Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/304/304mass268.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 14:35:44+00:00

Document:
JAMES J. MORRISSEY vs. GEORGE POWELL.
Present: FIELD, C.J., DONAHUE, QUA, DOLAN, & COX, JJ.
Evidence, that a defendant in an action for injuries sustained in an accident alleged to have been caused by his negligent operation of an automobile had pleaded guilty to a criminal complaint charging him with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor at the time of the accident, should have been admitted at the trial of the civil action although it appeared that he had been permitted in the criminal case to withdraw the plea and to plead not guilty and that after a trial the complaint had been dismissed.
TORT. Writ in the District Court of Central Berkshire dated September 3, 1937.
On removal to the Superior Court, the action was tried before Dillon, J., and a verdict was returned for the defendant.
F. J. Quirico, for the plaintiff.
No argument nor brief for the defendant.
COX, J. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant in this action of tort for personal injuries, alleged to have been sustained by the plaintiff as the result of the negligent operation of a motor vehicle by the defendant on August 9, 1937. The defendant admitted that he had had some beer about four hours prior to the happening of the accident in question. It was agreed that, on August 9, 1937, the defendant pleaded guilty in the District Court to a charge of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor at the time the accident in question occurred; that the case was continued to August 30, 1937, when the defendant was permitted to withdraw his plea of "guilty" and to plead "not guilty," and, after a trial, the complaint was dismissed. The plaintiff offered to prove these facts by the records of the District Court or by a duly certified copy, and also by proper questions put to the defendant as a witness.
The defendant waived the necessity of producing the original records of the District Court and also the necessity of asking the defendant the specific questions "necessary to bring out the above facts." He objected to the competency of "such" evidence, stating that he raised no question as to the method of proof of the facts and admitted such to be the facts. The trial judge excluded the evidence, and the plaintiff's exception to its exclusion presents the only issue in the case.
or as evidence that the party charged was guiltless. Minasian v. Aetna Life Ins. Co. 295 Mass. 1, 3.
authority, the judge in his discretion may permit it to be withdrawn and allow the defendant to plead anew. Commonwealth v. Marino, 254 Mass. 533, 535, and cases cited.
judge in permitting the withdrawal of the plea cannot change the fact that the defendant pleaded "guilty" and ought not to be construed as amounting to a complete destruction of the force and effect, as a matter of evidence, of that plea.
We are not here concerned with the rule under which the credibility of the witness is sought to be affected by showing conviction of crime. G.L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 233, Section 21. In such a case the record is conclusive evidence of the conviction and must be left unexplained. Commonwealth v. Gallagher, 126 Mass. 54. Commonwealth v. Galligan, 156 Mass. 270. Lamoureux v. New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, 169 Mass. 338, 340. Neither are we concerned with the rule where, the parties being the same, the former judgment is held to have established all facts that were involved in the issue then tried and essential to the judgment rendered upon it. In such a case the record of conviction is conclusive and not open to explanation. Commonwealth v. Evans, 101 Mass. 25. Commonwealth v. Feldman, 131 Mass. 588. Commonwealth v. Ellis, 160 Mass. 165. See Commonwealth v. Fortier, 258 Mass. 98.
If the defendant was operating the automobile in question while under the influence of intoxicating liquor at the time the accident occurred, this was competent evidence, and in our opinion the excluded evidence should have been received.

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