Williams v. People
New York Supreme Court
THE prisoners were indicted for robbery, and at a court of oyer and terminer held in and for the county of Rensselaer, in J une, 1865, and they were tried and convicted of that offense. Upon the trial each of the defendants was offered as a witness on his own behalf. The prosecution objected, upon the ground that the witnesses were incompetent and their evidence inadmissible, and the court excluded the witnesses.
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THE prisoners were indicted for robbery, and at a court of oyer and terminer held in and for the county of Rensselaer, in J une, 1865, and they were tried and convicted of that offense. Upon the trial each of the defendants was offered as a witness on his own behalf. The prosecution objected, upon the ground that the witnesses were incompetent and their evidence inadmissible, and the court excluded the witnesses. The prisoners’ counsel duly excepted to the ruling and decision of the court. A bill of exceptions was made and filed,' and the proceedings were stayed and removed to this court by a…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court, Miller, J.
The question to be determined on the bill of exceptions which is brought befóte us by virtue *202of the certiorari issued in this case is, whether the prisoners were competent witnesses for themselves upon the trial of the indictment, under the amendment of section 399 of the Code, passed in 1865.
Section 399 of the Code as amended, (Laws of 1865, pp. 1290, 1291,) enacts that “a party to any action or special proceeding in any and all courts, and before any and all officers acting judicially, may be examined as a witness on his own behalf.” The last clause of the same…
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- Fort v. BurchNew York Supreme Court · 1849
- American Life Insurance and Trust Company v. Van EpsNew York Court of Appeals · 1874
- Powell v. JonesNew York Supreme Court · 1863
- Pillow v. BushnellNew York Supreme Court · 1849
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