Pomeroy v. People

Plaintiff in error was convicted of incest and statutory rape, involving his minor daughter. The latter, being called as a witness for the people, in response to various questions of the district attorney, answered in substance, upon twenty-three separate occasions, “I am not going to testify against my father.” In the briefs of the attorney general it is said: “Her refusal to testify forced the people either to abandon the prosecution or submit the best evidence obtainable, and the district attorney elected to pursue this latter course.”

In an effort to supply “the best evidence obtainable,”…