Chapter 42 - § 42.23 • WITNESSES INCOMPETENT BY REASON OF UNSOUND MIND

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 42.23 • WITNESSES INCOMPETENT BY REASON OF UNSOUND MIND

By statute, persons who are of unsound mind at the time of their production for examination are not competent to testify.¹⁵⁸ In construing this statute, the testimony of a 24-year-old woman with the mentality of a child of 10 was admitted after the trial court had satisfied itself that she understood the significance of the oath and that she had sufficient mental capacity to observe and correctly describe facts.¹⁵⁹ In two other cases in which fraud had been practiced on a mentally ill person and thereafter the conservator brought suit to set aside the transactions, the court allowed the mentally ill persons, although under adjudication, to testify, after the trial courts by special interrogatories satisfied themselves that the persons understood the significance of the oath and the necessity of telling the truth, and that memory was not impaired in the area of the proposed testimony. These decisions were doubtless influenced by the practical necessities of the cases, in that, if the mental defectives were not permitted to tell their stories, there would be no possibility of recovery, recognizing that the burden of determining the truth of the matter was on the jury.¹⁶⁰

--------

Notes:

^[158]...