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Title: Amos T. Akerman to B. F. Butler, 3 February 1871
Date: February 3, 1871
Whitman Archive ID: nar.01683
Source: National Archives and Records Administration. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Elizabeth Lorang, Joshua Ware, Kevin McMullen, and John Schwaninger
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Feb. 3, 1871.
Hon. B. F. Butler,
House of Representatives.
Dear Sir:
I suggest the enclosed as suitable additions to your bill on the subject of testimony.
The reason for the first proviso is this: in Georgia, by a law passed since the war, the accused in a case of felony, is permitted to make his statement not under oath, and the prosecutor is denied the right of cross-examination. It seems to me that if the statement of the accused goes to the jury at all, it ought to go at least under the safeguard of cross-examination.
Very respectfully,
A. T. Akerman,
Attorney General.
Provided, that all witnesses shall be subject to cross-examination; and Provided further that no person shall be incompetent as a witness on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
suggestions for bill on testimony