State v. Newton

This ease comes to us on a Clerk’s transcript.

The punishment for carnal knowledge (rape) of imbecile, fixed by section 698.3, is imprisonment for life or any term of years. The statute does not state such crime is a misdemeanor or a felony. Nor does it designate the place of imprisonment therefor. Code section 687.2 states a felony is a public offensé which may be punished with death or by imprisonment in the penitentiary or men’s reformatory. Defendant contended the offense was a misdemeanor punishable- by a jail sentence. He relied upon State v. Di Paglia, 247 Iowa 79, 87 to 90, 71 N.W.2d…