People v. Smith

The defendant was charged in the information with the crime of robbery, and with two prior convictions—one of petit larceny and the other of burglary. The jury returned a verdict finding him guilty of robbery as charged in the information, and the judgment recites that he had theretofore been duly convicted of the crime of petit larceny and of burglary in the first degree. He was thereupon sentenced to a term of fifty years in the state penitentiary. This appeal is from the judgment and the order denying his motion for a new trial.

It is not claimed that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict, or that the court erred in giving or refusing any instruction to the jury. The main point urged here is that the court improperly restricted and cut off the right of defendant’s counsel to cross-examine the complaining witness, Lena Wilson, the person upon whom the robbery was committed.

The direct examination of said witness was confined to a narration of the acts of defendant when he committed the robbery, the place where the money was secreted in the house, the amount of money taken and the injuries inflicted upon the witness by defendant. It occupies eight folios of the…