Section 1833

Citation: Section 1833
Parent Document: Berry v. Chaplin, 74 Cal. App. 2d 652 (1946)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 1946-05-27
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2616982/berry-v-chaplin/ ↗

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[8] 5. Did the court err in requiring defendant to stand in front of the jury with Miss Berry and plaintiff? Defendant complains of the order of the court directing him to stand in front of the jury in close proximity to the mother holding her child in her arms in order that the jurors might study and compare the physical features of the infant plaintiff with those of defendant. We see no reason why they should not have been given the benefit of personal observation *666 of the parties and we have not been referred to any authority to the effect that such an order of the court is improper or prejudicial. On the other hand, such a comparison has been expressly approved. (People v. Richardson, 161 Cal. 552, 561 [120 P. 20]; Mathews v. Hornbeck, 80 Cal.App. 704, 708 [252 P. 667]; In re Jessup, 81 Cal. 408, 418 [21 P. 976, 22 P. 742, 1028, 6 L.R.A. 594].) In the latter case a photograph showing the decedent and the claimant to the estate in the same picture, was introduced for the purpose of comparison. It does not appear in either of the other two cases whether the child and its alleged father were required to stand side by side in front of the jury, but it does not seem that such a presentation would create any greater emotional appeal to the members of the jury than if the child and the reputed father had not been placed so close to each other. The jurors were entitled to the ocular demonstration ordered by the court, and it will be assumed that they exercised their powers of observation rather than of imagination.

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