Commonwealth v. Sapp
Court of Appeals of Kentucky
Case 92 — INDICTMENT APPEAL PROM MARION CIRCUIT COURT. No brief in record. 1. The divorced wife of the defendant was a competent witness. What was proposed to be shown by her was not a communication that had come to her by Teason of the marital relation.
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Case 92 — INDICTMENT APPEAL PROM MARION CIRCUIT COURT. No brief in record. 1. The divorced wife of the defendant was a competent witness. What was proposed to be shown by her was not a communication that had come to her by Teason of the marital relation. (Civil Code, sec. 6061 Ellswick v. Commonwealth, 13 Bush, 155; 1 Greenleaf on Evidence’ sec. 337; 1 Phillips on Evidence, p. 75, 3d Am. ed.; Diekerman v. Graves, 6 Cush., 308.) '2. As the defendant’s wife had not testified, it was not competent to prove that she was unchaste.
1Opinion of the CourtChief Justice Holt
Upon the trial of William Sapp upon the charge of attempting to poison his wife, the State offered her as a witness against him, avowing by its attorney that it would prove by her she had seen the accused sprinkle a substance upon a piece of watermelon intended for her, and that the portion of it produced at the examining trial, and then shown to contain arsenic, was a part-of the piece prepared for her, and was, when so produced, in the same condition as when she got it from him. It is claimed the attempt was made in August, 1888. Afterward, and before his trial, they were absolutely…
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