Case ID: cal_48/html/0553-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "By the Court :", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

[No. 10,083.]
    THE PEOPLE v. J. L. REED.
    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. •
    Appeal front the County Court, County of Humboldt.
    The defendant was convicted of the crime of larceny, on the 30 th day of January, 1874, and appealed.
    The prosecution called Jenny M. Touug as a witness. The defendant endeavored to impeach her character for truth and veracity by showing that she was a prostitute.
    
      The Court refused to allow it. The defendant was convicted and appealed.
    The other facts are stated in the opinion.
    
      S. M. Buck and G. W. Spaulding, for the Appellant.
    
      Attorney-General Love, for the People.
   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.