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154 Ala. 46

Swint v. State

Supreme Court of Alabama

Decided February 13, 1908

Supreme Court of Alabama · decided 1908-02-13

Appear from Loo Law and Equity Court. Heard before Hon. Arp,but E. Barnett. • Will Swint was convicted of assault with intent to ravish a female, and he appeals. The following charges were requested by, and refused to, the defendant: “(1) The character of the woman alleged to have been assaulted with regard to chastity may be proven, and the jury may weigh such evidence, together with all the evidence in the case, in determining the guilt or innocence of the defendant.

Relies on Birmingham Union Railway Co. v. Hale · Rhea v. State · Hussey v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Affirmed · Decided 1908-02-13

How this case has been cited

Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently February 1989

7 state decisions

40190819101920193019401950196019701980decided

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.

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HARALSON, J.

¶1The defendant asked his witness, McCurdy, “Do you know the general character of Lueva Hill for chastity in the community in which she lives?” The court sustained an objection to the question and would not. allow it answered.

¶2Said Lueva had been examined, and gave evidence which, if believed, Avould tend to convict the defendant. The evident object of the evidence, if allowed, was to impeach the credibility of this AvitneSs.

¶3In Rhea v. State, 100 Ala. 122, 14 South. 853, it was said: “Under our rule, bad general charater as a generic proposition, may be given in evidence to impeach a Avitness. It is not confined to character for truth and veracity [citing cases].” But the fact that a woman is a prostitute, Avhile it is one of the constituents that make *48up her general character, cannot be singled out and made a special ground for impeaching her character for veracity. — B. U. R. Co. v. Hale, 90 Ala. 8, 8 South. 142, 24 Am. St. Rep. 748; McInerny v. Irvin, 90 Ala. 275, 7 South. 841. In the latter case, it was held that in impeaching the credibility of a witness, the witness cannot be impeached by evidence of her bad character for chastity and virtue. The court did not commit error in sustaining the objection to the question.

¶4Charges 1, 2, 3, and 4, requested by defendant, were properly refused. They singled out a certain phase of the evidence, and were misleading and argumentative.— Hussey v. State, 86 Ala. 34, 5 South. 484; Austin v. State, 145 Ala. 40, 40 South. 989.

¶5Finding no error in the record, the judgment below is affirmed.

¶6Affirmed.

Tyson, C. J. and Simpson and Anderson, J.J., concur.
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