State ex rel. Crooks v. Cummins

229 N.W. 302, 56 S.D. 439, 1930 S.D. LEXIS 19
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 21, 1930
DocketFile No. 6836
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 229 N.W. 302 (State ex rel. Crooks v. Cummins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Crooks v. Cummins, 229 N.W. 302, 56 S.D. 439, 1930 S.D. LEXIS 19 (S.D. 1930).

Opinion

CAMPBELL, J.

This is a proceeding under the provisions of article 2 of chapter 295, Laws 1923 (Uniform Illegitimacy Act), seeking to establish that defendant was the father of relator’s illegitimate child and to enforce his obligation to support such child. The verdict of the jury was in favor of plaintiff, and judgment was entered thereon, declaring the paternity of the child and requiring defendant to make certain payments for the support of the child, from which judgment, and from an order denying his motion for a new trial, defendant has appealed.

It became an issue in the ease whether or not certain letters produced by relator and purporting to be written by appellant were in fact written by him. In this connection a witness, who sufficiently qualified himself prima facie as an expert in handwriting and investigation of questioned documents, testified that he had made a study and comparison of the letters in question (Exhibits 2 and 4) and the envelopes in which they were mailed (Exhibits 1 and! 3) and had compared the same with reference to Exhibit 6 (an admittedly genuine signature and address of appellant written by him on a hotel register). The substance of the expert’s testimony in this regard, given in the form of a deposition, was as follows : “I have made a study of the handwriting on the exhibits. I compared Exhibits 1, 2, 3, and 4, magnified them and charted them. I mean that I examined them with a magnifying glass and then made enlarged drawings on a chart. I have that chart with me. Exhibit 5 is the chart I had reference to. On this chart I wrote down some letters to bring comparisons of different exhibits closer together and also re-wrote part of the exhibits to become acquainted with the habitual movements of the writer of these exhibits, and also made it' for the purpose of showing the court or jury these comparisons in better form. Every writer has habitual movements or characteristics which would distinguish his writing from other writings. I saw Exhibit 6, at the same time I saw the other exhibits. Exhibit 6 is a sheet from the Hotel St. Hubert, Milbank, South Dakota. I used the signature ‘D. V. Cum-mins, Wilmot, S. D.,’ on Exhibit 6 in making comparisons of the various writings on the exhibits you mentioned and in making the [442]*442chart. I formed my opinion as to these various exhibits after I had made a study of the penmanship thereof and had made comparisons.”

Thereupon the witness, over objection of appellant, was permitted to testify that from his investigation and study it was his opinion that the admittedly genuine signature on the hotel register and the writing- embraced in the questioned documents were the handwriting of one and the same person. The chart, Exhibit 5, referred to- in the foregoing testimony of the expert, was also admitted in evidence over the objection of appellant, and upon these rulings appellant predicates error. That the opinion of the expert, based on the study and comparison shown by his previous testimony and his experiential capacity also previously shown, was admissible, is too obvious to require the citation of any authorities.

With reference to the admission of the chart, Exhibit 5, there is perhaps more ground for question. It is the almost unquestioned rule of modern authority that enlarged photographs of questioned writing are admissible in evidence when the foundation is properly laid. See Wigmore Evidence (2d Ed.) § 797, subd. 4; note, 31 A. L. R. 1431, at page 1437- With reference ü> enlarged drawings the point is not quite so clear. It has been held that the exclusion thereof does not constitute error. Ulmer v. Gentner (Pa. 1883) 3 Penny. 453. The chart, Exhibit 5, is not photographically reproduced in the briefs in this case, and the attempt to' reproduce it by means of mere printed letters and figures is not helpful in showing us just exactly what this exhibit was. We think, however, that the previous testimony of the witness laid a sufficient foundation, prima facie, for the introduction of the chart by way of illustration and explanation of the testimony. McKay v. Lasher, 121 N. Y. 477, 24 N. E. 711; State v. Ryno, 68 Kan. 348, 74 P. 1114, 64 L. R. A. 303. It is conceivable that appellant by cross-examination before the chart was received in evidence might have developed facts concerning the nature, manner, and circumstances of its preparation which would have destroyed the prima facie foundation for its introduction found in the testimony in chief of the witness. Appellant -made no effort so to do As the matter stood when the chart was offered we do not think receiving it in evidence constituted error.

[443]*443Appellant predicates error on the giving of certain portions of the instructions to the jury and on the refusal of certain requests for instructions made ¡by appellant. Reading the portions of the charge excepted to in connection with the charge as a whole, we think there was no error in the instructions given. The matters embraced in the instructions requested by appellant and refused by the court were adequately covered in the instructions given. The charge as a whole was full, fair, complete, and proper, and no error appears in reference to the instructions.

In this connection there is one particular objection to instructions that perhaps should have further attention. The court, over objection of appellant, instructed the jury that a verdict might be returned by five-sixths of their number (chapter 151, Laws 1923). We are of the opinion that proceedings under article 2 of the Uniform Illegitimacy Act (chapter 295, Laws 1923) are sufficiently of a civil nature so that a verdict therein may be returned by five-sixths of the jury, pursuant to chapter 151, Laws 1923, amending section 2515, R. C. 1919. See section 31, chapter 295, Laws 1923. State v. Pickering, 29 S. D. 207, 136 N. W. 105, 40 L. R. A. (N. S.) 144. The proceeding being civil in its nature, to permit'a verdict therein by five-sixths of the jury is not repugnant to section 6, article 6, Constitution South Dakota. Weaver v. Cuff, 52 S. D. 51, 216 N. W. 600.

Appellant also assigns as error the insufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict. The evidence was to some extent conflicting, but there was ample testimony, if believed by the jury, to support the verdict, and we have neither power nor disposition to interfere therewith. Incidentally we might mention in this connection that although under the instructions of the court a five-sixth verdict was permissible, yet, as a matter of fact, the verdict was unanimous.

One of the grounds presented and urged upon the motion for new trial was newly discovered evidence. A considerable part of the newly discovered evidence is cumulative only, some of it is immaterial, and there is little, if any, showing that it could not, with reasonable diligence, have been discovered and produced at the trial. We do not think the learned trial judge abused his ■discretion in denying the application for new trial upon this ground.

[444]*444Appellant also predicates error upon the conduct of one of the jurors, Van Horn by name. Appellant’s showing in this regard is 'by the affidavit of one -Mclnerney, who was a witness for appellant at the trial, and who thereafter made affidavit as follows:

“That in the morning of the first day of the trial, and before the trial started he met a man named Dick Van Horn in the lobby outside of the court room in Sisseton.

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Bluebook (online)
229 N.W. 302, 56 S.D. 439, 1930 S.D. LEXIS 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-crooks-v-cummins-sd-1930.