Legal Opinion

Commonwealth v. Leach

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided February 27, 1892PublishedCited by 29 opinions

Indictment, in three counts, returned into the Superior Court at the June term, 1891, alleging that the defendants attempted to procure the miscarriage of Mary A. Murphy, on April 25, 1891, in consequence whereof she died on the following day.

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Indictment, in three counts, returned into the Superior Court at the June term, 1891, alleging that the defendants attempted to procure the miscarriage of Mary A. Murphy, on April 25, 1891, in consequence whereof she died on the following day. In the Superior Court, before the jury were empanelled, the defendant Henry M. Leach moved to quash the indictment, on the ground that it charged in the first count that the defendants committed the offence therein described, and also charged the same act to have been committed by some persons to the jurors unknown ; that in the second count it charged…

1Opinion of the CourtAllen, J.

1. The motion to quash was rightly overruled. The three counts are in the usual and proper form, and they are properly joined; the offences described in them being similar in their nature, mode of trial, and punishment. Commonwealth v. Jacobs, 152 Mass. 276, 281.

2. The testimony as to the declarations of the deceased in regard to her health and condition was rightly • excluded. The defendants were allowed to prove exclamations and expressions indicating present pain, as distinguished from mere narration, and the evidence which was excluded was nothing more than her declarations and…

2Cases cited7 opinions

  1. Reeve v. DennettMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1887
  2. Roosa v. Boston Loan Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1882
  3. Hunt v. City of BostonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1890
  4. Eidt v. CutterMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1879
  5. Chase v. WoodburyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1850

2 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.

3Cited by29 opinions

  1. Commonwealth v. FancyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1965
  2. Commonwealth v. RussMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1919
  3. Commonwealth v. SalemmeMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1985
  4. Commonwealth v. O'BrienMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1940
  5. Berry v. CommonwealthMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1985

24 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.

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