Case Name: Commonwealth vs. John Griefin
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Decision Date: 1872-10
Citations: 110 Mass. 181
Docket Number: 
Parties: Commonwealth vs. John Griefin.
Judges: 
Reporter: Massachusetts Reports
Volume: 110
Pages: 181–181

Head Matter:
Commonwealth vs. John Griefin.
A private conversation between husband and wife who thought that no one overheard them, may be testified to by a concealed listener.
Indictment for manslaughter. At the trial, before Rockwell, J., the Commonwealth offered to prove a conversation as to the alleged homicide between the defendant and his wife, while confined in jail, from the testimony of two officers who concealed themselves in the jail for the purpose of listening to the conversation, without the defendant and his wife knowing that the witnesses or any other persons were in hearing of them. The defendant objected to the admission of this testimony, but the judge admitted it. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and the defendant alleged exceptions.
G. A. F. Swan, for the defendant.
G. R. Train, Attorney General, for the Commonwealth.

Opinion:
By the Court.
There is no rule of law requiring that third persons who hear a private conversation between husband and wife shall be restrained from introducing it in their testimony.
Exceptions overruled.