Roberts v. State

Citations

• 25 Del. 385
• 2 Boyce 385
• 79 A. 396
• 1911 Del. LEXIS 51

Syllabus

<p>1. Witnesses — Contradictory Statements — Accused as Witness.</p> <p>Where accused is a witness, the grounds ordinarily necessary for contradiction by prior statements need not be laid, the statements^ being received in the nature of admissions and when material, they are admissible, whether the party appears as a witness or not.</p> <p>2. Criminal Law — Evidence—Admissions—Contradiction.</p> <p>Where the admission of accused that he told another that he was without money was in evidence, the state might, if such evidence was material, show the falsity of the statement.</p> <p>3. Criminal Law — Evidence—Order of Proof — Rebuttal.</p> <p>Where, in a murder trial, defendant on cross examination gave evidence tending to relieve him of the incriminating circumstances of the possession of a large amount of money, and to that extent tended to prove that he was not at deceased’s house on the night of the crime, the falsity of his statement might be shown in rebuttal, though such rebuttal evidence further tended to strengthen the case first set up by the state in chief.</p> <p>4. Criminal Law — Evidence—Rebuttal—Discretion of Court.</p> <p>It is in the discretion of the court to admit evidence in reply which should properly have been given in chief.</p> <p>5. Criminal Law — Trial—Contradiction of Testimony — Materiality.</p> <p>Where there was evidence that a wallet belonging to deceased, in which he usually kept his money, was missing, that a lock of his safe had been knocked off, that a check was found on the floor by the safe, and that footprints made by shoes belonging to accused led toward deceased’s house from, a cherry tree, from which a limb used in the killing was broken, testimony of accused on cross examination that he had stated after the murder he had no money was material, and the state was properly allowed to show by a witness, in contradiction, that after the murder accused had a considerable amount of money in his possession.</p>