State v. McCoy

Citations

• 109 La. 682
• 33 So. 730
• 1903 La. LEXIS 424

Syllabus

<p>CRIMINAL LAW-DEPENDANT AS WITNESS-ATTACK ON CHARACTER — PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATIONS — RAPE — EVIDENCE — COMPLAINTS — CROSS-EXAMINATION — COMPETENCY OP JUROR — CHALLENGE POR CAUSE.</p> <p>1. Where a defendant in a criminal prosecution has taken the stand as a witness in his own behalf, and the prosecuting officer, by way of attacking his credibility, asks, “Have you ever been convicted and sent to the penitentiary from this parish?” the objection that it is incompetent for the state to attack the character of the accused until he has attempted to prove it good is properly overruled, since the question is intended as an attack upon the character of the witness, and not upon the character of the accused.</p> <p>2. Where, in a prosecution for rape, the accused has testified that he was suffering with a specific disease for some weeks before the date of the alleged crime, and the coroner, a physician, acting under the direction of the court, has examined him, as also the prosecutrix, for the purpose of ascertaining whether they were both affected by the same disease, an objection by the defendant to the physician’s testimony, as to the result of such examination, on the grounds that the matter is privileged, and that it is in effect compelling the defendant to give testimony against himself, is properly overruled.</p> <p>3. Where, in a prosecution for rape, the testimony of the prosecutrix and of the sheriff of the parish in which the crime is said to have been committed is offered to show that the former made complaint to the latter when he came to her house on the day following the alleged commission of the crime, that being the first opportunity which had presented itself, the objection that the testimony should be excluded because the complaint was not made sooner is properly overruled.</p> <p>4. Where, in a prosecution for rape, the prosecutrix has testified that she made complaint to persons, vdiom she names, and the persons so named have testified as state witnes