Opinion
Docket No. 4,164.
Decided December 20, 1968. Rehearing denied February 14, 1969.
Appeal from Recorder's Court of Detroit, Scallen (John P.), J. Submitted Division 1 December 3, 1968, at Detroit. (Docket No. 4,164.) Decided December 20, 1968. Rehearing denied February 14, 1969.
Willie E. Weems was convicted of robbery armed. Defendant appeals. Reversed and remanded.
Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Robert A. Derengoski, Solicitor General, William L. Cahalan, Prosecuting Attorney, Samuel J. Torina, Chief Appellate Lawyer, and Luvenia D. Dockett, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for the people.
I. Goodman Cohen, for defendant on appeal.
The defendant appeals his conviction of robbery armed.
CLS 1961, § 750.529 (Stat Ann 1968 Cum Supp § 28.797).
At the trial the complaining witness denied that she had told someone in the courtroom that she was not sure of her identification of the defendant. The following day the defendant's mother was called as a witness and testified she was seated alongside the complaining witness in the courtroom and that she had overheard a conversation between the complaining witness and another lady in reference to the case. The trial judge refused to allow the defendant's mother to repeat the conversation she had allegedly overheard. This was error. The testimony was admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule for the purpose of impeaching the credibility of the complainant on a material issue in the case. People v. Babcock (1942), 301 Mich. 518, 530; Strudgeon v. Village of Sand Beach (1895), 107 Mich. 496, 501. Compare New York C.R. Co. v. Michigan Milk Producers Association (1966), 3 Mich. App. 648, 652.
Reversed and remanded for a new trial.
LEVIN, P.J., and HOLBROOK and ROOD, JJ., concurred.