104 S.E. 655 | N.C. | 1920
This is an indictment under section 3627 of the Revisal.
The defendants were convicted, and appealed from the judgment pronounced on the verdict. The evidence of the prosecuting witness, Robert Hudson, which the jury has accepted, is sufficient to sustain a conviction of the defendants, and while there is much evidence tending to prove the innocence of the defendants, and particularly of the defendant Harvey Brewer, it is not within our province to pass on the credibility of the testimony.
We can only consider the errors of law alleged to have been committed, and upon a review of the record we find nothing to justify a reversal of the judgment. *717
The motion to quash the indictment, made after the plea of not guilty had been entered, because a witness for the State was a member of the grand jury which found the bill, was addressed to the discretion of the court, and the ruling thereon is not reviewable. S. v. Burnett,
The court might also have declined to consider the motion because the defect did not appear on the face of the record, and had to be established by extraneous evidence, the remedy in such case being by plea in abatement, and not by motion to quash.
We are also less inclined to attach importance to the objection of the defendants, because it appears that the witness did not participate in the deliberations of the grand jury when the bill was considered, and did not vote on finding the bill, thus excluding all idea that the defendants have been prejudiced.
In S. v. Wilcox,
Also in S. v. Sharp,
In Krause v. State (Neb.), Ann. Cases, 1912 B, 736, the Court goes further, holding that: "It is not a good plea in abatement to an indictment that it was returned by a grand jury of which the complaining witness was a member."
The other exceptions, eighteen in number, relate to evidence, except two that are formal.
They present no new question, and there can be no practical benefit in discussing them seriatim.
We have considered them with the care and diligence the importance of the case demands, and see no sufficient reason for setting aside the verdict.
No error. *718