State v. Kowalchuk

Citations

• 116 Wash. 592
• 200 P. 333
• 1921 Wash. LEXIS 987

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law (137)—Evidence—Hearsay—Declarations by Third Persons. In a prosecution for sabotage under Laws 1919, ch. 173, a witness, who had been at one time a member of the I. W. W. organization and acquainted with its leaders and organizers, could testify without violating the hearsay rule, as to what the organizers, leaders, and officers taught him were the doctrines and teachings of the organization respecting injury and destruction of the working appliances of the employers for whom the members of the organization might work.</p> <p>Same (140)—Evidence—Acts oe Codefendants—Unlawful Acts of Members—Admissibility. Specific acts of lawlessness committed by members of an unlawful organization, under the direction or with the sanction of its recognized officers or representatives, are admissible in evidence as proofs of its teachings, purposes, and objects.</p> <p>Same (225)—Trial—Reception of Evidence—Compulsory Process for Attendance of Witnesses. In a prosecution for sabotage, the denial of an application by defendants for the issuance of subpoenas for witnesses residing in the state, but outside of the county of trial, was not a violation of the constitutional right of accused persons to have compulsory process to compel the attendance of witnesses in their behalf, where the only showing of' the materiality of such evidence was that the witnesses were librarians having among their books kept for general circulation certain of the literature of the I. W. W.</p> <p>Witnesses (81)—Cross-Examination—Immaterial Matters. In a prosecution for sabotage, committed by defendants as members of the I. W. W. organization, the refusal to permit defendants to cross-examine witnesses who testified respecting specific cases of sabotage by other members of the organization as to whether prosecution had been instituted against such offenders, did not constitute error, since it was not material to the inquiry before the court.</p>