Court Opinion

ID: 9530923
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:05:15.90397+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:17.563731
License: Public Domain

Mr. Chief Justice McINTYRE
dissenting.
I find myself increasingly disturbed by pronouncements of appellate courts that trial procedures are erroneous but not prejudicial. Sometimes, of course, this is necessary, but I am not ready to agree it should be done in this case. To make a statement in a footnote to the effect that no valid reason can be conceived why a trial court would admit the evidence of a spouse contrary to the directions of the statutes is hardly sufficient to correct the harm or to prevent reoccurrences in the future.
I consider it an oversimplification to say the testimony of the wife in this case was most meager and added nothing to other evidence. Her testimony went to the heart of the case when she said she took the check and cashed it while her husband waited. Even if her husband had made previous statements to officers, the testimony of these officers was evidence only. It was not conclusive. It took the testimony of the wife to make it conclusive. At least, the prosecution must have thought the wife’s testimony important, or it would not have made her testify.
We should not speculate on how much the defense of the defendant had to be altered because his wife’s testimony went in.