State v. Moss

Citations

• 73 Wash. 430
• 131 P. 1132
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1616

Syllabus

<p>Adultery — Evidence—Admissibility. In a prosecution for adultery with a married woman, it is admissible, on her cross-examination, testifying for the defense, to introduce an admitted copy of a letter written by her in endearing terms to another man, and entrusted by her to the defendant to deliver unaddressed, as affecting her credibility and tending to show a degree of intimacy between her and the defendant.</p> <p>Criminal Law — Trial—Election—Adultery. Where, on a trial for adultery charged on or about November 30, the state relied on and directed its first evidence to that specific act, and took no exceptions to instructions confining the jury thereto, there was a voluntary election by the state without the necessity of any demand to elect between the specific act charged and three other similar offenses committed in January, February and June, following, introduced in evidence for the purpose of showing the probability of the act charged.</p> <p>Criminal Law — Time of Offense — Instructions. Upon a trial for a specific act of adultery, committed on or about November 30th, 1911, in which there was no mistake as to the date, and the state voluntarily elected to prosecute for such act, and there was evidence of three other similar acts committed at different times, admitted for the purpose of showing the probability of the act charged, it is error to instruct the jury that the exact time of the commission of the alleged offense is not material, and that any time, if proven, on or about the time alleged and within one year next before the filing of the information, would be sufficient; especially where, at the request of the jury, the instruction was so explained as to give the jury a latitude of one year in which to find a time for the specific act when there was no evidence to warrant such latitude.</p>