Republic of Hawaii v. Edwards

11 Haw. 571, 1898 Haw. LEXIS 6
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 4, 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 11 Haw. 571 (Republic of Hawaii v. Edwards) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Republic of Hawaii v. Edwards, 11 Haw. 571, 1898 Haw. LEXIS 6 (haw 1898).

Opinion

[572]*572OPINION OP THE COURT BY

JUDD, C.J.

The defendant was indicted in the Oircuit Court, Eirst Circuit, of the crime sodomy, tried, convicted of an attempt to commit the same and sentenced therefor. Elis case comes to us upon a bill of exceptions and a-writ of error raising the same questions of law as were sued out according to statute. By agreement the cases were heard together.

We consider the points of exception and assignments of error somewhat out of their order and take up first the question raised upon an exception by defendant as follows:

The defendant’s counsel asked the court to charge that “the evidence of the prosecuting witness must be corroborated. It is not alone sufficient to convict.” This was refused. On this point the judge charged as follows:

“The only direct evidence for the prosecution is that of the witness Kui. This evidence must be weighed by you with caution and if you find it false you must give defendant the benefit of such finding. .1 repeat, it must be weighed with caution, but if, after having carefully weighed his testimony you believe it to be true it will be your duty to rely upon it and return a ver'dict in accordance therewith.” * * * “As regards corroboration I charge you that, under our statute, corroboration of the testimony of the complaining witness Kui, is not 'necessary. In some crimes our statute declares that corroboration’of the testimony of the complaining witness is necessary, but sodomy is not one of them, it coming under a subsequent statute. Whether you will convict or not I do not know, but what I say is that you can do so under our statute. Now, gentlemen, in regard to the testimony in this case. It is hardly necessary to define a reasonable doubt as being founded upon reason. If upon a candid, impartial investigation of all the evidence in this case you are no.t satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant of the charge, at the time and place named in the charge to have been committed, then in such case you must give [573]*573defendant the benefit of that doubt and acquit him. On the contrary if, after such examination you are satisfied that you have an abiding conviction of the truth of the charge against defendant, and you are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt, you must convict him.”

Although our statute requires that on a charge of rape the testimony of the prosecutrix should be corroborated; no statute in Hawaii requires that on a charge of sodomy, the testimony of an accomplice should be corroborated by other evidence. Counsel for defendant contends that though our statute punishing this offense does not require corroboration of an accomplice, the offense- charged here is of such a nature that the general rule allowing the jury to convict upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice does not apply. We find no case where this particular offense is treated as an exception. It may be made so by statute. The trial court charged that the jury could convict on the testimony of the complaining witness alone. It seems to have been assumed that the complaining witness was an accomplice though neither the court nor the jury were asked to find him to be so. We assume that he was an accomplice to the attempt. Eoscoe says, “It has been repeatedly laid down that a conviction on the testimony of an accomplice uncorroborated is legal.” The point was considered by the twelve judges (England) and so decided in Re v. Atwood, 1 Lea 464, and 1 Roscoe, Crim. Ev. p. 201, 8th Ed. It was so held in The King v. Wo Sow, 7 Hawn. 737.

Sackett’s Instructions to Juries, p. 643, says, “While it is a mile of law that a person accused of crime may be convicted upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice, still, a jury should always act upon such testimony with great cáre and caution, and subject it to careful examination in the light of all the other evidence in the case; and the jury ought not to convict upon such testimony alone, unless, after a careful examination of such testimony, they are satisfied beyond any reasonable doubt of its truth, and that they can safely rely upon it.”

[574]*574This is substantially the charge of the court in the case before us. The charge is supported by the following authorities. “It is competent to convict a person charged with the commission of a crime on the testimony of an accomplice alone.” Com. v. Bosworth, 22 Pick. 397. This was affirmed in a later case Com. v. Holmes, 127 Mass. 424. “It is conceded, with great uniformity, that a conviction based upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice is legal.” State v. Watson, 31 Mo. 364. “It is competent for the jury to convict upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice.” Lindsay v. People, 63 N. Y. 157. “But there may frequently occur other cases, where, from all the circumstances, the honest judgment will be as thoroughly satisfied from the evidence of the accomplice of the guilt of the defendant, as it is possible it could be satisfied from human testimony — and in such case it would be an outrage upon the administration of justice to acquit.” Collins v. People, 68 Ill. 591.

While the citations might be greatly extended showing that courts hold that convictions may be had upon the unsupported testimony of accomplices, courts have generally given further advice or directions of the jury trying such a case. Bor example, in Com. v. Bosworth, supra, the court adds to the statement that the jury are competent to convict on uncorroborated evidence, that the court should advise the jury to acquit where there is no evidence other than the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice. Roscoe says the practice of judges is almost invariably to advise juries not to convict upon the evidence of an accomplice who is uncorroborated, and yet the learned author says that though a judge should so advise the jury the appeal court would be bound to hold that a judge who did not so advise them would be right. 1 Roscoe, Crim. Ev. p. 202. The principle is thus expressed by Jervis, O. J., in Regina v. Stubbs, 33 Eng. L. & Eq. R. 552, “It is not a rule of law that accomplices must be confirmed in order to render a conviction valid, and it is the duty of the judge to tell the jury that they may act on the unconfirmed testimony of an accomplice; but it is usual in practice for [575]*575the judge to advise the jury not to convict on such testimony alone; and juries generally attend to the judge’s direction and require confirmation. Rut it is only a rule of practice.” * * “In this case the jury have acted on the evidence and we cannot interfere.” In the same case Wildes, J., said, “This is not a question of law, but of practice and questions of law can only be reserved for our opinion.” Conviction affirmed. It is held in the State v. Wolcott, 21 Conn. 281, “The degree of credit which is given to an accomplice is a matter exclusively for the jury to say. Courts frequently and ought to advise caution in reposing confidence in the naked testimony of an accomplice; but this is rather in the exercise of a judicial discretion, than because the law demands it.” State v. Potter, 42 Vt. 505, is an instructive case on this point.

In our case we are removed from all difficulty on this point by referring to the bill of exceptions and the defendant’s requests for instructions. All the defendant asked for was the bald instruction that the jury “could not convict on the uncorroborated evidence of the accomplice.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Lincoln
643 P.2d 807 (Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, 1982)
State v. Chang
374 P.2d 5 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1962)
State v. Tominaga
372 P.2d 356 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1962)
State v. Yoshida
361 P.2d 1032 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1961)
State v. Carvelo
361 P.2d 45 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1961)
Territory of Hawaii v. Bell
43 Haw. 23 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1958)
In Re the Estate of Allen
35 Haw. 501 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1940)
Van Poole v. Nippu Jiji Co.
34 Haw. 354 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1937)
Tong Kai v. Territory of Hawaii
15 Haw. 612 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1904)
Republic of Hawaii v. Nenchiro
12 Haw. 189 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1899)
Republic of Hawaii v. Edwards
12 Haw. 55 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1899)
Spencer v. McStocker
11 Haw. 581 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1898)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
11 Haw. 571, 1898 Haw. LEXIS 6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/republic-of-hawaii-v-edwards-haw-1898.