STATE, EX REL. REBECCA LIBTZ,
v.
D. C. COLEMAN, AS SHERIFF OF DADE COUNTY
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Florida Supreme Court affirmed a judgment remanding a habeas corpus petitioner to the custody of the Sheriff after her conviction for keeping a house of ill-fame. The court held that the information charging the defendant was sufficiently specific and complied with statutory requirements, rejecting the challenge to its adequacy in habeas corpus proceedings.
The information was sufficient to withstand the habeas corpus challenge. The charge substantially tracked the statutory language, and the terms 'prostitution' and 'lewdness' are so well known that their meaning need not be stated in the information. The information adequately charged the offense and fully advised the accused of the nature of the crime.
“The information not only is sufficient to withstand the attack here made, but is entirely sufficient to charge the offense denounced by the statute and to fully advise the accused of the nature of the crime of which she stood accused and stands convicted.”
The court's holding that the information adequately satisfied both statutory and constitutional requirements
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRebecca Libtz was convicted under Section 5433 R.G.S. of keeping a house of ill-fame resorted to for the purpose of prostitution and/or lewdness on Fe…
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Writ of error brings for review judgment remanding petitioner to the custody of the Sheriff in habeas corpus proceedings instituted after conviction and after time in which petitioner may have had the conviction reviewed on writ of error.
The sole question is the challenge to the sufficiency of the information to withstand attack in habeas corpus proceedings.
The information is in the following language:
“In the Name and by the Authority of the State of
Florida :
“Fred Pine, County Solicitor for the County of Dade, prosecuting for the State of Florida in the said County, under oath, information makes that Rebecca Libtz of the County of Dade and State of Florida, on the 12th day of February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-five, in the Uounty and State aforesaid, did then and there unlawfully keep and operate a house of ill-fame resorted to for the purpose of prostitution and/or lewdness, contrary to the form of the Statute in such case *412made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Florida.”
The statute alleged to have been violated is Section 5433 R. G. S., 7576 C. G. L., and is as follows:
“Keeping House of Ill-fame.—Whoever keeps a house of ill-fame, resorted to for the purpose of prostitution or lewdness, shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding one year.”
So the charge is substantially in the language of the statute. The words “prostitution” and “lewdness” each have a meaning so well known that it is not necessary for their meaning to be stated in an information.
The information not only is sufficient to withstand the attack here made, but is entirely sufficient to charge the offense denounced by the statute and to fully advise the accused of the nature of the crime of which she stood accused and stands' convicted.
The rule applicable to the sufficiency of informations to withstand attack by habeas corpus is stated, and supported by numerous authorities there cited, in State, ex rel., v. Windham, 120 Fla. 206, 162 Sou. 501.
The judgment should be affirmed. It is so ordered.
Affirmed.
Ellis, C. J., and Terrell, J., concur.
Whitfield, P. J., and Brown and Chapman, J. J., concur in the opinion and judgment.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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State v. Warren, 558 So. 2d 55 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990)…edge, 123 Fla. 389, 167 So. 4 (1936). In 1938, the court held that the words “prostitution” and “lewdness” each had a meaning so well known that it was not necessary for their meanings to be stated in the information. State ex rel. Libtz v. Coleman, 130 Fla. 410, 177 So. 725 (1937). Four years later, the court affirmed a conviction under the statute and clearly announced that the offense required the state to prove: (1) ill fame of the place in question; (2) its use for prostitution or lewdness; and (3) its…
Authorities Cited
- State v. Windham, 120 Fla. 206 (Fla. 1935)