Commonwealth v. Barr

Citations

• 25 Pa. Super. 609
• 1904 Pa. Super. LEXIS 123

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Evidence—Witness—Prosecutor—Information.</p> <p>There is a marked distinction between competency as a prosecutor and competency as a witness on the trial of the cause in court. Where, as in many instances, there is a choice of accusation, that is, where the defendant may fairly be accused of one crime or another or of more crimes than one growing out of the transaction, it is plainly the duty of the magistrate taking the complaint to see that the accusation and the commitment thereon are broad enough to cover the whole; leaving to the grand jury or prosecuting officer to elect between the several methods of pursuing the defendant.</p> <p>It is not required that the person who makes the information to set the machinery of the law in motion should be the prosecutor marked on the indictment, or be a witness sworn for the commonwealth on the trial. It is not indispensable that the informer or prosecutor should have personal knowledge of the facts necessary to convict the defendant. If he is able to swear that he is informed of them and believes the facts stated in the information to be true is all that has ever been required to justify a magistrate in issuing a warrant for the arrest of the alleged criminal.</p> <p>Criminal law — Information—Prosecutor—Husband and wife — Adultery.</p> <p>A husband is competent to make an information charging his wife’s paramour with adultery.</p>