State v. Troiani

• Decision Date: 03 April 1924
• Docket Number: 17876.
• Citation: State v. Troiani, 129 Wash. 228, 224 P. 388 (Wash. 1924)
• Court: Washington Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE v. TROIANI.

224 P. 388

129 Wash. 228

STATE v. TROIANI.

No. 17876.

Supreme Court of Washington

April 3, 1924

Department 1.

Appeal from Superior Court, Spokane County; Huneke, Judge.

August Troiani was convicted of being a jointist, and he appeals.Affirmed.

King &amp Kerr and Jos. A. Albi, all of Spokane, for appellant.

Chas H. Leavy, M. R. Morton, and Edward M. Connelly, all of Spokane, for the State.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant was convicted of being a jointist, and claims that the trial court was in error in failing to give the following requested instruction:

'I charge you that the testimony of an accomplice comes from a polluted source, and that while the rule of law is that a defendant may be convicted on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice, where the honest judgment is satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt, still a jury should act upon such testimony with great care and caution and subject it to careful examination in the light of other evidence in the case.The jury should not convict upon such testimony alone unless after careful examination of it they are satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt of its truth.'

Conceding that the witness referred to was an accomplice, his testimony was corroborated by the testimony of at least half a dozen other witnesses, and while the instruction was a proper one to have given, and is a necessary one probably where the accomplice's testimony is uncorroborated ( State v Pearson,37 Wash. 410, 79 P. 985;State v Jones,53 Wash. 142, 101 P. 708;State v Stapp,65 Wash. 438, 118 P. 337), yet the failure to give the instruction was not prejudicial ...