People v. Godwin

Citations

• 123 Cal. 374
• 55 P. 1059
• 1899 Cal. LEXIS 1079

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Seduction—Evidence—Chaste Character of Prosecutrix—Impeachment of Witness—Negative Statement.—Upon the trial of a defendant charged with the seduction of a female of previous chaste character under a promise of marriage, where a witness for the defendant, in answer to a direct question, testified that he never had had sexual intercourse with the prosecutrix, his answer being merely of a negative character, he cannot be impeached by proof of contrary statements to certain individuals.</p> <p>Id.—Improper Cross-Examination—Waiver of Objection.—A witness who has testified on his direct examination only as to his personal acquaintance and relations with the prosecutrix, cannot properly be asked on cross-examination whether he had ever known of any improper conduct on her part; but if no objection to the question is presented on that ground, an answer of the witness merely reiterating a previous statement that he never had any improper relations with her, cannot harm the defendant, and the allowance of the question is not ground of reversal.</p> <p>Id.—Reading Legal Decision to Jury—Appeal—Error not Shown.— The practice of reading law-books m the jury is not commendable; and where extracts from a decision of this court were sought to be read to the jury by the defendant’s counsel, and the record is silent as to the character of the extract sought to be read, no error can be predicated upon the action of the court in refusing to permit the extracts to be read.</p>