People v. Flaherty

50 N.Y.S. 574
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 26, 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 50 N.Y.S. 574 (People v. Flaherty) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Flaherty, 50 N.Y.S. 574 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1898).

Opinion

FOLLETT, J.

At the time of the transactions out of which this action arose the Penal Code provided:

“Sec. 278. Rape is an act of sexual intercourse with a female not the wife of the perpetrator, committed, against her will or without her consent. A person perpetrating such an act or an act of sexual intercourse with a female not his wife, (1) When the female is under the age of sixteen years; * * * (6) When she is, at the time, unconscious of the nature of the act, and this is known to the defendant; is punishable by imprisonment, for not less than five nor more than twenty years.”

February 6, 1893, an indictment was found at a court of oyer and terminer, charging the defendant with the violation of the first and sixth subdivisions of the section above quoted. By the first count he was charged with having sexual intercourse at the town of Mt. Morris, on the 1st day of July, 1892, with Mary' Sweeney, a female under 16 years of age, and not his wife. By the second count he was charged with having sexual intercourse with Mary Sweeney, a female under the age of 16 years, and not his wife, she being at the time unconscious of the nature of the act, which was known to the defendant. The evidence was not of a character to justify a conviction under the second count, which count requires no consideration. February 9, 1893, the indictment was sent to the court of sessions for trial. April 17, 1893, the defendant was arraigned, and interposed a demurrer, upon the ground that a crime was not charged in the indictment, which was overruled; and thereupon the defendant pleaded not guilty, and at the same term was tried and convicted. An appeal was taken to the general term, which held that the indictment was-sufficient, but reversed the judgment on the ground that the court erred in not permitting the defendant to show that other persons had sexual intercourse with Mary Sweeney in June, 1892 (79 Hun, 48, 29 N. Y. Supp. 641), which judgment was affirmed on the opinion delivered at general term (145 N. Y. 597, 40 N. E. 164). At the court of sessions held in September, 1895, the defendant was again convicted on the first count, and was sentenced, October 9, 1895, to imprisonment in the state prison at Auburn for seven years. On the same day he appealed from the judgment, and a certificate of reasonable doubt was granted, and the defendant admitted to bail, pending the appeal.

The defendant urges nine grounds of error, any one of which, he insists, requires a reversal of the judgment and a new trial: (1) That the court erred in overruling the defendant’s challenge to Henry Ford, a juror called, for actual bias; (2) that the court erred in overruling the defendant’s challenge to George H. Snyder, a juror, for-[576]*576actual bias; (3) that the court erred in denying defendant’s motion, at the opening of the trial, that the district attorney be required to specify which of the eight acts described in his opening was the one charged in the indictment, and relied on, and that the court erred in denying defendant’s motion to the same effect at the close of the direct examination of Mary Sweeney; (4) that the court erred in denying the defendant’s motion that the judgment be arrested on the ground of variance between the indictment and the evidence as to the date when the alleged crime was committed; (5) that the court erred in permitting the jury to determine whether the birth of the child was corroborative of the commission of the act of intercourse of May 28, 1892; (6) that the court erred in permitting the jury to consider the alteration of the record of birth of Mary Sweeney as a possible guilty act of the defendant; (7) that the court erred in submitting to the jury the question whether the fictitious letter which the defendant asserted he had received from Father English was a fact tending to establish the guilt of the defendant; (8) that the court erred in permitting Jennie Skillen to testify to the reasons given by Mary Sweeney, nine months after the alleged intercourse, for permitting it; (9) that the court erred in denying defendant’s motion, made .at the close of the evidence, that the jury be advised to acquit the defendant on the ground that the crime charged had not been proved, and also his motion for a new trial, made after the verdict, on the ground that it was contrary to law and against the evidence.

The first and second questions relating to the challenges to the two jurors may be conveniently considered together, and, in considering these exceptions, it is well to have in mind the provisions of sections 376 and 455 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which was enacted in 1881, and took effect September 1 of that year. These sections have never been amended, and provide:

“Sec. 376. Particular causes of challenge are of two kinds: * * * (2) For the existence of a state of mind on the part of the juror, in reference to the case, or to either party, which satisfies the court, in the exercise of a sound discretion, that such juror cannot try the issue impartially a.nd without prejudice to the substantial rights of the party challenging, and which is known in this Code as actual bias. But the previous expression or formation of an opinion or impression in reference to the guilt or innocence of the defendant, or a present opinion or impression in reference thereto, is not a sufficient ground of challenge for actual bias, to any person otherwise legally qualified, if he declare on oath, that he believes that such opinion or impression will not influence his verdict, and that he can render an impartial verdict according to the evidence, and the court is satisfied, that he does not entertain such a present opinion or impression as would influence his verdict.”
“Sec. 455. On the trial of an indictment, exceptions may be taken by the defendant, to a decision of the court, upon a matter of law, by which his substantial rights are prejudiced, and not otherwise, in any of the following cases: * * * (2) In admitting or rejecting testimony on the trial of a challenge for actual bias to any juror who participated in the verdict, or in allowing or disallowing .such challenge.”

Under these sections, it Fas been held that the decision of the trial court on the question of indifferency of a juror is not reviewable except in the absence of any evidence to support it; and so, where the challenge is overruled, the decision may not be reviewed, unless -the evidence discloses a condition of mind on the part of the juror [577]*577which, as matter of law, renders him incompetent, for actual bias People v. McQuade, 110 N. Y. 284, 18 N. E. 156; People v. McGonegal 136 N. Y. 62, 32 N. E. 616. In Greenfield v. People, 74 N. Y. 277, the determination of the trial court of the question of fact was reviewed by virtue of chapter 427 of the Laws of 1873, which act w'as expressly repealed by chapter 593 of the Laws of 1886, and the rule laid down in that case as to the power of appellate courts to review the determination of a trial court on the facts has been abrogated.

It has been repeatedly held, under sections 376 and 455 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, that in case the challenged juror testifies that he believes that, notwithstanding the opinion he has formed, such opinion or impression will not influence his verdict, and that he can render an impartial verdict, it is not error to receive him as a juror. People v. Cornetti, 92 N. Y. 85; People v. Carpenter, 102 N. Y. 238, 6 N. E. 584; People v. McGonegal, 136 N. Y. 62, 32 N. E. 616.

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Bluebook (online)
50 N.Y.S. 574, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-flaherty-nyappdiv-1898.