State v. Connors

94 P. 199, 37 Mont. 15, 1908 Mont. LEXIS 26
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 9, 1908
DocketNo. 2,510
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 94 P. 199 (State v. Connors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Connors, 94 P. 199, 37 Mont. 15, 1908 Mont. LEXIS 26 (Mo. 1908).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE HOLLOWAY

delivered the opinion of the court.

Daniel Connors was convicted of the crime of rape, and appeals from the judgment. Appellant’s specifications of error relate to subdivision 3 of instruction 7, and to instructions 14 and 15, given by the court.

1. Subdivision 3 of instruction No. 7 is as follows: “That a witness false in one part of his testimony is to'be distrusted in others.” This is a literal copy.of subdivision 3 of section 3390 of the Code of Civil Procedure. It is contended, however, that by this instruction the court invaded the province of the jury, and that the jury are the exclusive judges of the credibility of witnesses and of the weight to be given to the testimony. Our Code, however, in section 3390 above, provides: “The jury, subject to the control of the court in the cases specified in this Code, are the judges of the effect or value of evidence addressed to them, except when it is declared to be conclusive. They are, however, to be instructed by the court on all proper occasions * * *”■ then follow seven subdivisions specifying certain matters to any or all of which the court may, on proper occasions, call the attention of the jury. Each of these seven subdivisions is a guide or standard by which the jury are to determine facts. And, since the Code establishes the law of this state respecting the subjects to which it relates (Code Civ. Proc., see. 3453), we ■certainly cannot say that a court may not do what the Code says it may do. In the absence of the evidence, we must presume that the trial of this case was a proper occasion, within the meaning of section 3390 above, for giving this instruction. ‘

But, again, it is said that this instruction as given is erroneous, in that it omits the word “willfully” before the word “false,” [17]*17and the words “as to a material matter” after the word “testimony,” and Cameron v. Wentworth, 23 Mont. 70, 57 Pac. 648, Ashley v. Rocky Mountain Bell Tel. Co., 25 Mont. 286, 64 Pac. 765, State v. De Wolfe, 29 Mont. 415, 74 Pac. 1084, and State v. Lee, 34 Mont. 584, 87 Pac. 977, are cited in support of this contention. But an examination of the last two cases will show that this question was not considered in either of them.

In the De Wolfe Case the instruction given was as follows: “If you believe that any witness who has testified in this ease has willfully and intentionally testified falsely as to any material matter in the case, the jury have a right to disregard any or all of the testimony of such witnéss.” The contention made and the decision of this court was that the words “except in so far as it is corroborated by other credible evidence” should have been added; but even that decision is overruled in State v. Penna, 35 Mont. 535, 90 Pac. 787.

In State v. Lee, complaint was made of an instruction given substantially as the court in the De Wolfe Case said it should be given; and this court merely held that it was not reversible error.

In Cameron v. Wentworth the plaintiff had judgment. The defendant moved for a new trial upon several grounds. The motion was granted and plaintiff appealed. The order granting the new trial was affirmed. One ground of defendant’s motion for new trial was the refusal of the trial court to give an instruction substantially in the language of subdivision 3 of section 3390, above. This court justified the order of the district court upon another ground altogether, but made some observations with respect to this instruction, but nowhere decided that the instruction was erroneous and ought not to have been given.

It is said that the qualifying words “willfully” and “material” should be inserted. In the case of State v. Kyle, 14 Wash. 550, 45 Pac. 147, under a similar statute the supreme court of Washington held directly that the failure to insert the word “willfully” before the word “false” did not render the instruction objectionable. In People v. Sprague, 53 Cal. 491, an [18]*18instruction was offered in the language of our statute above, which is identical with the language of subdivision 3, section 2061, California Code of Civil Procedure. The trial court, however, inserted the word “willfully” before the word “false.” In considering the instruction as thus modified, the supreme court of California said: “The word ‘willfully’ did not change the effect of the instruction as offered.” This decision is approved in People v. Righetti, 66 Cal. 184, 4 Pac. 1185.

In People v. Treadwell, 69 Cal. 226, 10 Pac. 502, it is said: “The following instruction is also challenged: ‘A witness false in one part of his testimony is to be distrusted in other parts.’ This is substantially the language of subdivision 3, section 2061, Code of Civil Procedure, and is correct. But it is said to be erroneous because the word ‘willfully’ was not inserted immediately before the word ‘false’ in the instruction. The defendant did not ask for a modification in that regard. But the omission of the word did not affect the correctness of the proposition. In People v. Sprague, 53 Cal. 491, a like instruction was asked by the defendant in a criminal action. The trial court did not give the instruction as asked, but of its own motion inserted the word ‘willfully’ immediately before the word ‘false,’ and with that correction gave the instruction to the jury against the defendant’s objection and exception, and on appeal it was held that the insertion of the word ‘willfully’ in the instruction did not change the effect of the instruction as offered. The instruction as given was therefore virtually the instruction offered. Upon the authority of that case, People v. Hicks, 53 Cal. 354, and People v. Soto, 59 Cal. 367, were also decided.” So far as we know, these are the only cases which had directly decided the matter at the time of the adoption of our Code. In Cameron v. Wentworth this court said: “The statute (section 3390, supra) came to us from California (Cal. Code Civ. Proc., see. 2061), where it has been interpreted”; and upon the familiar rule of law that, in adopting a statute from a sister state, we adopt it with the construction given it by the courts of that state, there does not seem to be room for contention here.

[19]*19In Ashley v. Rocky Mountain Bell Tel. Co., above, this court said that the qualifying words “willfully” and “material” should be used in the proper places in an instruction of this character, citing Cameron v. Wentworth; but, notwithstanding the observations made in Cameron v. Wentworth and Ashley v. Rocky Mountain Bell Tel. Co., we think the instruction as given is correct. It cannot be that subdivision 3 of section 3390 correctly states the law of this state when found in the Code, but that the same language, when embodied in an instruction of a court, does not do so.

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

Related

Petition of Brown
436 P.2d 693 (Montana Supreme Court, 1968)
Hageman v. Arnold
254 P. 1070 (Montana Supreme Court, 1927)
State v. Boyles
200 P. 125 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1921)
State v. Belland
197 P. 841 (Montana Supreme Court, 1921)
Shea v. United States
260 F. 807 (Ninth Circuit, 1919)
Simpson v. Miller
110 P. 485 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1910)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
94 P. 199, 37 Mont. 15, 1908 Mont. LEXIS 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-connors-mont-1908.