State v. Washington

Citations

• 104 La. 57

Syllabus

<p>Syllabus</p> <p>1. In a prosecution for assault to commit' rape, the one question propounded in general terms: “Has complaint been made'!” and the answer “yes” or “no,” do not indicate that any indignity has been offered, nor do they prove, or tend to prove, that defendant is guilty of having attempted to commit the crime charged. ,</p> <p>The following, from Greenleaf, sufficiently points out the character of the question to be propounded, which, while not sacramental as to form, sufficiently indicates that it must appear that a crime is referred to. “The practice has been merely to ask whether she made complaint that such an outrage had been perpetrated upon her and to receive only a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ ” Unless it appears that the question tends to the proof of a crime, and a complaint in that direction, it will not be held that the ruling was prejudicial and the finding of the jury erroneous.</p> <p>But, considered as a proposition of law, the mere fact of a complaint of a wrong attempted made by an asserted victim of an attempted crime upon her person to a third person, if contemporaneous, and part of the res gestae, may be testified to by a third person to whom the complaint was' made.</p> <p>2. A witness may testify as to the identity of the defendant as one whom she knows, without giving ground for the objection that the defendant in a case of rape, or attempted rape, should be identified by the one upon whom the outrage has been committed, or, upon whom the attempt was made.</p>