People v. Snellie

— I dissent. There is no presumption that necessarily, or even prima facie, an arrest for larceny was founded on a written accusation. On the contrary, in numerous instances, the arrest is lawfully made, without a warrant or written accusation, when the offender is taken in the very act of committing the crime. But if the law expressly required a written accusation as preliminary to the arrest, nevertheless the accused may, in fact, have been arrested on a verbal accusation only; and for all the purposes for which the witness in this case was interrogated on that subject, the fact of the…