State v. Lovedahl

Defendants subpoenaed as witnesses seven of their fellow prisoners from the State’s Central Prison. These witnesses were kept by the Sheriff’s deputies in a room separate from the courtroom until each was called in turn to testify. At the commencement of the trial counsel for defendants moved that these witnesses be brought into the courtroom where they might hear the evidence. Defendants assign as error the court’s refusal to grant this motion.

In this State the segregation of witnesses during the course of a trial is a matter of discretion on the part of the trial judge, and the exercise of…