State v. Litchfield
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
On exceptions. Indictment for being an accessory before the fact in a compound larceny, committed May 4, 1870, in the Lime Rock Bank, in Rock-land, Langdon W. Moore, and others, being principals.
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On exceptions. Indictment for being an accessory before the fact in a compound larceny, committed May 4, 1870, in the Lime Rock Bank, in Rock-land, Langdon W. Moore, and others, being principals. In the trial, the government offered to prove the delivery and contents of a telegram, material in the case, by the telegraph operator, received at the office April 29,1870, addressed to the defendant, having given written notice to produce the original to the defendant’s counsel, on the morning after the arraignment of the prisoner, upon their entering their names on the docket. The defendant’s…
1Opinion of the CourtAppleton, C. J.
The main question, presented for our determination, is whether a telegraphic operator is bound to testify to the contents of a telegraphic message.
The case finds the message material to the issue. A verbal message, communicated to the prisoner, would be admissible, and the party communicating it would be compelled to state it. So a written message, or its contents, after due notice to produce the original, and a failure of its production by the party notified, would be received in evidence. The mode of transmission to the person delivering the message, whether by telegraph or otherwise, has…
2Cited by6 opinions
- Ex parte BrownSupreme Court of Missouri · 1880
- State v. JonesCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 2019
- Ex parte BrownMissouri Court of Appeals · 1879
- In re StorrorDistrict Court, N.D. California · 1894
- State v. JonesCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 2019
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