20 Haw. 109 | Haw. | 1910
OPINION OP THE COURT BY
The defendants were found guilty by.a jury of tbe offense of “being present” on a day named “at a certain place” in Honolulu “where a certain gambling game was being carried on, to wit, seven-eleven, at which certain things of value, to wit, money, were lost and won.” They except to tbe verdict on tbe ground that it was contrary to tbe law and tbe evidence and tbe weight of tbe evidence and also to tbe overruling of their motion for a new trial. Tbe only question presented is whether or not there was evidence sufficient to support tbe verdict. Taylor, a witness for tbe prosecution, testified that on tbe day
The statute under which the defendants are charged (R. L., Sec. 3175) is as follows:
. “Every person who deals, plays, or carries on, opens or causes to be opened, or who conducts either as owner or employee, whether for hire or not, any game of faro, monte, roulette, tan, fan tan, or any banking or percentage game with cards, dice or any devices for money, checks, credit or any representative of value or any other game in which money or ■anything of value is lost or won, and every person who plays or bets at or against any such prohibited game or games, and every person present where such game or games are being played or carried on, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
It is contended on behalf of the defendants that in order to support- a conviction it was necessary to show that the game testified to was a banking or percentage game. This contention is without merit. The language of the statute plainly includes within its prohibition every “other game in which money or anything of value is lost or won,” irrespective of whether or not it is a banking or percentage game. The evidence was sufficient to permit of a finding by the jury that a game was being played and that it was one at which money was lost and won and also, although this need not -have been proved, that it was a percentage game.
Three of the defendants and two other witnesses testified for the defense to the effect that no gambling was going on at the time of Taylor’s visit. This merely raised an issue of credibility and. does not affect the sufficiency, as a matter of law, of Taylor’s testimony to support the verdict. °
The exceptions are overruled.