188 Ind. 713 | Ind. | 1919
— Appellant on an affidavit filed in the Randolph Circuit Court was tried and convicted of a felonious conspiracy to commit a felony. §§2647, 2260 Burns 1914, Acts 1905 p. 584, §§641, 371. From a judgment against appellant, assessing a fine of twenty-five dollars and imprisonment in the state prison for a period of not less than two years nor more than fourteen years, he prosecutes this appeal. The affidavit which includes three other persons as conspirators is not questioned. The overruling of appellant’s motion for a new trial is the only error properly assigned and relied on for a reversal of the judgment.
tion the sound discretion of the trial court, and is distinguishable from one where a party is seeking a continuance on account of the absence of evidence. In a case of the latter character, where a party brings himself within the requirements of the statute, he can demand a continuance as a matter of right, unless the prosecuting attorney will admit the truth of the facts which the defendant alleges that he can prove by the absent witness. §2089 Burns 1914, Acts 1905 p. 584, §218. Weaver v. State (1899), 154 Ind. 1, 3, 55 N. E. 858; Pettit v. State (1893), 135 Ind. 393, 34 N. E. 1118; Morris v. State (1886), 104 Ind. 457, 4 N. E. 148; Torphy v. State (1919), ante 30, 121 N. E. 659, 660; Moulder v. Kempff (1888), 115 Ind. 459, 17 N. E. 906.
Appellant next insists that the court erred in admitting declarations of his codefendants, Pierson and Drake, made in his absence about eight months before the alleged arson was committed.
A -conspiracy can seldom be made out by direct evidence, consequently, the necessity for the rule permitting it to be established by circumstantial evidence or by isolated and independent facts. Cook v. State (1907), 169 Ind. 430, 82 N. E. 1047. It appears that in September, 1915, Pierson and Drake purchased the stock of goods situated in a ■ ground-floor room of a
The court did not commit reversible error in admitting the questioned evidence.
Judgment affirmed.
Note. — Reported in 124 N. E. 750. Conspiracy: definition and general principles, 51 Am. Dec. 82; evidence of, 3 Am. St. 482. See under (7-9) 12 C. J. 577, 638, 642.