State v. Rugero

Citations

• 117 La. 1040
• 42 So. 495
• 1906 La. LEXIS 815

Syllabus

<p>1. Criminad Law — Continuance—Affidavit —Verity—Sheriff’s Return — Evidence.</p> <p>To avoid a continuance, the state admitted that a certain absent witness, if present, would testify as stated in the defendant’s affidavit for a continuance, and on the trial the affidavit was read to the jury as part of the evidence of the defense. In rebuttal the state offered an attachment issued for the same witness, and the sheriff’s return thereon. Held: (1) An affidavit for continuance stands for true, and cannot be contradicted. (2) The return of the sheriff, on any process, is an official document, and as such is evidence, only for the purpose of showing how the process has been executed, and, as there was no question before the jury in connection with the execution of the attachment, the sheriff’s return was not evidence, no more than a mere private letter of the sheriff’s might have been. (3) The incompetent and irrelevant evidence may have been prejudicial to the defendant, and its admission necessitates the setting aside of the verdict; it appearing to have been offered for the purpose of discrediting the affidavit for continuance, and its effect, whether so intended or not, having possibly been to discredit defendant as a witness in his own behalf, and also, perhaps, to impugn, to some extent at least, the contents of the affidavit, for the truth of which he alone in reality was vouching.</p> <p>I'Hd. Note. — For cases in point, see Gent. Dig. vol. 14, Criminal Law, § 1346; vol. 5, Attachment, §§ 1170-3172.]</p> <p>2. Same — Confession.</p> <p>A confession, if otherwise unobjectionable, is admissible although made while the accused was under arrest and manacled, and without his having been put on his guard not to say •anything that might incriminate him.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.- — For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 14, Criminal Law, §§ 1157, 1158, 1167.]</p> <p>3. Same — Incompetent Evidence.</p> <p>The fact that a witness for the state, while being cross-examined by