State v. Scott

42 P. 1, 28 Or. 331, 1895 Ore. LEXIS 120
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 28, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 42 P. 1 (State v. Scott) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon 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. Scott, 42 P. 1, 28 Or. 331, 1895 Ore. LEXIS 120 (Or. 1895).

Opinion

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Moore.

It is disclosed by the bill of exceptions that Louisa Babb, the person with whom the adultery is claimed to have been committed, testified, as a witness for the state, over the defendant’s objection, that, on July twelfth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, concluding to abandon her husband, she engaged one Sid Horn to come to her house after her clothing, which he did on the following day; that she left her home in his company about eleven o’clock in the forenoon, and, after going a short distance met, without any previous agreement, the defendant, whom she did not like, or look upon as her friend; that, not desiring to be seen by others, she remained in the woods with the defendant until about nine o’clock that evening, during which time she had sexual intercouse with him; that while in his company they ate a lunch consisting of pickles, cheese, cold beef, and bread; that at the time last mentioned she went to Sid Horn’s house, and in an hour or more thereafter the defendant called there, but soon went away; that, on the following morning at about two o’clock she left Eugene on the train for Portland to seek work and to visit the coast; that, on entering a car, she saw the defendant who told her to go into another car, which she found on entering to be the smoking car; that, on arriving at Portland, the defendant ordered a cab, and she was conveyed to a hotel, where that night she occupied the same bed and had sexual intercourse with him. The following evidence was also offered and admitted over the defendant’s objection, as tending to corroborate the tes[333]*333timony of Mrs. Babb: B. H. How testified that on July thirteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, he was engaged in the business of keeping a restaurant at Eugene, and at eight o’clock in the morning of that day he put up a lunch for the defendant, consisting of sandwiches, pickles, cheese, and cake. Sid Korn testified that about nine o’clock in the forenoon of the same day the defendant came to his house, and invited him to go fishing but he declined the invitation; that he did not tell the defendant anything about his agreement to go after Mrs. Babb’s clothing, or that she intended to leave her husband; that the defendant went with him in the direction of Mrs. Babb’s house, but remained at the river fishing while the witness went to the house after Mrs. ’ Babb’s clothing; that about eleven o’clock, having obtained the clothing, he returned in company with Mrs. Babb to the place where he left the defendant; that Mrs. Babb, not desiring to go to the witness’ house until evening, remained with the defendant; that about four o’clock in the afternoon of that day he and his wife, Lillian Korn, saw the defendant and Mrs. Babb together in the woods; and that the defendant on the morning of July fourteenth left Eugene to go to Vancouver, Washington, to get some horses he owned. Lillian Horn testified that she saw Mrs. Babb and the defendant together in the woods at about four o’clock in the afternoon of July thirteenth; and, also, that the defendant called at her house and saw Mrs. Babb about ten or eleven o’clock that night, but soon went away. T, G. Hendricks testified that on the morning of July fourteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, he went on the train from Eugene to Portland; that, as he entered the car at Eugene, he saw the defendant seated therein, and also saw Mrs. Babb enter the [334]*334car with a valise, and heard some one, but could not say who, tell her to go into another car. A. G. Mathews testified that he saw Mrs. Babb enter the smoking car of the train at Eugene on July fourteenth, and told her she ought to go into another car.

In view of this evidence, it is contended that Louisa Babb, if her testimony is to be believed, was an accomplice; that her admissions and confession have not been corroborated upon the material issue, and that the court erred in refusing to give the instruction requested. “At common law,” says Strahan, J., in Slats v. Jarvis, 18 Or. 360, (23 Pac. 251,) “and in the absence of any statute governing the subject, it was the practice of judges to tell juries that they might legally convict on the evidence of an accomplice alone, if they thought they could safely rely on his testimony; but, at the same time, to advise them never to act on the evidence of an accomplice unless he be confirmed as to the particular person who was charged with the ofiense: 1 Wharton on Criminal Law, § 785. And Baron Parke said that it had always been his practice to tell the jury not to convict the prisoner unless the evidence of the accomplice be confirmed, not only as to the circumstances of the crime, but also as to the person of the prisoner”: 1 Wharton on Criminal Law, § 787, and authorities there cited. “It,” says Gray, C. J., in Commonwealth v. Holmes, 127 Mass. 424, (34 Am. Rep. 391,) “has always been held that a jury might, if they saw fit, convict on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice. Lord Hale, Lord Holt, and Lord Mansfield treated the question of his credibility as one wholly for the determination of the jury, without any precise rule as to the weight to be given to his testimony.” But, whatever the rule may have been at common law, the statute now provides that “A con[335]*335viction cannot be had upon the testimony of an accomplice, unless he be corroborated by such other evidence as tends to connect the defendant with the commission of the crime, and the corroboration is not sufficient if it merely show the commission of the crime or the cir' cumstances of the commission”: Hill’s Code, § 1371. Louisa Babb’s admission of her participation in the alleged commission of the crime makes her an accomplice, and hence the corroborative evidence necessary to convict the defendant must be such as tends to prove adulterous acts on his part: Hill’s Code, § 680. In Commonwealth v. Bosworth, 22 Pick. 399, Morton, J., in commenting upon evidence in corroboration of the testimony of an accomplice, says: “The mode of corroboration seems to be less certain. It is perfectly clear that it need not extend to the whole testimony; but, it being shown that the accomplice has testified truly in some particulars, the jury may infer that he has in others. But what amounts to corroboration? We think the rule is that the corroborative evidence must relate to some portion of the testimony which is material to the issue. To prove that an accomplice had told the truth in relation to irrelevant and immaterial matters, which were known to everybody, would have no tendency to confirm his testimony involving the guilt of the party on trial. If this were the case, every witness, not incompetent for the want of understanding, could always furnish ' the materials for corroboration of his own testimony. If he could state where he was born, where he had resided, in whose custody he had been, or in what jail or what room in the jail he had been confined, he might easily get confirmation of all these particulars. But these circumstances, having no necessary connection with the guilt of the defendant, the proof of the correctness [336]*336of the statement in relation to them would not conduce to prove that a statement of the guilt of the defendant was true.”

In State v. Odell, 8 Or. 30, one William George, an accomplice, testified that he and the defendant waited outside while another person went into the building and brought out the property described in the indictment.

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

Related

State v. Riley
443 P.3d 610 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2019)
State v. Winslow
472 P.2d 852 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1970)
Adkins v. Campbell
382 P.2d 96 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1963)
State v. Oster
376 P.2d 83 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1962)
State v. Reynolds
86 P.2d 413 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1938)
State v. Coffey
72 P.2d 35 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1937)
State v. Shelton
267 P. 950 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1928)
State v. Willson
233 P. 259 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1925)
State v. Long
231 P. 963 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1924)
State v. Brook
228 P. 920 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1924)
State v. Wakefield
228 P. 115 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1924)
State v. Turnbow
193 P. 485 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1920)
State v. Moss
182 P. 149 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1919)
State v. Russell
129 P. 1051 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1913)
State v. Case
122 P. 304 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1912)
People v. Coffey
119 P. 901 (California Supreme Court, 1911)
State v. La More
99 P. 417 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1909)
State v. Eggleston
77 P. 738 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1904)
State v. Welch
68 P. 808 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1902)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
42 P. 1, 28 Or. 331, 1895 Ore. LEXIS 120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-scott-or-1895.