State v. Campo

The trial court inadvertently allowed the legitimacy of the child, Judy Ann, to be injected into the hearing when there was no competent evidence to raise the issue and the defendant was not making the point. The court in its charge, after “chasing this rabbit” with some loss of track now and then, finally instructed the jury, as he should have done when the matter was first broached, to disregard the whole debate as inconsequential and pointless or without substance in the case. All the evidence on the issue purports to come from the prosecuting witness who may not speak to the subject. S.…