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137 Conn. 415

Thomas v. Ganezer

Supreme Court of Connecticut

Decided January 16, 1951

Supreme Court of Connecticut · decided 1951-01-16

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1951-01-16

How this case has been cited

Cited by 68 later decisions — most recently January 2004 · most notably Secondino v. New Haven Gas Co. (1960), State v. Hines (1998)

2 district · 64 state decisions

260195119601970198019902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

O’Sullivan, J.

¶1(concurring in the result). I am in complete accord with the result but in disagreement with a phase of the majority opinion as it deals with a ruling on evidence.

¶2The principle of recent fabrication is one by which evidence of prior consistent statements is permitted to rehabilitate the credibility of a witness. The principle has potential danger, but under strict safeguards against its indiscriminate application it will, in proper circumstances, work justice.

¶3I cannot agree, however, with the analysis of the *424principle as made in the opinion. The majority take the view that the so-called recently fabricated statement is the inconsistent statement made shortly before trial, as disclosed by cross-examination of the witness. This is inaccurate and may lead to difficulties.

¶4The statement of the witness on direct examination is the one to have in mind. This is the testimony that is referred to in the principle as having been recently fabricated. In short, the principle will permit proof of prior consistent statements, made at or about the time when the narrated events occurred and when no motive was present to falsify, to meet the claim that an inconsistent statement made shortly before trial demonstrates that the direct testimony of the witness has been recently fabricated. 58 Am. Jur. 464, § 828, and cases cited.

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