127 A. 427 | Pa. | 1924
Argued November 4, 1924. On a trial for her life, in which the verdict made it forfeit, appellant produced testimony of many persons to show that her reputation for peacefulness was good. In cross-examination, the district attorney asked these witnesses whether they did not know defendant was a married woman living in open adultery with the man she was charged with having shot to death. The right to make this inquiry was challenged by defendant's counsel, and the court ruled that, by the question put to the witnesses on direct examination, she had "put her character in evidence" and that the district attorney had the right on cross-examination to ask whether or not the defendant was a chaste woman. Complaining that the question and ruling prejudiced her cause in the minds of the jury, appellant asks us to set aside her conviction and grant a new trial.
Under the established rules of law, it was not proper for the prosecuting attorney to ask the witnesses the question he did and it was error in the trial judge to permit him so to do. The issue raised by the testimony offered by appellant was not her character generally but her reputation for peacefulness. To meet evidence that her reputation in this respect was good, it would have been competent for the Commonwealth to show it was otherwise; this, however, could not be done by testimony that she was guilty of a particular crime. Furthermore, it was irrelevant to the inquiry as to whether she was *23
reputed to be a peaceful person to show that she was not a chaste one. We very recently pointed out the rule, covering such situations as the one now presented to us, in the case of Com. v. Jones,
It is manifest from a reading of the record in the instant case that the questions propounded by the district attorney were not for the purpose of either testing the credibility of the witnesses or the extent of their *24 knowledge of the reputation of the accused. Such questions as were here propounded ought not to be allowed even for that purpose. Under certain circumstances, on cross-examination of a character witness, it may be proper to inquire whether the witness has ever heard persons in the neighborhood attribute to the defendant particular offenses, but it is never permissible for any purpose to interrogate the witness as to his knowledge of another specific crime laid at the defendant's door. "On cross-examination, however, it seems that the witness may be interrogated as a test of his information, accuracy and credibility, but not for the purpose of proving particular acts or facts as to the opinions he has heard expressed by members of the community touching the character of the defendant and whether he has not heard one or more persons in the neighborhood impute particular acts, or the commission of particular crimes, to the party under investigation, or reports and rumors to that effect": 8 Ruling Case Law 211.
We animadverted upon the conduct of a prosecuting officer pursuing a similar line of cross-examination in the case of Com. v. Colandro,
It follows from what has been said that the first assignment of error must be and it is sustained. The record is remitted to the court below and a new trial granted.