Trackman v. People
| Decision Date | 15 January 1896 |
| Citation | 43 P. 662,22 Colo. 83 |
| Parties | TRACKMAN v. PEOPLE. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Error to district court, La Plata county.
Albert Trackman was convicted of forgery, and brings error. Affirmed.
T. C Perkins and G. T. Sumner, for plaintiff in error.
Byron L. Carr, Atty. Gen., and F. P. Secor, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the People.
The plaintiff in error was convicted of the crime of forgery, and sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of 27 months. To reverse this sentence, he brings the case here on error. The only error assigned is the ruling of the court below allowing the witness Arthur Farr to testify, over the objection of plaintiff in error, he having been convicted of the crime of burglary, and at the time of giving his testimony was undergoing a sentence therefor in the state penitentiary. The objection to this testimony was predicated upon section 944, Gen. St. 1883, which provides: 'Each and every person who may be convicted of the crime of * * * burglary * * * shall be deemed infamous, and shall be therefor incapable * * * of giving testimony.' This objection, therefore, presents for our consideration the question whether that statute is in force so far as it provides that a person convicted of any of the crimes enumerated is incompetent to give testimony. This provision was originally enacted in 1861, and remained in force until the act of 1870 (except in so far as it was limited by section 10 of article 7 of the constitution), which removed the disability of a convicted felon so far as to render him a competent witness in civil cases. Palmer v. Hanna, 6 Colo 55.
In 1883 an act was passed entitled 'An act relating to the competency of witnesses in civil action and criminal prosecution, and other judicial proceedings, and to repeal certain sections of chapter one hundred and four of the General Laws of the State of Colorado,' and which enacts:
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Wilson v. People
... ... held sufficient to indicate an intention to take the same out ... from under the provisions of the 'general saving ... statute,' it is unconstitutional, because no reference is ... made thereto in the title, is, we think, untenable. In ... considering a similar objection in Trackman v. People, 22 ... Colo. 83, 85, 43 P. 662, the following language is used: ... 'It is not necessary, in order to conform to this ... constitutional requirement, to state in the title the effect ... of the subject-matter of the act in repealing some prior law, ... since the repeal of a prior ... ...
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People v. Ziglar, No. 01SC193.
...of such witness."). The 1883 statute repealed a statutory prohibition on convicts taking the witness stand. See Trackman v. People, 22 Colo. 83, 84, 43 P. 662, 663 (1896). When it decided to allow those convicted to testify, the general assembly, in essence, directed that prior convictions ......
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ARTICLE 90 WITNESSES
...367, 585 P.2d 275 (1978); People v. Diaz, 985 P.2d 83 (Colo. App. 1999). For constitutionality of this section, see Trackman v. People, 22 Colo. 83, 43 P. 662 (1896). The right to testify in the courts of the state is not a privilege or immunity protected by the fourteenth amendment, and th......