State v. Mowery

The issue certified to this court is whether R.C. 2945.42 and Evid. R. 601(B) allow a spouse to be a competent witness in a criminal prosecution against the other spouse as to a crime against a third person, not a child of either spouse, where the crime is committed in the presence of the third person, as well as in the presence of the testifying spouse. We conclude the relevant authority does permit a spouse to testify in such a situation, and therefore, we must reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals in part.

In resolving the instant controversy one must first trace the evolution of two…