What is the state of the law on the credibility of testimony by a single witness?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Gomez, E063034 (Cal. App. 2016):

and tranquil. "The uncorroborated testimony of a single witness is sufficient to sustain a conviction, unless the testimony is physically impossible or inherently improbable." (People v. Scott (1978) 21 Cal.3d 284, 296.) When defendant learned about Wife's pregnancy he reacted with silence. When defendant learned he was not the baby's father, he reacted with silence and after an hour said it was not a problem. When defendant discovered Wife and the victim in a bedroom in his home, he asked what was happening, let the victim leave the house, and spoke with Wife for an hour, during which he decided they would not talk about the affair. Defendant then had a friend come to the house and they talked for two or three hours and defendant cried. We see nothing inherently improbable about Wife's testimony. It appears defendant was not an emotional person in terms of angerhe reacted with silence to the news about the pregnancy and the news that he was not the baby's father, and he chose silence as a solution to deal with the affair after talking with Wife.

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