Williams v. United States

Eighth Circuit

Williams v. United States

265 F. 625, 1920 U.S. App. LEXIS 1464

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

DecidedApril 29, 1920

DocketNo. 5437

StatusPublished

Cited by22 cases

This text of 265 F. 625 (Williams v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Williams v. United States, 265 F. 625, 1920 U.S. App. LEXIS 1464 (8th Cir. 1920).

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Opinion

HOOK, Circuit Judge.

George Williams was convicted and sentenced for violating the White Slave Traffic Act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 825 [Comp. St. §§ 8812-8819]). The only complaint he makes in this court is of the admission at the trial of testimony that he borrowed a sum of money from the young woman in the case and had not repaid it. He urges that the testimony was not relevant to the question of his guilt, and that its admission was prejudicial.

[1,2] Whether prejudice results from the erroneous admission of evidence at a trial is a question that should not be considered abstractly or by way of detachment. The question is one of practical effect, when the trial as a whole and all the circumstances of the proofs are regarded. In the case before us the evidence of guilt, aside from that challenged, was overwhelming and undisputed. It was wholly that of the prosecution, and no denial or explanation of it was made in- defense. The guilt of the accused could not have appeared more conclusively, had he pleaded guilty in open court. It is manifest that he was not prejudiced by the admission of the testimony to which reference has-been made. This conclusion makes it unnecessary to consider whether the testimony was relevant or material.

The sentence is affirmed.

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HOOK, Circuit Judge.

George Williams was convicted and sentenced for violating the White Slave Traffic Act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 825 [Comp. St. §§ 8812-8819]). The only complaint he makes in this court is of the admission at the trial of testimony that he borrowed a sum of money from the young woman in the case and had not repaid it. He urges that the testimony was not relevant to the question of his guilt, and that its admission was prejudicial.

[1,2] Whether prejudice results from the erroneous admission of evidence at a trial is a question that should not be considered abstractly or by way of detachment. The question is one of practical effect, when the trial as a whole and all the circumstances of the proofs are regarded. In the case before us the evidence of guilt, aside from that challenged, was overwhelming and undisputed. It was wholly that of the prosecution, and no denial or explanation of it was made in- defense. The guilt of the accused could not have appeared more conclusively, had he pleaded guilty in open court. It is manifest that he was not prejudiced by the admission of the testimony to which reference has-been made. This conclusion makes it unnecessary to consider whether the testimony was relevant or material.

The sentence is affirmed.

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Bluebook (online)

265 F. 625, 1920 U.S. App. LEXIS 1464, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-united-states-ca8-1920.

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