People v. De Witt
| Decision Date | 22 December 1925 |
| Docket Number | No. 133.,133. |
| Citation | 233 Mich. 222,206 N.W. 562 |
| Parties | PEOPLE v. DE WITT. |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Exceptions from Circuit Court, Ottawa County; Orien S. Cross, Judge.
Herman De Witt was convicted of negligent homicide. On exceptions before sentence. Conviction reversed, and new trial granted.
Argued before McDONALD, C. J., and CLARK, BIRD, SHARPE, MOORE, STEERE, FELLOWS, and WIEST, JJ.Fred T. Miles, Pros. Atty., of Holland, for the People.
Clare E. Hoffman, of Allegan, and Lokker & Den Herder, of Holland, for respondent.
Defendant was convicted of the crime of negligent homicide, and reviews on exceptions before sentence. Act No. 98, Public Acts 1921 (Ann. Supp. 1922, C. L. § 15226 [2]) provides:
‘Every person who, by the operation of any vehicle at an immoderate rate of speed or in a careless, reckless or negligent manner, but not willfully or wantonly, shall cause the death of another, shall be guilty of the crime of negligent homicide. * * *’
The information charged defendant with unlawfully causing the death of Bessie Struik while he was operating an automobile at an immoderate rate of speed and in a careless, reckless, and negligent manner, and while intoxicated.
July 15, 1924, at about 10:45 o'clock at night, a Pere Marquette passenger train stopped at the station in Holland with a sleeper coach, showing lights only in its vestibules at each end, standing across Eighth street. Defendant drove his Ford automobile, with Bessie Struik and his nephew on the rear seat, along Eighth street, and collided with the sleeping car, and Miss Struik received injuries causing her death. It is claimed the information, in averring defendant's intoxication, is bad for duplicity. We find no merit in this. It was unnecessary to charge intoxication, for, without such a charge, the fact could be shown at the trial. It was surplusage. The nephew and defendant testified at the coroner's inquest. At the trial, the court permitted defendant to be asked about the testimony given by the nephew before the coroner, contradictory of defendant's testimony at the trial. It was improper to ask defendant whether he heard the nephew give testimony at the inquest contradictory to defendant's testimony at the trial. The trial judge laid before the jury the provisions of the statute, with reference to the speed of automobiles, and then stated:
‘Your are instructed that, if you find from all the evidence in this case, and beyond a reasonable doubt, that East Eighth street in the city of Holland, at the place of this accident, is a part of the business district of the city of Holland, then you are instructed that respondent had no right to drive along that street at a rate of speed greater than 15 miles per hour, and, if you find beyond a reasonable doubt that respondent did at the time and place alleged drive at a rate of speed greater than 15 miles per hour along a public highway in the city of Holland, through a business district, and as a result of such unlawful driving Bessie Struik was killed, then he is guilty of the crime here charged against him, and, if you so find, you should convict him.
‘You are instructed, if you find from the evidence in this case that East Eighth street, at the point of this accident, is a residence district, then I instruct you that the respondent had no right to drive his car at a greater rate of speed than 20 miles an hour, and that, if he...
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People v. Keys
...given, one erroneous and the other correct, we must presume that the jury followed the erroneous instruction.' People v. DeWitt (1925), 233 Mich. 222, 226, 206 N.W. 562, 563, quoted approvingly in People v. Kanar (1946), 314 Mich. 242, 253, 22 N.W.2d 359; and People v. Clark (1954), 340 Mic......
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People v. Florida, Docket No. 19351
...should find that defendant was negligent per se. People v. Spence, 250 Mich. 573, 575--577, 231 N.W. 126 (1930); People v. DeWitt, 233 Mich. 222, 225, 206 N.W. 562 (1925), and People v. Dougherty, 232 Mich. 46, 48, 204 N.W. 763 (1925). Further, our Court has noted that revesible error did n......
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People v. Lenkevich
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People v. Johnston, 82
...accusation, and has had an opportunity of a cross-examination, by himself or by counsel, in his behalf.' Of like import is People v. DeWitt, 233 Mich 222, 206 N.W. 562, in which it was held that testimony taken at a coroner's inquest was not competent in a subsequent criminal prosecution. S......