State v. Williams

This case presents for determination the question of whether the refusal of a trial judge to grant a motion for a new trial based upon newly discovered evidence in a criminal case is an abuse of discretion where the “new evidence” is hearsay testimony consisting of an admission against penal interest by the absent declarant. The ruling of the Court of Appeals is premised principally upon the decision of this court in the case of G. M. McKelvey Co. v. General Casualty Co. of America (1957), 166 Ohio St. 401. That was a civil case wherein the plaintiff, McKelvey Co., attempted to recoup its…