Kelly v. People
Illinois Supreme Court
Oír the 3rd day of August, A. D. 1860, Ann M. Pride complained of Peter Kelly, before a justice of the peace, for being the father of a child of which she was delivered about the 26th of May, 1860. Kelly was arrested, and gave bonds to appear at the Circuit Court for trial.
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Oír the 3rd day of August, A. D. 1860, Ann M. Pride complained of Peter Kelly, before a justice of the peace, for being the father of a child of which she was delivered about the 26th of May, 1860. Kelly was arrested, and gave bonds to appear at the Circuit Court for trial. At the June term, 1861, being a criminal term of said court, Kelly appeared, • and his counsel then and there objected to the court taking cognizance of, or of proceeding to try said cause, at said term, for want of jurisdiction. The court overruled the objection, and ordered the trial to proceed, and the defendant…
1Opinion of the CourtCaton, C. J.
This was a prosecution for bastardy under our statute. It is first insisted that the evidence did not warrant the conviction, for the reason, that the prosecutrix was not a competent witness by reason of mental imbecility, and that she could not comprehend or duly appreciate the obligations of an oath. This was a question of law for the court to decide, and we think it was correctly determined. That the witness was of weak intellect, and very ignorant, is undoubtedly true, and she was very easily confused so that she could not readily tell what she did know. But after she became more…
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