Bellinger v. People
New York Supreme Court
Error from the Oneida oyer and terminer. The prisoner was indicted for a felony, on the complaint of Eve Bellinger, his daughter, who, on the trial of the indictment, testified as a witness against him.
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Error from the Oneida oyer and terminer. The prisoner was indicted for a felony, on the complaint of Eve Bellinger, his daughter, who, on the trial of the indictment, testified as a witness against him. The counsel for the prisoner, with a view to impeach her testimony, inquired of her as to the evidence which she had given when she made her complaint to the magistrate, and on her examination before him when the prisoner was arrested, for the purpose of shewing that she had sworn differently when she made the complaint from what she had testified to on the trial; the inquiry was overruled by…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court, Sutherland, J.
Two questions are presented by the bill of exceptions: 1st. Whether the witness, Eve Bellinger, was bound to answer upon her cross-examination before the magistrate; and 2d, whether the éxamination taken by the magistrate, and filed by him in the clerk’s office, was, per se, competent evidence for the purpose of impeaching the witness, by shewing that her testimony on that occasion differed essentially from what she had Sworn to upon the trial.
1st. The court below decided that the witness was not bound to answer the question, as to what she had sworn to on her…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- People v. MatherNew York Supreme Court · 1830
3Cited by16 opinions
- State v. DeColaSupreme Court of New Jersey · 1960
- Lightfoot v. PeopleMichigan Supreme Court · 1868
- Newcomb v. . GriswoldNew York Court of Appeals · 1862
- Pickard v. CollinsNew York Supreme Court · 1856
- Wills v. StateSupreme Court of Alabama · 1883
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