State v. Gray
State v. Gray
Opinion of the Court
The defendant was convicted in the superior court for Lincoln county of stealing four horses, and has appealed therefrom to this court. The principal contention of learned counsel for appellant is that the trial court erred in overruling their challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the conviction, made by their motion for a directed verdict and by their motio.n to set aside the verdict. The evidence is in serious conflict as to the whereabouts of appellant at the time of, and for a few days following, the taking of the horses. There is no question as to the fact of the stealing of the horses by some one at about the time charged. It appears by the uncontradicted evidence of George Huck, •owner of the horses, that he saw them in his pasture about twenty miles southeasterly from Wilbur, in Lincoln county, •on the morning of May 4th, 1909, the day they are alleged to have been stolen; that he missed them a few days later, and found them in the Aldridge pasture, about twelve or fourteen miles northerly from Wilbur, on May 24th; that they had all been branded and one had been castrated since they were seen by him in his own pasture on May 4th.
The Aldridge pasture is conducted by a father and son, as a business in pasturing stock of others for hire. The son stays most of the time in Wilbur, having business there,
This evidence, it seems to us, was sufficient to support the verdict, unless we can hold that the testimony of these witnesses as to appellant’s whereabouts at the times stated was so conclusively refuted by the evidence of appellant and his witnesses, tending to show that he was not then at those places, that the minds of reasonable men could not differ upon that question. Appellant’s witnesses did testify that he was at Woollen’s place, or near there, working for him from May 2d to May 9th, and if those witnesses are to be believed their testimony accounts for his whereabouts during that entire week, and showed that he was not at the places testified to by the state’s witnesses. There were a greater number of witnesses who so testified for appellant than there were for the state upon this subject. However, we see nothing lending greater weight to the testimony of defendant’s witnesses than to that of the state’s witnesses, save the mere fact that they were greater in number. The jury rendered their verdict after seeing and hearing all of the witnesses testify, and the learned trial judge had the same opportunity, which no doubt influenced his decision upon appellant’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence.
The contentions of learned counsel for appellant that the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction, presents only the question of conflict in, and weight of, evidence. This cannot be determined by us as a matter of law, but must be left to the jury, the tribunal instituted by law to pass upon such questions. State v. Manville, 8 Wash. 523, 36 Pac. 470; State v. Murphy, 15 Wash. 98, 45 Pac. 729; State
At the commencement of the trial the prosecuting attorney asked permission to endorse upon the information the name of the witness Warehime and three others as witnesses for the state. This was permitted by the court over the objection of counsel for appellant, and he then stated, “Now if the court please, since these names have been endorsed upon the information over our objection, we will either have to have a continuance or a subpoena for about four witnesses.” The court thereupon permitted- the issuing of subpoenas for five additional witnesses for the appellant, all of whom appeared in time to testify before the close of the trial. Under these circumstances the action of the court was not prejudicial error. State v. Carpenter, 56 Wash. 670, 106 Pac. 206.
In support of appellant’s motion for a new trial, there were filed in his behalf several affidavits. Their purpose, apparently, was to support the motion in so far as it rested upon the grounds of accident and surprise and newly discovered evidence. Some of the affidavits tended to show that the witness Warehime made statements since the trial in which he admitted that he testified falsely against appellant upon the trial. The making of these statements was denied by him in a counter affidavit. Some of the affidavits tended to show that the witness Warehime could be impeached by the testimony of witnesses who did not testify at the trial, by showing his reputation as to truth and veracity. According to the statement of one of the attorneys for the appellant, some witnesses were subpoenaed and were present at the trial for the purpose of so impeaching the witness Warehime; but they do not appear to have testified upon that subject, and the reason thereof does not appear. Some of the affidavits tended to show that the witness Warehime was not at the place he said he was at the time testified to by
Another ground of appellant’s motion for a new trial was the alleged misconduct of the prosecuting attorney and his assistants. We are clearly of the opinion there was no such misconduct shown by the record in this regard as calls for the granting of a new trial. We deem it unnecessary to discuss this contention. We have carefully read all of the evidence, together with the affidavits in support of the motion for a new trial, and are unable to find any prejudicial error in the record. So far as appears thereby appellant had a fair trial, and we cannot disturb the verdict and judgment.
The judgment is affirmed.
Rudkin, C. J., Gose, Mount, and Fullerton, JJ., concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.