Commonwealth v. Gorham
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Indictment for burning a dwelling-house. At the trial in the superior court, before Ames, C. J., the defendant testified in his own behalf; and to affect his credibility as a witness the attorney for the Commonwealth offered in evidence an original indictment for forgery found against him at a previous term of the court, and the record of the clerk, noted on the back thereof, that “ the defendant pleads guilty,” after which plea that indictment was put on file, but…
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Indictment for burning a dwelling-house. At the trial in the superior court, before Ames, C. J., the defendant testified in his own behalf; and to affect his credibility as a witness the attorney for the Commonwealth offered in evidence an original indictment for forgery found against him at a previous term of the court, and the record of the clerk, noted on the back thereof, that “ the defendant pleads guilty,” after which plea that indictment was put on file, but afterwards brought forward, and was entered on the docket and pending at the same time with this indictment for burning. The…
1Opinion of the CourtColt, J.
The defendant in this ease offered himself as a witness, and the rules of evidence affecting the competency or credibility of witnesses were all applicable to him in that character. Commonwealth v. Bonner 97 Mass. 587.
It was the rule of the common raw that the production of the *422complete record, including the conviction, technically so called, and the final judgment thereon, was necessary in order to show that a witness offered was incompetent on account of infamy. This rule is founded on the reason that it is always within the power of the court, on motion in arrest or for a new trial, to set…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Commonwealth v. BonnerMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1867
3Cited by55 opinions
- Attorney General v. PelletierMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1922
- Commonwealth v. LockwoodMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1872
- Commonwealth v. SmithMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1895
- People v. . FabianNew York Court of Appeals · 1908
- Pino v. Nicolls (Two Cases)Court of Appeals for the First Circuit · 1954
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