Source: https://m.openjurist.org/290/us/96
Timestamp: 2020-07-11 14:41:35
Document Index: 216088016

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 567', '§ 567', '§ 1725', '§ 1730', '§ 1718', '§ 1722', '§ 1722']

290 US 96 Shepard v. United States | OpenJurist
290 U.S. 96 - Shepard v. United States
290 US 96 Shepard v. United States
The petitioner, Charles A. Shepard, a major in the medical corps of the United States Army, has been convicted of the murder of his wife, Zenana Shepard, at Fort Riley, Kan., a United States military reservation. The jury having qualified their verdict by adding thereto the words 'without capital punishment' (18 U.S.C. § 567 (18 USCA § 567)), the defendant was sentenced to imprisonment for life. The judgment of the United States District Court has been affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, one of the judges of that court dissenting. 62 F.(2d) 683; 64 F.(2d) 641. A writ of certiorari brings the case here.
These precepts of caution are a guide to judgment here. There are times when a state of mind, if relevant, may be proved by contemporaneous declarations of feeling or intent. Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Hillmon, 145 U.S. 285, 295, 12 S.Ct. 909, 36 L.Ed. 706; Shailer v. Bumstead, 99 Mass. 112; Wigmore, §§ 1725, 1726, 1730. Thus, in proceedings for the probate of a will, where the issue is undue influence, the declarations of a testator are competent to prove his feelings for his relatives, but are incompetent as evidence of his conduct or of theirs. Throckmorton v. Holt, 180 U.S. 552, 571, 572, 573, 21 S.Ct. 474, 45 L.Ed. 663; Waterman v. Whitney, 11 N.Y. 157, 62 Am.Dec. 71; Matter of Kennedy, 167 N.Y. 163, 172, 60 N.E. 442. In suits for the alienation of affections, letters passing between the spouses are admissible in aid of a like purpose. Wigmore, § 1730; Ash v. Prunier (C.C.A.) 105 F. 722; Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Hillmon, supra, page 297 of 145 U.S., 12 S.Ct. 909; Jameson v. Tully, 178 Cal. 380, 173 P. 577; Cottle v. Johnson, 179 N.C. 426, 102 S.E. 769; Curtis v. Miller, 269 Pa. 509, 512, 112 A. 747. In damage suits for personal injuries, declarations by the patient to bystanders or physicians are evidence of sufferings or symptoms (Wigmore, §§ 1718, 1719), but are not received to prove the acts, the external circumstances, through which the injuries came about. Wigmore, § 1722; Amys v. Barton, (1912) 1 K.B. 40; Chicago & A.R.R. Co. v. Industrial Board, 274 Ill. 336, 113 N.E. 629; Peoria Cordage Co. v. Industrial Board, 284 Ill. 90, 119 N.E. 996, L.R.A. 1918E, 822; Larrabee's Case, 120 Me. 242, 113 A. 268; Maine v. Maryland Casualty Co., 172 Wis. 350, 178 N.W. 749, 15 A.L.R. 1536. Even statements of past sufferings or symptoms are generally excluded (Wigmore, § 1722(b); Cashin v. New York, N.H. & H.R.R. Co., 185 Mass. 543, 70 N.E. 930), though an exception is at times allowed when they are made to a physician (Roosa v. Loan Co., 132 Mass. 439, 440; Cleveland, C., C. & I.R. Co. v. Newell, 104 Ind. 264, 271, 3 N.E. 836, 54 Am.Rep. 312; contra, Davidson v. Cornell, 132 N.Y. 228, 237, 30 N.E. 573). So also in suits upon insurance policies, declarations by an insured that he intends to go upon a journey with another may be evidence of a state of mind lending probability to the conclusion that the purpose was fulfilled. Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Hillmon, supra. The ruling in that case marks the high-water line beyond which courts have been unwilling to go. It has developed a substantial body of criticism and commentary.1 Declarations of intention, casting light upon the future, have been sharply distinguished from declarations of memory, pointing backwards to the past. There would be an end, or nearly that, to the rule against hearsay if the distinction were ignored.