Ruby v. State
Ruby v. State
Opinion of the Court
There are three points raised in the record requiring our consideration: —
First, the application for continuance; second, the rejection of evidence offered by defendant: and, third, the ruling of the court touching the introduction of Mrs. Mary Cunningham as a witness.
1. The ground of continuance was for the want ot the evidence of a witness who, if present, would prove hostile feeling and threats toward defendant by deceased, entertained and made just before the killing, but not communicated to defendant. It will be noted that the applica
One Wrayne Townsley, a material witness for the State, was sought to be impeached by defendant, by laying the predicate in proper questions, and proving that he had made statements before the grand jury in conflict with his evidence on the trial. The county attorney objected, among other grounds, upon the following: “That the/witness could not be made to disclose what he had sworn before the grand jury.” This objection was sustained by the court, and defendant saved the question by bill. Under the common law, and our Code prior to the act of 1875, this would have been a proper predicate, because a witness could have been impeached in this manner. What effect has the act of 1875 upon this right? Is it restrictive in its nature, and therefore an abrogation of the old rule? This is the question for our determination, and its proper solution requires a construction of art. 384, Code of Criminal Procedure.
From this we learn that the truth or falsity of the evidence given in the grand jury room must be under investigation in a judicial proceeding. It follows that if this investigation (it being in a judicial proceeding) was for the purpose of determining the truth or falsity of the evidence given in the grand jury room, then it would be admissible. Concede its admissibility; would it (the evidence in the grand jury room) be the subject-matter of the investigation— the matter to be determined true or false? The investigation in this judicial proceeding here under investigation is not for the purpose of determining the truth or falsity of the evidence in the grand jury room, but the guilt of the defendant. Nor is its truth or falsity drawn into the investigation in this case collaterally. Its truth or falsity is not even drawn into this investigation remotely. If the juror hid been permitted to swear to what the witness had sworn in the grand jury room, the evidence of the witness in the jury room would not have been for the purpose of establishing its truth or falsity, but solely for the purpose of impeaching the witness Townsley. The law permits the introduction of conflicting statements for no other purpose. We therefore conclude that the truth or falsity of the evidence was not drawn into the investigation in this judicial proceeding, and that the juror could not be made to disclose it. Art. 384 specifies the cases in which the evidence is admissible, and the specifications exclude all other. Tindle v. Nichols, 5 Mo. 326.
The defendant complains of the action of the court below in regard to the competency of Mrs. Cunningham as a witness. The record informs us that the defendant attempted
The defendant further complains of the court below because he was not permitted to examine Mrs. Cunningham on her voir dire. She being a competent witness, how the defendant could have been injured we fail to see. All questions as to her bias, relationship, and conversations with others in regard to the case could have been propounded to her on cross-examination.
The. charge of the court is without fault in any particular. The evidence is full and complete for the offence found in the verdict. We must therefore affirm the judgment, which is accordingly done.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.