Commonwealth v. Snee

<p>At the trial of a complaint for keeping intoxicating liquors with intent to sell the same unlawfully, a police officer testified for the government to facts tending to show that liquor was kept for sale, on the day alleged, in a certain saloon, and to the presence of the defendant there on that day, and also to acts of the defendant at different times before said day, tending to show that he was the keeper of the place. On cross-examination, the witness testified that he had seen A., the defendant’s brother, about the saloon before said day, but not so frequently as he had seen the defendant; and that he had never seen any specific acts of A. about the saloon. The witness was then asked if he had not sworn to a complaint to search, charging A. as the owner of liquors at that place; and he admitted that he had, and identified a certified copy of a complaint shown to him as a true copy of a complaint against A., sworn to by the witness on the day named in the present complaint. The defendant offered said certified copy in evidence to contradict the witness; but the judge excluded it. Held, that it should have been admitted.</p>