Case Name: Commonwealth versus Easland & Al.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Decision Date: 1804-09
Citations: 1 Will. 13
Docket Number: 
Parties: Commonwealth versus Easland & Al.
Judges: 
Reporter: Massachusetts Reports
Volume: 1
Pages: 13–13

Head Matter:
Commonwealth versus Easland & Al.
The wife of one indicted and on trial jointly with others is not a competent witness for any of the defendants.
This was an indictment against Easland and four others for an assault and battery, to which they all pleaded not guilty, and were on trial together. During the trial, the counsel for the defendants moved the Court that the wife of one of the defendants might be examined as a witness in behalf of the other four.

Opinion:
The Court (Strong, Sedgwick, Sewall, and Thacher, justices) ruled, unanimously, that she could not be examined. To have had the benefit of her testimony, they should have moved to be tried separately from the husband ; which the Court would have granted, had this been assigned as the reason for the motion.