Kramer v. Kister

Citations

• 187 Pa. 227
• 40 A. 1008
• 1898 Pa. LEXIS 795

Syllabus

<p>Attorney at law — Privileged communication ■ — ■ Competency of witness— Malicious prosecution.</p> <p>Privileged communications between an attorney and client are confined to confidential communications and knowledge derived wholly or in part from private and professional intercourse, and do not embrace those facts which the counsel may become acquainted with collaterally, or those which were from necessity, and to subserve the interests of the client, publically disclosed by direction of the client himself, on the trial of his cause.</p> <p>In an action for malicious prosecution, an attorney who was counsel for the present plaintiff when defendant in the criminal court, may, for the purpose of contradicting the plaintiff, be called as a witness to prove that an agreement had been made openly in the criminal court, when the case was called for trial, and participated in by the parties, their counsel, and tbe district attorney. There is no element of confidential professional communication in such evidence.</p> <p>Evidence — Testimony affecting credibility of witness.</p> <p>An agreement, though void, may be shown to have been made to contradict a witness, going to his credibility.</p> <p>Criminal law — Felony—Verdict by agreement.</p> <p>A prosecutor who has made an honest mistake and begun a prosecution with probable cause, and who finds he has made a mistake and his expected proof is likely to fail, is not bound to go on and press for a conviction of the accused, guilty or not guilty.</p> <p>Practice, commonpleas — Trial—Sealed verdict — Separation of jury.</p> <p>A sealed verdict is no verdict if one of the jurors dissents in open court. Where a jury seals a verdict and separates, and subsequently when the jury is polled in open court one of the jurors dissents, the trial court must treat the proceeding as a mistrial and, instead of sending the jurors out again to agree anew upon a verdict, should discharge them.</p> <p>The allowance of a sealed verdict and se