State v. Mulkern

In the trial of one indicted for the crime of rape the prosecutrix is allowed to testify that she, subsequently to the commission of the offense, made complaint of the injury; she cannot enter into its details. This practice is permissible upon the grounds that it tends more or less to corroborate her testimony as to the alleged crime. Mere lapse of time between the perpetration of the act and the complaint is not the test of its admissibility. The time that intervenes is a subject for the jury to consider in passing upon the weight of her testimony ; and the degree of credit to be given it…