Commonwealth v. Minor
Court of Appeals of Kentucky
Case 85 — APPEAL FROM OWEN CIRCUIT COURT. Subsection 8 of section 606 of the Civil Code, which provides that no. prisoner in a penitentiary shall testify, does not apply to criminal cases. The General Statutes define who shall be disqualified as witnesses. (Commonwealth v. McGuire, 7 Ky. Law Rep.) 1. Under the common law, a felon was not a competent witness.
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Case 85 — APPEAL FROM OWEN CIRCUIT COURT. Subsection 8 of section 606 of the Civil Code, which provides that no. prisoner in a penitentiary shall testify, does not apply to criminal cases. The General Statutes define who shall be disqualified as witnesses. (Commonwealth v. McGuire, 7 Ky. Law Rep.) 1. Under the common law, a felon was not a competent witness. (Cooley’s Blaekstone, Book' 3, side page 370; Idem, Book 3, pages-363, 364.) 2. The common law of England is still in force, in Kentucky, except. in so far as altered or repealed by statute. (Hunt, &c., v. Warwick’s Heirs,- Hardjn, 66;…
1Opinion of the CourtChief Justice Lewis
An indictment against appellees for the crime of arson having been found and presented at the Mayderm of the lower court, they moved, at the November term, to set it aside; and it being done, the Commonwealth appeals. .
The ground upon which the motion was made and •sustained is, as stated in the affidavit of appellees and admitted by the Commonwealth’s Attorney to be true, that the testimony, among others, of one Wilson, who was a convict in the penitentiary under conviction and sentence for manslaughter, was heard by the grand jury in regard to the offense for which appellees were indicted.
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2Cases cited2 opinions
- Patterson v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1887
- Commonwealth v. McGuireCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1886
3Cited by7 opinions
- Billings v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) · 1928
- Arnett v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1903
- Rice v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) · 1956
- Bircham v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) · 1951
- Gordon v. TracyCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1922
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