284 N.Y. 366 | NY | 1940
The record shows without dispute that the defendant, Clifford J. Kohlmeyer, committed acts which constitute the crime of which he stands convicted, robbery in the first degree. His defense is that at the time of his acts he was suffering from such a defect of reason as not to know their nature and quality or that they were wrong.
As probative of the defense of incompetency, defendant offered in evidence, under Civil Practice Act, section 374-a (applicable by Code of Criminal Procedure, section 392), copies of hospital records in Wisconsin relating to the insanity of his paternal grandmother. Before the trial the District Attorney had waived all questions of the informality and lack of authentication of the records. When they were offered on the trial the District Attorney interposed the general objection that the documents were immaterial, irrelevant and incompetent. The exclusion of this evidence is sought to be justified on the following grounds:First, there was no proof of the transmissible nature of insanity; and, second, it contained hearsay statements. As to the first objection we note that there is testimony in the record that insanity of a manic depressive type in an ancestor may predispose a descendant to insanity of the type of dementia praecox. There is evidence that the defendant was suffering from insanity of the type of dementia praecox. The hospital records tend to show that defendant's ancestor suffered from insanity of the manic depressive type. In Walsh v. People (
The judgments should be reversed and a new trial ordered.
LEHMAN, Ch. J., FINCH and RIPPEY, JJ., concur; LOUGHRAN, LEWIS and CONWAY, JJ., dissent.
Judgments reversed, etc. *371