64 Colo. 358 | Colo. | 1918
delivered the opinion of the court:
The plaintiff in error was convicted of the non-support of his alleged illegitimate child.
The errors urged pertain to the admission of testimony. The mother testified that the relation between her and the defendant (which was with her consent), and which brought about the existence of the child, occurred at a certain rooming house in Denver, on October the 5th, 1913; that, about three weeks thereafter, and when she ascertained her condition as the result of such relation, she wrote her mother a letter concerning it and gave it to her upon going to work one morning. She identified this letter. The mother testified to receiving the letter. She was likewise permitted to identify it. Over defendant’s objection, the letter was received in evidence and read to the jury. The attorney general admits that the admission of this letter, as well as the testimony of other witnesses as to what the mother of the child said to them concerning the
“The witnesses, Farley and Newcome, testified that they had no personal knowledge of the facts stated by Holliday, and were simply repeating the story told by him. The harmfulness, of this can be readily seen. The witness Farley was at the time holding an important official position; he was a respectable citizen and possessed the confidence of the community, and the repetition by him of Holliday’s story might give it a weight and credibility greater than would have attached to it when told alone by Holliday.
However this may be, the admission of this testimony was so violative of every rule of evidence that in itself it would compel a reversal of the case, and it becomes unnecessary to notice the further objections.”
This declaration is applicable here. The defendant stood upon his legal rights under his plea of not guilty and otherwise did not attempt to attack the reputation of the prosecuting witness for truth and veracity; in such case, the burden was upon the people to establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt by’competent testimony. So far as the record discloses, the mother of the prosecuting witness was a good citizen, and the repetition by her that the letter had been written and delivered, in connection with its contents, might give to the real issue a weight and credibility in the minds of the jurors greater than would have attached to it when told by the girl alone. This principle applies to the testimony of the other disinterested witnesses as to what the girl, (in the absence of the defendant) told them
The judgment will be reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.
Reversed.
Mr. Justice White and Mr. Justice Teller concur.