Wilke v. . People of the State of N.Y.
New York Court of Appeals
Ebbob to the General Term of the Supreme Court in the first judicial department, affirming a judgment of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace in and for the city and county of New York, entered upon a verdict convicting plaintiff in error of the crime of murder in the second degree.
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Ebbob to the General Term of the Supreme Court in the first judicial department, affirming a judgment of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace in and for the city and county of New York, entered upon a verdict convicting plaintiff in error of the crime of murder in the second degree. Plaintiff in error was tried upon an indictment for murder on the 22d March, 1872. Upon the trial his wife was offered as a witness in his behalf, but her testimony was excluded by the court, to which ruling the prisoner’s counsel excepted. After the case had been summed up to the jury, the prisoner’s…
1Opinion of the CourtFolger, J.
1st. The wife of the prisoner was not a competent witness in a criminal action or proceeding against him. This is the rule of the common law, and can be abrogated only by statute. There is no statute which does this. That of 1867, making a wife a competent witness for or against her husband, is confined by its terms to civil actions and proceedings. (Laws of 1867, vol. 2, p. 2221, chap. 887, § 2.)
2d. It was in the discretion of the court below, to reject the testimony offered by the prisoner, after the proofs had closed and the case had been summed up to the jury, by his counsel and by the…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- The People v. . ThompsonNew York Court of Appeals · 1869
3Cited by14 opinions
- People v. . DimickNew York Court of Appeals · 1887
- People v. DaghitaNew York Court of Appeals · 1949
- Moett v. . People of the State of New YorkNew York Court of Appeals · 1881
- People v. Briggs, Oyer and Terminer, Albany County1880
- Levy v. . the PeopleNew York Court of Appeals · 1880
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