Criminal Law Commons^™

Evidence--Criminal Law--Cross-Examination Of Accused's Character Witness Concerning Accused's Prior Arrest, C. C. Grunewald S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

On trial in a district court for bribing a federal revenue agent, defendant called five witnesses to testify to his good reputation. During cross-examination by the district attorney, the character witnesses were asked: ''Did you ever hear that on October 11, 1920, the defendant was arrested for receiving stolen goods?" The trial judge overruled the objection to the question, and the witnesses answered in the negative. The prosecutor exhibited a paper record of this arrest to the court. The judge instructed the jury that the question was to test the standard of the character evidence only, not to establish the …

Criminal Law-Evidence-Silence To Accusation While Under Arrest As Admission Of Guilt, Colvin A. Peterson, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was convicted of murder. Before the victim died, defendant, handcuffed and in custody of police, had been taken to the hospital room where the victim lay. Eight witnesses were present at the time, and each testified that the victim pointed out the defendant as her assailant. At the trial the witnesses were permitted to testify that when accused of the crime, defendant stood by silently, saying and doing nothing, although it also appeared that he had been told by the police chief to ''keep your mouth shut." The prosecution capitalized upon defendant's silence as an admission of guilt. On …

Negligence--Proximate Cause--Effect Of Non-Registration Of Automobile, Richard B. Gushée

Michigan Law Review

Defendant X owned a non-registered automobile which was parked on a public way by defendant Y, an agent of X. The keys were left in the car in violation of a statute. Later in the same day the car was stolen. Plaintiff, a pedestrian, was injured by the thief's negligent operation of the car. In an action to recover for the injury, a verdict was directed for defendants. On appeal, held, affirmed. As a matter of law, defendant's action in allowing a non-registered automobile containing its keys to remain on a public way was not the proximate …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Assault and Battery--Injury Sustained in Prize Fig

==============================

Constitutional Law--Elections--Voting Rights of Residents of Federal Enclave where Polling Places are on Land under Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction

==============================

Constitutional Law--Miscegenation Statutes--Statutory Prohibitions against Inter-Racial Marriages held Unconstitutional

==============================

Criminal Law--Evidence--Admissibility of Sound Motion Pictures of Re-Enactment of Crime by Defendants

==============================

Criminal Procedure--Use of Jury Primer Prior to Trial

==============================

Estate Planning--Mistake as to Tax Consequences of a Gift--Requirements for Rescission

==============================

Evidence--Impeachment of Witnesses--Warning Question on Examination as to Prior Testimony

==============================

Interstate Commerce--Sherman Act--Applicability to Organized Baseball

==============================

Labor Law--Constitutional Law--Validity of Prohibition on Contributions and Expenditures of Labor …

Evidence-Proper Agency For Determining The Voluntary Character Of A Confession In A Criminal Trial

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law--Keeping Place Of Prostitution--Circumstantial Evidence Of Corpus Delicti, G. R. A. Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evidence--Hearsay--Spontaneous Exclamation, C. W. W. Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evidence--Reported Testimony Of Deceased Witness--Substantially Similar Offenses, M. S. K.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law-Manslaughter-Effect Of Violation Of Statute Or Ordinance On Criminal Negligence, C. E. Becraft

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was convicted of the crime of negligent homicide and appealed, alleging that the Louisiana statute, making violation of a statute or ordinance presumptive evidence of criminal negligence, was repugnant to the due process clauses of the state and federal constitutions. Held, affirmed. The effect of the statute is merely to shift the burden of introducing evidence of one element of the crime charged: that of criminal negligence. The presumption does not operate as a prima facie presumption of guilt of the crime -and the state must still prove every element of the offense. State v. Nix, (La. …

Evidence - Admissibility Of Defendants Refusal To Submit To A Blood Test For Intoxication, David Davidoff

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was convicted of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. This appeal was based on the contention that the testimony by a deputy sheriff of defendant's refusal to submit to a blood test to determine whether or not he was intoxicated violated his privilege against self-incrimination and was inadmissible. Held, the evidence was properly admitted. State v. Benson, (Iowa, 1941) 300 N. W. 275.

The Presumption Of Innocence In Criminal Cases

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evidence - Constitutional Law - Use Of Statutory Presumptions In Criminal Cases, Edward M. Watson

Michigan Law Review

The recent efforts on the part of state legislatures to increase the effectiveness of their criminal codes has resulted in extending the use of the statutory presumption to new fields of criminal law. The reaction which necessarily follows such an innovation upon traditional practice has appeared in the form of renewed attacks upon the constitutionality of the device, accompanied by the usual expressions of alarm concerning the "threat to liberty" that lurks in the use of this "mechanistic" instrument of "arbitrary oppression."

Evidence - Criminal Law And Procedure - Admissibility Of Recording Made On Device At Receiving End Of Telephone Conversation, William H. Klein

Michigan Law Review

In a prosecution for conspiracy to violate the narcotic laws, defendant objected to the admission of a recorded telephone conversation between himself and an informer, taken down by the latter on a device attached to the receiver. Defendant contended that this was inadmissible under the rule of Nardone v. United States. Held, the evidence was not intercepted, therefore not within the purview of the Federal Communications Act and, consequently, admissible despite the Nardone decision. United States v. Yee Ping Jong, (D. C. Pa. 1939) 26 F. Supp. 69.

Criminal Law And Procedure - New Trial - Motion For New Trial For Newly Discovered Evidence - Recantation By Important Witness For The State, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

After conviction of rape allegedly committed upon defendant's thirteen year old daughter, defendant, on motion for new trial, produced an affidavit of the daughter recanting the testimony against defendant which the daughter had given at the trial. Held, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to grant a new trial. Sutton v. State, (Ark. 1938) 122 S. W. (2d) 617.

Criminal Law And Procedure - Evidence - Admissibility Of Lie Detector Tests In Evidence, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

After all the evidence had been produced for the jury's consideration in a murder trial, defendant's counsel moved to reopen the case and be permitted to take defendant to a laboratory to be examined under a pathometer, or lie detector. Held, that as the court could not take judicial notice that the instrument was or was not effective for determining the truth, because the record gave no indication of general scientific recognition, the motion was denied. People v. Forte, 279 N. Y. 204, 18 N. E. (2d) 31, affg. (King Co. Ct. 1938) 4 N. Y. S. (2d) …

Criminal Law And Procedure - Evidence - Dismissal Of Prosecution For Reference To Other Crimes Of Defendant, John Barker Waite

Michigan Law Review

Any discussion of Judge Pecora's declaration of a mistrial in People v. Hines must adhere firmly to the fundamental proposition that every accused person, no matter how evident his guilt nor how great the hostility toward him, is entitled to a fair trial, conducted in accord with established rules, and to the verdict of a jury uninfluenced by improper factors. But did the judge's ruling perhaps exceed what was reasonably necessary to assure the defendant of these essentials?

Book Review. Underhill, H. C., A Treatise On The Law Of Criminal Evidence, Jerome Hall

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Habitual Criminal Act-Constitutionality-Evidence

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Evidence - Admissibility Of Blood-Group Test

Michigan Law Review

The old axiom, "blood will tell," has been given a new lease on life by the work of biochemists and hereditists in the last thirty years. At the beginning of the twentieth century a scientist, Karl Landsteiner, working on the means to make blood transfusions safe, discovered that the New Testament saying, the Almighty "hath made of one blood all nations of men," is not true. He found that human blood is divided into four groups, characterized by the possession or non-possession of certain substances in the serum and the corpuscles of the blood. If one puts a little blood …

Criminal Law And Procedure - "Public Enemy" Statutes - Constitutionality

Michigan Law Review

Defendants were convicted of the crime of being disorderly persons within the meaning of section 167, Michigan Public Acts, 1931, No. 328, which provided that "any person who engages in an illegal occupation or business . . . shall be deemed a disorderly person. Proof of recent reputation for engaging in an illegal occupation or business shall be prima fade evidence of being engaged in an illegal occupation or business." Police officers testified as to the reputation of the defendants for being bootleggers, stick-up men, robbers, and murderers. Held, that section 167 of the statute is unconstitutional and void …

Criminal Law And Procedure - Evidence - Presumptions

Michigan Law Review

The Alien Land Law of California forbids the acquisition of real property for agricultural purposes by aliens ineligible to citizenship; amendment 9b provides that proof of the acquisition of land by the defendant and of his being a member of a race ineligible to United States citizenship raises the presumption of ineligibility to citizenship against the defendant, and the burden is on him to show citizenship or eligibility thereto. Defendants, an American and a Japanese, were indicted for conspiracy to violate the act. No evidence as to the birthplace of the Japanese was adduced by either side, and both were …

Evidence-Corroboration In Criminal Cases

Michigan Law Review

On the night of September 12, 1931, Mrs. Thalia Massie, while walking unescorted along a road near Honolulu, was forced into a car, taken to a lonely spot, and attacked by five young men. The five alleged attackers were placed on trial for rape. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared.

Contempt Of Court--Falsification Of Evidence, August W. Petroplus

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Assault And Battery-Police Officer-Third Degree

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Presumptions - Constitutional Validity Of Statute Establishing Proof Of Reputation As Prima Facie Evidence Of Commission Of Crime

Michigan Law Review

The rise and sway of the gangster as a menace to American social and economic security has led, of late, to the employment of unique means of combating lawlessness. Faced by a tremendous increase in the difficulties lying in the path of those seeking the conviction of professional criminals for major crimes, the police and prosecutors often turn towards a means of fighting crime originally devised to make life uncomfortable for petty off enders. The enforcement of the pistol laws and the vagrancy statutes against millionaire gangsters, and repeated arrests on suspicion, have been resorted to as a means of …

Criminal Law-Search And Seizure-Implied Consent

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Indictments--Larceny--Description Of Stolen Money, Jack D. Jennings

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evidence-Other Crimes

Michigan Law Review

Judging from the number of opinions handed down in 1930 involving evidence of other crimes committed by the defendant, the modem criminal trial is not complete without some attempt to introduce evidence of this sort.

Criminal Law--Obscene Books--Evidence, David G. Lilly Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law-Illegally Obtained Evidence-Timely Objection

Indiana Law Journal

Recent Case Notes