Commonwealth v. Murphy

Whether the testimony of the ten year old complaining witness was credible was the paramount issue in the trial of the defendant on charges of unnatural intercourse with a child under sixteen.2 A jury found the defendant guilty on three counts of the lesser included offense of indecent assault and battery. The defendant’s ground of appeal is that the prosecution improperly attempted to build up the credibility of its principal witness by draping around her a mantle of religious faith; i.e., if the witness believed in God, she must be telling the truth.

*144Courts have been chary about allowing…