Commonwealth v. Haywood

The defendant was convicted on an indictment alleging that he committed incest with his niece, Vina E. Smith, on November 20, 1920. In response to a motion for a bill of particulars, the Commonwealth had specified the date of the commission of the crime as “ between the tenth and twenty-fifth of November, 1920, and probably on the twentieth of November, 1920.”

1. The first exception was to the admission in evidence of certain incriminating statements made by the defendant to one Godley, chief of police. Counsel requested the trial judge to hold a preliminary hearing in the absence of the jury,…