State v. Stubbs
| Decision Date | 14 April 1891 |
| Citation | 13 S.E. 90,108 N.C. 774 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | State v. Stubbs. |
Adultery —Admissibility of Evidence — Sufficiency of Indictment.
1. On an indictment for adultery, evidence of a declaration of the feme defendant, made after the offense charged, but not as part of the res gestae, that her brother had driven her from home, and her lather had paid the male defendant to take her on his farm as a work-hand, was inadmissible.
2. Where the male defendant testified that he had heard the feme defendant's father order her to leave his house, it was not material error to exclude his testimony that he had seen letters from her father and brother, declaring that she could not stay there.
3. Evidence that the defendants had been seen driving together since the prosecution began was admissible when received with other evidence tending to show their adulterous association.
4. An indictment charging that defendants "unlawfully did associate, bed, and cohabit together, and then and there did commit fornication and adultery, contrary to the form of the statute, " etc., and that they "were not united together in marriage, " implies that they did "lewdly and lasciviously associate, " as forbidden by Code N. C § 1041, and sufficiently charges the offense.
Appeal from superior court, Catawba county; Armfield, Judge.
The defendant (appellant) and a feme defendant, who did not appeal, were indicted for the offense of fornication and adultery, and pleaded not guilty. There was a trial and verdict of guilty, and judgment thereon, from which the male defendant appealed to this court. Code N. C. § 1041, provides that "if any man and woman, not being married to each other, shall lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together, they shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."
The Attorney General, for the State.
The feme defendant, on the cross-examination of a witness for the state, asked the latter whether on some occasion while she was in possession of property of the male defendant, and before the indictment, she had not told the witness that her brother had driven her from home, and that her father had paid the male defendant, who had married her cousin, to take her on his farm as a work-hand. The question had reference to declarations of the feme defendant, made after the offense charged in the indictment. The evidence, if material, was properly rejected. What a party says exculpatory of himself after the offense was committed, and not part of the res gestae, is not evidence for him; otherwise he might make evidence for himself. State v. McNair, 93 N. C. 628, and cases there cited; State v. Ward, 103 N. C. 419, 8 S. E. Rep. 814; State v. Moore, 104 N. C. 744, 10 S. E. Rep. 183. The appellant testified in his own behalf, and was asked if he had not heard the feme defendant's father order her to leave his house, and if he had not seen letters from her father and brother, declaring she could not stay at her father's house. Upon objection the court excluded reference to the letters. The evidence seems to have been of slight importance, and the mere mention of letters was simply cumulative, if...
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State v. Chapman
... ... declarations of a prisoner, made after the criminal act has ... been committed, in excuse or explanation, at his own ... instance, will not be received; and they are competent only ... when they accompany and constitute part of the res ... gestae." State v. Stubbs, 108 N.C. 774, 13 S.E ... 90; State v. Peterson, 149 N.C. 533, 63 S.E. 87 ... In view ... of the facts in the instant case, unless the evidence was to ... be offered in corroboration of the defendant's testimony ... it was not admissible ... ... ...
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Kinney v. Kinney
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