People v. Reed (1874) · DecisionDepot

People v. Reed

Name: California Superior Court Tentative Rulings
Creator: DecisionDepot
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

California Supreme Court Jul 1, 1874 No. No. 10,083Published

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Holding. The court held that any potential error in excluding evidence regarding a witness's reputation was harmless because the witness's own testimony established her character, and the jury instructions, when viewed as a whole, were correct.

Issues

Whether the exclusion of evidence regarding a witness's reputation as a prostitute constituted reversible error.
Whether the jury instructions, when considered as a whole, correctly expounded the law.

Disposition. Affirmed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“If the evidence was improperly excluded, it is perfectly clear the error caused no damage to the defendant, inasmuch as her own testimony left no possible room for doubt that she was a woman of that character.”

“considered as a whole, we think it expounded the law correctly, and the objectionable portions could not have misled the jury.”

Synopsis

HvinENCE that Witnbss is x Pkostitute.— If the evidence of a witness, introduced by the people in a criminal case, shows that she is a prostitute, the defendant is not injured by a refusal of the Court to allow him. to prove that she is reputed to be a woman of that character. •

By the Court : It is unnecessary for us to decide whether the Court erred in excluding the evidence tending to prove that the witness, Mrs. Young, was reputed to be a prostitute.

If the evidence was improperly excluded, it is perfectly clear the error caused no damage to the defendant, inasmuch as her own testimony left no possible room for doubt that she was a woman of that character.

Some portions of the charge to the jury may not be wholly unobjectionable. But, considered as a whole, we think it expounded the law correctly, and the objectionable portions could not have misled the jury. The other points made by counsel are not tenable, and need not be particularly noticed.

Judgment affirmed..,. Remittitur forthwith.

People v. Reed

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