Leland v. Kauth

The defendant in error brought this action for an indecent assault, and the parties were the main witnesses. In every essential matter they contradicted each other, and the result depended on their comparative credit in the opinion of the jury.

As bearing on Leland’s trustworthiness as a witness, the court allowed him to be asked, on cross-examination, if he was ever arrested on a criminal charge wherein Amelia Rietsman was complainant and whether he settled it by the payment of money. He admitted that he was so arrested some nine years before and that he gave a little money to settle it, and…