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63 N.C. 520

State v. . Patterson

Supreme Court of North Carolina

Decided June 5, 1869

Supreme Court of North Carolina · decided 1869-06-05

LaeceNY, tried before Gannon, J., at Spring Term, 1869, of the Superior Court of Transylvania. The defendant was indicted for stealing a hog, the property of one Lydey. It was shown on the part of the State that a warrant was issued against the defendant at the instance of the prosecutor, Lydey, and that when it was being served, Lydey charged the defendant with the theft.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1869-06-05

How this case has been cited

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently January 1973

3 state decisions

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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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Settle, J.

¶1 From the statement of the case sent to this Court, it appears that while the warrant was being served at the house of the defendant, the prosecutor, Lydey, charged the defendant with stealing his hog. This evidence" was introduced by the State.

¶2 Had the defendant remained silent, it would have been a circumstance which the jury might have taken into consideration in passing upon his guilt. State v. Swink, 2 Dev. & Bat. 9; for there is no doubt but that admissions implied from the conduct of a party are evidence against him, as well as express admissions. Surely, then, the State ought not to object *521 to bearing wbat the defendant had to say in reply to a charge called out by the prosecution, when his silence would have been prejudicial.

¶3 The general rule is, that a person’s own declarations are not admissible for him, except under a few peculiar circumstances. But it would be unfair to receive what others said to the accused, and refuse to hear what he said in reply. This opinion is not based upon the idea that the declarations of the defendant were a part of the res gestee, as was contended for upon the trial below, but it rests upon the familiar principle, that when a party calls for a statement made at a given time and place, the opposite party is entitled to all that was said in the same conversation. This rule applies both to civil and criminal cases.

¶4 There is error which entitles the defendant to a venire de ■novo. Let this be certified, &c.

¶5 Per Curiam, Venire de novo.

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