Legal Opinion

Commonwealth v. Campbell

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided February 24, 1892PublishedCited by 17 opinions

Indictment, for the larceny, on October 4, 1889, at Boston, of certain promissory notes and money, the property of one Wright. At the trial in the Superior Court, before 'Bond, J., on the question of the identity of the defendant, the government introduced evidence of the appearance of his face on the date of the alleged offence.

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Indictment, for the larceny, on October 4, 1889, at Boston, of certain promissory notes and money, the property of one Wright. At the trial in the Superior Court, before 'Bond, J., on the question of the identity of the defendant, the government introduced evidence of the appearance of his face on the date of the alleged offence. The government then offered evidence by means of a photograph as to how the defendant looked in the face in the year 1887, and also by the testimony of a police officer as to how he looked at the time of his arrest, in August, 1891. The defendant objected to the…

1Opinion of the CourtBarker, J.

1. The crime charged was committed in October, 1889. We cannot say that upon the question of identity evidence as to the defendant’s personal appearance in 1887, or at the time of his arrest in 1891, was too remote. Commonwealth v. Quinn, 150 Mass. 401, 404.

2. The court erred in permitting Watts to testify to the whole of his conversations with the defendant. The government should have been allowed to introduce only such portions of the conversations as pertained to the alleged offence. Not only was the witness not so restricted, but he was allowed to *539testify to separate conversations with…

2Cases cited2 opinions

  1. Dole v. WooldredgeMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1886
  2. Commonwealth v. QuinnMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1890

3Cited by17 opinions

  1. Commonwealth v. ChanceMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1899
  2. Commonwealth v. MurphyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1933
  3. Commonwealth v. WatsonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1979
  4. State v. FerroneSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1922
  5. Commonwealth v. JohnsonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1908

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