told her “that some girls did, that he had done that for 30 years and some did bleed more than others”; she asked defendant if she could refer others girls to him who were in the same predicament; defendant replied yes, so long as they used her name or her daughter’s.