Recent Judicial Decisions
| Published date | 01 July 1935 |
| Date | 01 July 1935 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X3500800304 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Recent Judicial Decisions
R. v. Wright
EVIDENCE OF
THE
BAD CHARACTER OF
THE
PRISONER
BEFORE
THE
JURY
(25 Criminal Appeal
Cases,
page 35)
THE
appellant in this case was convicted at the Central
Criminal Court of larceny and conspiracy to steal.
A witness for the Crown, in the course of his examination-
in-chief with regard to his identification of the prisoner, said,
" I identified him in
the'
rogues' gallery' at Scotland Yard."
It was argued that the conviction ought to be set aside
upon the ground that the accidental statement suggesting that
the appellant was of bad character must have influenced the
jury
and that the Judge at the trial had failed to warn them
against being so influenced.
The
case was one of confidence trick of some importance.
The
appellant was arrested in March, 1934, as a result of
the identification of a photograph by the victim who had
returned to California.
The
victim returned to this country
and identified the appellant at a parade,
but
the appellant,
who had been released on bail, absconded. He was arrested
in September, 1934, on landing at Newhaven.
The
prosecutor
was again brought over from America and the appellant was
finally sentenced to three years' penal servitude in October,
1934-
In
the course of his judgment Mr. Justice Avory said
that the Court was quite prepared to accept the contention
that the unfortunate statement made by the prosecutor that
he had identified the prisoner from a photograph in the
"rogues' gallery " must inevitably have led the jury to draw
the inference that the prisoner had either been previously
272
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