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26 Ohio C.C. Dec. 577

Noonan v. State

Cuyahoga Circuit Court

Decided February 17, 1908

Cuyahoga Circuit Court · decided 1908-02-17

<p>CRIMINAL LAW — VENUE.</p> <p>Proper Venue Required Shown to Convict for Failure to Properly Provide for Child.</p> <p>In order to convict for failure to furnish necessary and proper food, clothing and shelter for a child, the state must show that the offense was committed within the county where the trial was had.</p> <p>[Syllabus by the court.]</p>

Decided 1908-02-17

WINCH, J.

¶1Plaintiff in error was convicted in the police court of the city of Cleveland of an offense commonly known as neglecting children, the punishment for which is provided by Sec. 6984a R. S. (See. 12970 G. C.). His conviction was affirmed by the common pleas court.

¶2The affidavit filed in the case alleges that the offense was committed “on or about August 17, A. D. 1906 (the date of the affidavit), and from January 14, A. D. 1905 (the date of the child’s birth), until said August 17, A. D. 1906, at said city and county.”

¶3The statute requires the state to show that the accused “wilfully, unlawfully or negligently fails to furnish necessary and proper food, clothing, or shelter for such child.”

¶4The bill of exceptions shows that the child was born in Cleveland, but later taken by its mother to her parents “on a farm” where it has since remained, cared for by them, with some little help from the mother. The child is well taken care of, but plaintiff in error has never contributed to its support.

¶5Where the farm is, is not shown. It does not appear that it is even in the state of Ohio or the United States. It may be in *578Canada, for aught the record shows, and on that farm the child has been ever since its mother took it there, about February, 1906.

¶6It was further developed upon cross-examination of the mother that when she first asked the accused to give her something for the support of the child, it, the child, was with her parents.

¶7In this state of the record we are compelled to say that the state failed to show that the offense was committed within the jurisdiction of the police court of the city of Cleveland and for that reason, the judgment not being sustained by sufficient evidence, the judgments of the common pleas court and the said police court are reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial,

Marvin and Henry, JJ., concur.
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