Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1877

Commonwealth v. McDermott

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · Decided December 31, 1877 · Soule

123 Mass. 440; 1877 Mass. LEXIS 322

Cases that cite this one

42 later published cases cite this decision. The 25 that cite it most often are listed here.

People v. Cascia (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1920)
People v. Cascia (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1920)
Territory v. Corum (Haw. 1937)
Yep v. United States (10th Cir. 1936)
People v. Rutigliano (N.Y. 1933)
Commonwealth v. Spiropoulos (Mass. 1911)
People v. Dole (Cal. 1898)
State v. Young (Mo. 1889)
State v. Diskin (La. 1882)
Kosh v. State (Md. 2004)
Commonwealth v. Nickerson (Mass. 1982)
State v. Raithel (Md. 1979)
Commonwealth v. Rembiszewski (Mass. 1973)
Miller v. State (Md. 1963)
State v. Munroe (Connecticut Superior Court 1961)
State v. Munroe (Conn. App. Ct. 1961)
State v. Bates (Conn. 1953)
People v. Al Hatem (New York Court of General Session of the Peace 1949)
State v. Redwine (Wash. 1945)
People v. Luft (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1940)
State v. McKenzie (Wash. 1935)
People v. Gaglione (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1935)
Diblee v. State (Ind. 1931)
Pierson v. Commonwealth (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) 1929)
McCarthy v. United States (6th Cir. 1928)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Soule, J.

The defendant Malone, while held in custody, had a right to keep silence as to the crime with which he was charged, and all circumstances connected with it, and was not called upon to reply to or contradict any statements made in his hearing. No inference against him was warranted by his failure to deny the truth of what McDermott said to the officer. Commonwealth v. Kenney, 12 Met. 235. Commonwealth v. Walker, 13 Allen, 570. The conversation between the officer and McDermott was therefore inadmissible against Malone, and he was entitled to the ruling asked for. The learned judge who tried the case erred in submitting to the jury the question whether the silence of Malone was an admission of the truth of the answer of McDermott, and the entry must be

Exceptions sustained.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.