People v. Knapp

I. The prosecution in this case was for-adultery. Harriet Ashdown, the alleged particeps eriminis, was the only witness testifying to the offense, and she gave positive evidence that it was committed. On cross-examination she was asked whether she had not had a certain obscene conversation with a man named, and whether she had not had criminal intercourse with another person named; and when she denied both, witnesses were called to prove the denial false. The circuit court rejected the evidence, and this rejection presents the first question for our consideration.

The defense had a right to…