55 Barb. 450 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1869
The refusal of the court to direct an acquittal of the defendant was manifestly right. It was unnecessary to state in the indictment the names of the jurors by whom it was found. This was expressly decided in the case of The People v. Bennett, (37 N, Y. Rep. 117.) The second objection urged, that the indictment omits to charge that the setting fire to the building was willfully
The case was plainly one for the jury, on the evidence. It would have been manifestly improper to have taken it from them on any of the grounds urged. It is true the only evidence to establish the guilt of the party was the uncorroborated testimony of a confederate in the crime. But whatever opinion the court may have entertained in regard to the integrity and reliability of the witness, the question of guilt or innocence was for the jury. The witness was not incompetent to testify, because an accomplice. Such admitted fact affected her credibility only, and it was for the jury to say whether her statement was credible and a safe reliance for a verdict against the party charged. Such is now the settled rule in this State, even where the accomplice stands entirely uncorroborated. Mr. Justice Beardsley remarked in The People v. Costello, (1 Denio, 83,) that “although it has often been said by judges and elementary writers, that no person should be convicted on the testimony of an accomplice, unless corroborated by other evidence, still there is no such inflexible rule of law. It is a question for the jury, who are to pass upon the credibility of an accomplice, as they must upon every other witness.” He adds, “his statements are to be received with great caution, and the court should always so advise;
It is a well settled rule, not to be departed from in criminal cases especially, that no issue shall be decided against a citizen without testimony equivalent at least to that of one credible witness. Therefore verdicts rendered on the testimony of confederates wholly uncorroborated, are of doubtful propriety, and will not in general be allowed to stand, if the witness be otherwise at all impeached.
It was the manifest duty of the jury in this ease to scan the testimony of Mrs. Bronk with the utmost severity. In
blow, in this condition of the case, the jury must have been in some doubt—some perplexity—as to the propriety of convicting on the testimony of this confederate. They are presumed to have been warned by the court of the danger attending a conviction on testimony from a source confessedly corrupt. They doubtless examined the evidence with great care, as. they had been instructed and were bound to do, considering every minute circumstance tending in the least degree to a corroboration of the statement made by the witness. They would be undoubtedly influenced by slight confirmatory facts; very little would turn the scale and control the verdict. ■ A just regard to the rights of the accused, therefore, demands an observance of the strictest rules in the admission and rejection of evidence. Let us now see if any evidence was improperly admitted bearing on the question of corroboration.
Mrs. Bronk testified that the defendant promised her $400 if she would burn the mill; which sum would buy for her a place she desired to purchase. It seems that the place was owned by Westfall, for whom Stevens was agent. She further testified, that soon after the fire, Stevens called on her and inquired if she wanted the place; whereupon she went to the defendant, at the paper mill, and obtained from him forty dollars—four ten dollar bills; that she paid Stevens ten dollars, and afterwards went to Quaker street to complete the trartsaction, and there paid the balance of the money ($30) to Westfall. Stevens was called, and testified that Mrs. Bronk gave ■ him ten dollars—a ten dollar bill—to bind the bargain for the place; then arranged with him to meet him at Quaker street to complete the transaction for the property; and that they met at Quaker street, pursuant to the arrangement, and
The remaining evidence', introduced with a view to corroboration, that she arranged to meet a third person at Quaker street, to close the arrangement for the place, and that she in fact paid similar money to that she said she received from the defendant, to third persons, was clearly remote and irrelevant to the issue. This evidence was improperly admitted; and it was of a character, as the case stood before the jury, likely to affect their verdict. Its admission was therefore error.
It is also insisted that evidence bearing on the question of the credibility of Mrs. Bronk was improperly excluded.
The defense sought to impeach the witness by evidence of general character. Six witnesses were introduced, each of whom swore that her character was bad; that her reputation for truth was bad, and had been for a period extending back almost to her childhood; that they would not believe her on oath. Counter evidence was given on the part of the people, by five witnesses, who testified that they were acquainted with her character, and that they would, prior to the fire and to her arrest, have believed her on oath. .On cross-examination of two of .these witnesses, the defendant’s counsel sought to show that her character at the time she testified was bad, and that they would not then believe her on oath. This evidence was objected to, (1.) On the ground that the inquiry should be limited to what her. character was before the fire. (2.) That the number of impeaching witnesses had been limited by the court to six on a side, and that the defendant had exhausted his full complement. The objection was sustained, and the evidence excluded. If excluded on the first ground of objection, it was manifest error. . The jury were to determine the credibility of the witness at the time she testified. The question for them was whether she was then, at the time she spoke, a truthful and reliable witness. It
So it might be argued, that if Mrs. Bronk was a person whose statements upon oath were to be credited before the commission of the felony, she was still, under the circumstances of the case, at the time of testifying, also to be credited. In Sleeper v. Van Middlesworth, (4 Denio, 431,) Judge Beardsley remarked that the law indulged a strong presumption against any sudden change in the moral as well as the mental and social condition of man; that a state of mind once proved to exist is presumed to remain unchanged till the contrary appears. How the district-attorney proved Mrs. Bronk to be a credible person, in the opinion of the witnesses, prior to the fire, and rested, as well he might, according to Judge Beardsley, on the presumption which such opinion supported. The defendant then had a right to meet and overthrow this presumption, by inquiring of the witnesses, on cross-examination, whether they would then believe her upon oath. If they would not, the argument and inference in favor of her credibility, based on her former standing in community, were effectually overcome; and if they would still deem her credible,
But it is to be presumed that the evidence was excluded on the ground of objection secondly stated, to wit, that the number of impeaching witnesses had been limited to six on a side. It was undoubtedly competent for the court to limit the number of witnesses to be examined on the question of general character. But did such limitation as to number also limit the right of cross-examination ? Palpably it did not; nor should it have that effect; otherwise the test of cross-examination would be rendered nearly valueless. The ruling as to numbers went no further than this, that each party might put six witnesses on the stand, to speak to the credibility of the person sought to be impeached. But when on the stand, the right of examination and cross-examination should not be infringed.
Give the ruling the effect claimed for it, and it would deprive the party against whom the witness was called of a substantial right—a right to test the capacity, integrity and means of knowledge possessed by the witness, by a cross-examination. The defendant was therefore entitled to the same right of cross-examination as if no ruling had been made in regard to the number of witnesses on the subject of impeachment; otherwise the limitation would be itself improper, inasmuch as it would deprive the party against whom the witness was called, , of a right always deemed of the utmost consequence—a right of full and searching cross-examination. In my judgment, the cross-examination was here improperly abridged.
In conclusion, it may be remarked, that when a case is
How, in this case, the only direct evidence of guilt was given by a confederate in the crime. The witness was a conceded felon. The evidence on which the conviction was predicated came from a source admittedly corrupt. The case before the jury was,.therefore, one of extreme delicacy, and the accused had the right to insist that it should be considered by them without possible error in the admission or rejection of evidence, tested by the strictest rules.
The charge of the learned judge who presided at the trial was eminently fair and impartial. The law of the case was clearly and explicitly stated, and his comments .on the evidence were unexceptionable. In this regard the defendant has no cause for complaint. But, for the reasons above suggested, the verdict must be set aside, and a new trial ordered.
James, Rosekrans, Potter and Bockes, Justices.]
The defendant was acquitted, upon the new trial*