16 Barb. 495 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1853
The sufficiency of the indictment-is questioned. It is objected that there are no overt acts charged with sufficient certainty. By the revised statutes, if two or more persons conspire for the perversion or obstruction of justice, or the due administration of the laws, they commit a crime, (2 R. S. 692, § 8,) and by section 10 the agreement,
In the present case, after setting forth the conspiracy, the overt acts are alleged, in the first count, to be that the said Wm. H. Chase and Spencer C. Coe, in pursuance of the aforesaid unlawful conspiracy on &c. at &c, did unlawfully, willfully and corruptly hire, persuade, induce and procure the said Hannah to withdraw herself out of the jurisdiction of the people of the state of New-York, and to go away from the county of Erie, and to withhold her attendance from the grand jury, &c. The conspiracy was to induce the witness to suppress her evidence and to withdraw and conceal herself in order to prevent her being examined as a witness, &c. It seems to me that the overt acts are here clearly and “ expressly alleged?’ They hired, persuaded and induced her to withdraw from the state
Several exceptions were taken by the defendants during the trial. It is not necessary to notice them all: many of them were very properly omitted on the argument. It appeared on the trial • that Hannah Shipple was at the house of one Warner, when the defendants called upon her. Mrs. Warner was called by the people, and stated that her husband was at the court house before the trial commenced, and the district attorney asked her where her husband then was. This was objected to, as irrelevant; the objection was overruled, and the defendants excepted, and the witness answered that she did not know. This evidence was probably entirely immaterial. Counsel, however, sometimes, in addressing a jury, remark upon the absence of a person who, they assume, if present, could give material evidence, and claim that the other party should have produced the absent person as a witness. Under such circumstances I see no impropriety, as a matter of precaution, in showing that the absent witness could not be procured, in order that the jury may not be induced to infer any thing from his absence.
Hannah Shipple had stated an interview between her and the defendant Chase, when Chase let her have money, and promised her more; and made a statement to her, apparently reading from a paper. Charles Chase was called as a witness by the
The defendants’ counsel requested the court to charge, that if they found there was a mutual agreement between the defend-* ants to procure the absence of Hannah, as a witness before the grand jury, prior to the interview of the defendant Coe with her, yet if they were satisfied from the evidence that in that interview all the propositions of the defendant Coe were rejected by Hannah, and that Coe then abandoned the matter, and had nothing to do with what took place the next evening between the defendant Chase and Hannah, then they should acquit the defendants. The court refused so to charge, and the defendants excepted. The evidence had tended strongly to show the overt acts of the defendants. They called upon the witness, and Chase introduced Coe as Mr. Smith, and then Coe had a long interview with Hannah, and made the proposals and offered the inducements to her. At this point the crime was fully consummated. The conspiracy had been formed, and overt acts done, and it was then too late to recede, so as to avoid the consequences of the crime. The defendants also requested the court to charge that the jury must be satisfied, from the evidence, that the defendant Chase had knowledge of the communication of Coe to Hannah, and directed or wras privy to it, or knew of it afterwards, before they could hold Chase responsible for these conversations. The court declined so to charge, and the de-,
Marvin, Bowen and Mullett, Justices.]
The defendants requested the court to charge that the defendants could not be convicted unless something more took place than a mere proposition by the defendants, to have her conceal herself and keep away from being a witness. That the jury must be satisfied that she accepted the propositions, or went away from Buffalo in pursuance thereof. Refusal and exception. This proposition has been sufficiently answered. It was not material that the witness should have yielded to the solicitations and inducements.
The next proposition was, that if the witness departed of her own volition, and not in pursuance of the proposals of the defendants, and did not conceal herself, then the jury should acquit the defendants. Refusal and exception. This exception is unfounded. It is not necessary that the object of the conspiracy should be effected. The indictment was sufficient; and no error was committed upon the trial. The conviction must be affirmed.