State v. Rivers

• Decision Date: 17 December 1909
• Citation: 82 Conn. 454,74 A. 757
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE v. RIVERS.

74 A. 757

82 Conn. 454

STATE

v. RIVERS.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

Dec. 17, 1909.

Appeal from Superior Court, Hartford County; Ralph Wheeler, Judge.

John Rivers was convicted of carnally knowing and abusing a female child under 16 years of age, and he appeals. Reversed for new trial.

Benedict M. Holden, for appellant.

Hugh M. Alcorn, State's Atty., for the State.

HALL, J. Upon the trial the state offered evidence to prove that on the evening of the 22d day of November, 1908, the defendant took two young girls, Antoinette Got and Lucy Sullivan, to his apartments in the city of Hartford, where they remained with him until about noon of the following day. Upon her direct examination Antoinette Got, as a witness for the state, in relating the circumstances leading up to the assault upon her, and in answer to questions of what was said and what happened, testified as follows: "He [the defendant] asked me to go into the bedroom with him. I told him I would not. He says, 'Come on,' and I says, T have never been with anybody, and I won't go with you,' and he says, 'You may as well first as last'" Upon cross-examination this witness was asked these questions, and gave these answers: "Q. You told Mr. Rivers that you had never done anything of that sort? A. Yes, I did. Q. Was that true? A. Yes." Upon objection by the state's attorney, the following questions asked of said witness upon cross-examination were excluded: "Q. I will now ask you, Antoinette, if over a year ago you and this Kitty [Robinson] didn't sleep all night in the room and in the same bed with Victor Johnson? Q. I now ask you if you recollect this question [in the police court], and your answer thereto, 'You stayed all night in that man's room?' and your answer, 'Yes,' 'You slept on the floor?' and your answer, 'All three of us slept in the bed.' Q. * * * Did you, during the past year and a half, have a picture taken in the nude with a soda water bottle in your hand in this position (indicating)?" A series of questions to show immoral and unchaste conduct of the witness Antoinette Got on several nights since the alleged assault were excluded by the court. The testimony of Antoinette Got, above stated, that the defendant, on the night of the alleged assault, said to her, "Come into the bedroom," and that she replied, "I won't do it," "I never went with anybody," and "I won't," having been read by counsel for the defendant to one of his witnesses, May Pease, who had testified that, on the Monday night following the alleged assault, she had a conversation with Antoinette Got, in which Antoinette stated to her the facts concerning her staying all night in Rivers' room, said witness was asked this question: "Did she make any statement to you on Monday night contradictory to that statement I have just read to you, as having been made on the witness stand yesterday?" This question was excluded.

The mother of Antoinette testified that she was married in October, 1893. There was evidence that about a year before the trial, which was in March, 1909, she said Antoinette was 16 years old. The record states that it appeared that Antoinette had "given her age differently before the production of the record," which it did not appear she had ever seen. These questions were asked Antoinette on cross-examination: "Q. When did you first learn that you were fourteen years of age on your last birthday? A. When they got my record from New Britain. Q. Did Miss Gauthier tell you that you were fifteen years of age on your last birthday, and had been baptized by the late Bishop Tierney? A. That is what I said. Q. And you changed it at the instance of Miss Gauthier [the probation officer to whose care...