Com. v. Crapo
| Decision Date | 27 May 1912 |
| Citation | 212 Mass. 209,98 N.E. 702 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH v. CRAPO. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
W. O. Childs, of Boston, for appellant.
A. C Webber, Asst. Dist. Atty., of Boston, for the Commonwealth.
By his plea of guilty when first arraigned in the municipal court the defendant admitted the substantive allegations of the complaint, and while his appeal to the superior court after conviction vacated the judgment, it did not change the issue which had been joined, or entitle him to a jury trial, and on the record nothing remained to be done except to impose sentence. Commonwealth v. Mahoney, 115 Mass. 151; Commonwealth v. Ingersoll, 145 Mass. 381, 382, 14 N.E. 449. The appellate court, however, upon the defendant's application, which seems to have been made seasonably, could permit him to withdraw the plea below, and plead anew, if satisfied that his admission of guilt was not voluntary and intentional, but resulted from inadvertence. Commonwealth v. Winton, 108 Mass. 485. It was incumbent on the defendant if required to offer evidence to support the request; but at the hearing, and in response to a statement by the presiding judge, that the court would hear testimony if he had any to offer, the defendant stated that he would rely entirely upon the affidavit annexed to the motion. The memorandum and order denying the motion are equivocal. It is not certain whether the denial rested on the ground that the affidavit could not be received as evidence or whether its recitals were rejected because the judge did not believe them to be true. But while the affidavit is sufficient in form and substance, yet if treated as testimony the credibility of the affiant and the truth or falsity of the statements were questions of fact upon which his decision is final. American Malting Co. v. Souther Brewing Co., 194 Mass. 89, 80 N.E. 526; Deane v. American Glue Co., 200 Mass. 459, 464, 86 N.E. 890. The objection to evidence resting only on ex parte affidavits, when application is made to the court for permission to withdraw an incriminating plea, is that the means of knowledge, or the truth of the intermediate facts on which the general conclusions are founded, cannot be ascertained. The affiant especially if he is an interested party, can mould the evidentiary statements in conformity with the exigencies of the case. At the hearing the defendant's guilt or innocence...
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Commonwealth v. Millen
...A judge is no more bound to accept as true an uncontradicted affidavit than to believe an uncontradicted witness. Commonwealth v. Crapo, 212 Mass. 209, 98 N.E. 702; Commonwealth v. Sacco, 255 Mass. 369, 449, 151 N.E. Id., 259 Mass. 128, 156 N.E. 57; Commonwealth v. Devereaux, 257 Mass. 391,......
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Commonwealth v. Sacco
...accept in whole or in part, or reject in whole or in part, and the question of a new trial was matter of discretion. Com. v. Crapo, 212 Mass. 209, 210, 98 N. E. 702. Exclusive of the sixteenth, the other requests, which need not be enumerated, rested either on partial aspects of the evidenc......
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Thomajanian v. Odabashian
...found this to be the fact. He well might have disbelieved affidavits of that nature, in view of the patent facts. Commonwealth v. Crapo, 212 Mass. 209, 210, 98 N. E. 702;Damm v. Boylston, 218 Mass. 557, 106 N. E. 177;Hanson v. Hanson, 258 Mass. 45, 154 N. E. 525 and cases cited. It might ha......
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Commonwealth v. Noxon
... ... He ... was not required to believe the affidavits or the oral ... testimony. Commonwealth v. Crapo, 212 Mass. 209 , ... 210. Commonwealth v. Dascalakis, 246 Mass. 12 , ... 25-26. Commonwealth v. Millen, 290 Mass. 406 , 410, ... and cases ... ...