State v. Beyor

The respondent was found guilty of the larceny of a snowmobile. The conviction must be reversed.

During the trial, over the strenuous objections of the defense counsel, the prosecutor was permitted to cross-examine the respondent as to his relations with his wife and children, from whom he was separated, as to his friendship with a woman not his wife, as to his delinquency in support payments, improvidence, his difficulties with finance companies, a pleasure trip to Florida, his petition in bankruptcy and similar matters. The justification advanced for these inquiries is twofold: first, as…