Butler v. State

On the trial it was attempted to impeach the chief witness for the defendant by the testimony of the prosecutor, and chief witness for the state, as to his character and reputation for truth in the neighborhood in which he lived. No other witness was examined upon this point.

The witness was in an humble condition of life, and, as was said by Chief Justice Roberts, in Wafford v. The State, “If he had risen above the obscurity of his position so as to have had a reputation in the neighborhood for truth and veracity of a character so base as that he should not be believed on oath, surely more…