State v. Wong Wen Teung

195 P. 349, 99 Or. 95, 1921 Ore. LEXIS 47
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 25, 1921
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 195 P. 349 (State v. Wong Wen Teung) 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. Wong Wen Teung, 195 P. 349, 99 Or. 95, 1921 Ore. LEXIS 47 (Or. 1921).

Opinion

BEAN, J.

Upon the trial Mrs. Etta C. Parrish, a witness for the state, testified on direct examination that she saw a man, who in height, build, and movement, resembled the defendant, shoot the deceased and then run around the corner. She did not positively identify the defendant. She did not see the face of the man who did the shooting. On cross-examination she was asked numerous questions tending to elicit testimony to show that most other Chinamen were of the size and build attributed by the witness to the man who did the killing. She was asked if it was not true that most Chinamen whom the witness had seen were of the size and build described by her, to which interrogatory she answered in the affirmative. Over the objection and exception of defendant, on redirect examination, after directing her attention to her former testimony, she was interrogated and answered as follows:

“Q. * * As bearing upon that phase of your testimony, I want to ask you if it is not the fact that you looked at a number of Chinamen together very recently and for the purpose of seeing if you could pick out of them the one who corresponded in size and build and you knew him?

“A. Yes, sir. * *

“Q. When and where was it you were exhibited a number of Chinamen together to see whether or not you could pick the one out of the number all together that corresponded in size and build and general appearance with the man who did the shooting?

[100]*100“A. I saw a number together upstairs, but I simply picked him out as the one I saw, the first time, in jail when the detective brought him in.”

1. The admission of this testimony is the first error assigned. It is clear from the testimony that the witness, Mrs. Parrish, only attempted to identify the defendant, not as the man who did the shooting, but as corresponding in size and build to that person. The plain purpose of the questions was to enable the witness, Mrs. Parrish, by giving antecedent circumstances, to remove the inference left by the cross-examination. This is one of the very important purposes for which a redirect examination is permitted: State v. McGahey, 3 N. D. 293, 298 (55 N. W. 753). It appears from the testimony elicited upon cross-examination that the defense examined the witness, Mrs. Parrish, as to the size and build of Chinamen in general, and as to their comparison with the man whom the witness saw doing the shooting. The witness indicated that the description which she had given would fit most other Chinamen. This subject was a branching off from the direct examination and tended to leave the jury to draw an inference that there was nothing in the size and build and general characteristics of the man who did the shooting to identify him with the defendant more than with other Chinamen. It is difficult for a witness to particularly describe a person. In view of the nature and extent of the cross-examination, it was not error on redirect examination to show that when Mrs. Parrish saw a number of Chinese together she was able to pick out the one who corresponded in size and build to the man she had previously seen doing the shooting, in order to rebut the inference that all Chinamen fitted the description of the one who committed the crime: Oregon-Wash. R. & N. Co. v. Spokane P. & S. Ry. Co., [101]*10183 Or. 528 (163 Pac. 600, 989, Ann. Cas. 1918C, 991); Farmers’ Bank v. Saling, 33 Or. 394, 397 (54 Pac. 190); Willis v. Horticultural Fire Relief, 77 Or. 621, 625 (152 Pac. 259); 40 Cyc. 2520 et seq.; 5 Jones on Evidence, § 871 et seq.; Commonwealth v. Hughes, 183 Mass. 221, 225 (66 N. E. 716); Walker v. State, 136 Ind. 663, 667 (36 N. E. 356); Underhill on Criminal Evidence, p. 68, § 55.

2 Wharton’s Crim. Ev. (10 ed.), Section 939, page 1807, upholds the identification by a witness after arrest of accused, as the person whom he saw commit the crime. The text is based upon Yarbrough v. State, 105 Ala. 43 (16 South. 758, 10 Am. Crim. Rep. 57), and Beavers v. State, 103 Ala. 36, 38 (15 South. 616). In the latter case, which is similar to the one at bar, the identity of the defendant with the assassin was the matter in issue; his defense being an alleged alibi. After the witness, Crowder, had testified to the facts of the killing and the presence and flight of the man, whom he saw run from near the scene of the murder and his recognition of the defendant, as the man; he further testified, on interrogation by the state, that he saw the defendant the next morning after the killing, when he was in custody of the officers. Witness was then asked by the prosecution, “Did you recognize the man then under arrest, as the man who had done the assassination and run off the evening before?” Over the objection of the defendant the witness answered in the affirmative. It was held there was no error in this ruling.

The authorities are somewhat conflicting in regard to the identification of the accused from an inspection of the person. Mr. Wharton says that—

“The prevailing weight of authority favors the relevancy of testimony obtained either by bodily ex[102]*102hibition or examinations of accused”: 2 Wharton’s Crim. Ev., § 937, p. 1800.

It seems to us that the real objection to the testimony is as to its weight, and not to its competency, although the challenge is not in that form. The defendant was positively identified as the man who committed the crime by Tony Maravitch, witness on behalf of the state, who was in the automobile with Joseph Gue when he was shot. The defendant was positively identified by Fred E. Folds, witness for the state, who was an eye-witness of the killing, as the person who did the shooting. The witness Folds also identified the defendant after he was arrested and brought back to the scene of the crime. The testimony tended to show that after the shooting the perpetrator ran south on Second Street. Bay Blackmar, a witness for the state, testified that at the time of hearing the shots fired he was a short distance away in an automobile, and upon approaching the scene saw a man running on Second Street; that he followed the man in his automobile for some little distance, keeping in sight of him, and apprehended him and brought him back to the place where the shooting occurred and turned him over to an officer.

The counsel for defendant cites and relies upon the case of State v. Houghton, 43 Or. 125 (71 Pac. 982), where the witness, who was an officer, was erroneously permitted to testify that the prosecuting witness recognized defendant’s photograph at the police station, as a photograph of the person whom he claimed had committed the crime. The prosecuting witness, whose name was Balch, was not under, oath when he made the statement, the substance of which was detailed by the officer. There was subsequent testimony tending to show that defendant’s photograph was in the [103]*103rogues ’ gallery because of Ms having committed other crimes, and the evidence tended to prove the commission of other disconnected crimes by defendant. This was held to be error. The case differs widely from the case at bar.

Assignment of error No. 2 is predicated upon the testimony of J. D. Webster, a police officer, who was a witness for the state. He was asked if he knew the defendant, Wong Wen Teung, and when and where he had first seen him.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
195 P. 349, 99 Or. 95, 1921 Ore. LEXIS 47, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wong-wen-teung-or-1921.