Cridland v. Crow

Citations

• 221 Pa. 618
• 70 A. 888
• 1908 Pa. LEXIS 539

Syllabus

<p>Sheriff — Action against — Assault by deputy — Personal injuries— Physician — Evidence—Conduct of plaintiff when not on stand — Charge.</p> <p>In an action against a sheriff to recover damages for an assault by a deputy in executing a writ, where the plaintiff and her sister testify to a continuous condition of injury, a physician may testify as to the physical condition of the plaintiff six months after the assault, and that he then treated her for the condition which she described on the trial'. In- such a case the jury should be cautioned that they must be satisfied from the evidence that the injured condition of plaintiff when she was treated by the physician was -connected with and resulted from the injury inflicted by the deputy.</p> <p>It is-reversible error for the court in such-a ease to refer to an hysterical outbreak of the plaintiff in the court room when she was not on the witness stand, as an exhibition which might aid the jury in determining whether the plaintiff's excitable temperament was not in a measure the cause of her trouble with the deputy sheriff; and this is particularly so in view of the fact that the plaintiff charged her excitability in part to the effect of the injury in question.</p> <p>Great latitude is properly given to the trial judge in commenting upon the evidence, but it is going too far to comment upon the conduct of a witness while not upon the stand.</p> <p>If the witness shows bias, feeling or partiality upon the stand it may very properly be commented upon as affecting credibility; but the demeanor or conduct of the witness while not upon the stand is no part of the evidence in the case.</p>