255 F. 328 | 5th Cir. | 1918
“The overt act might be one not really calculated to effect the object of a conspiracy; but if the party who does it believes it to be calculated to effect the object of the conspiracy, and does it for that purpose, while in fact it may not have that effect, yet it becomes an overt act, and fixes the guilt of all the conspirators.”
“Isn’t it a fact that you made certain suggestions about striking off certain jieople on the jury, and keeping others on the jury?”
An exception was reserved to the action of the court in sustaining the government’s objection to this question. The relation of the witness to the case had been fully disclosed to the jury. He had already admitted that, before pleading guilty and testifying, he was advised by his attorneys that they had an agreement or assurance from the government authorities that, in the event he pleaded guilty and went on the stand for the government, he would get a light sentence. It is plain that, if the witness had been permitted to answer the question, no answer he might have made could have done more than furnish cumulative evidence of the witness’ co-operation with the prosecution, a fact already apparent. But the question was not so framed as to apprise the court that it was expected to elicit an. admission by the witness that he made any suggestion to the prosecution in regard to the selection of the jury. An affirmative answer to the question would not necessarily have implied anything more than an admission by the witness that, before pleading guilty and testifying, he had made suggestions to his codefendants or their counsel in regard to the selection of the jury. The court is not chargeable with error in sustaining the objection to the question, in the absence of notice to it that an admission by the witness of his co
Other rulings relied on for a reversal are not such as call for discussion. We have discovered no reversible error in the record.
The judgment is affirmed.