Ex parte Estrado

Citations

• 88 Cal. 316
• 26 P. 209
• 1891 Cal. LEXIS 692

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Abduction of Female Minor — Prostitution •—Legal Custody. — Under section 267 of the Penal Code, providing for the punishment of any person taking away a minor female from her father, mother, guardian, or other person having the legal charge of her person, without their consent, for the purposes of prostitution, the averment and proof of legal custody is only required when the child is taken from some person other than the parents or guardian.</p> <p>Id.—’Defect in Commitment — Description of Offense — Order Indorsed upon Depositions — Habeas Corpus. — A defect in a commitment, in describing the offense charged upon which the defendant is held to answer, is immaterial, if the offense is sufficiently described in the order indorsed on the depositions, and the defendant will not be entitled to discharge upon haieas corpus for such defect, if no allegation appears either in the petition for the writ or by way of traverse to the return, that a sufficient order was not so indorsed.</p> <p>Id.—Proof of Offense — Purpose of Prostitution — Domestic Service. — It is not necessary, in a prosecution for the abduction of a female minor for the purpose of prostitution, that there should be express testimony to show that the purpose of taking the girl was to make her a prostitute, but the accused is to be judged by acts rather than words; and evidence that the girl was taken by a procuress to a house of prostitution, ostensibly to work as a domestic servant, without disclosing to the girl or to her father the character of the place, is sufficient to warrant a verdict of guilty of the offense charged.</p>