Commonwealth v. Garanchoskie

Citations

• 251 Pa. 247
• 96 A. 513
• 1916 Pa. LEXIS 452

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Criminal procedure — Witnesses — Husband and wife■ — Competency of wife to testify against husband — Act of April 11, 1899, P. L. Jfl, Section 2.</p> <p>1. The Act of April 11, 1899, P. L. 41, Section 2, providing that “in any criminal proceeding brought against the husband, if he makes .defense at the trial upon any ground which attacks the wife’s character or conduct, she shall be a competent witness in rebuttal for the Commonwealth,” does not apply merely to minor misdemeanors where the husband or wife has instituted the proceeding and one stands in opposition to the.other, or merely to causes where the actual defense offered is such as in itself attacks her character and conduct, but to any case where, in the course of the trial, defendant offers any evidence which attacks the character and conduct of the wife.</p> <p>Evidence — Cross-examination—Evidence of character — Evidence in rebuttal — Erroneous rulings — Act of March 15,1911, P. L. 20.</p> <p>2. Under the Act of March 15, 1911, P. L. 20, relating to the cross-examination of persons charged with crime and testifying in their own behalf, a defendant who has produced evidence of his own good reputation or character by calling character witnesses, may, when called as a witness in his own behalf, be cross-examined with reference to the commission of other offenses.</p> <p>8. In such a case evidence of particular criminal acts committed by defendant cannot be introduced by the Commonwealth in rebuttal; such evidence is not admissible under said act or on the theory that it was introduced for the purpose of contradicting denials of defendant where it appears that such denials were not made until after the rebuttal testimony had been received.</p> <p>Murder — Self defense — Evidence of admissibility.</p> <p>4. Where in a murder trial the defense was that the killing was committed in self-defense, it was reversible error to refuse to permit defendant to show that a former difficulty between him