Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-02-26
WHAT CONSTITUTES CONSPIRACY

After quoting from the statutes bear.
ing on conspiracy, Justice Pntchard
said that the statutory offense Of con-
spiraCy under the laws Of the United
States is not complete until an act is
done by some Of the parties to carry In
10 execution the fraud alleged to have
been committed i'm the Indictment The
combination or crime Is the offense,
but the alleged act to cffeCtuatc II Is
necessary to make It indctable.
AS "A general ule," he continued,
concerted action on the part of the In
dlvidual to violate a law or commit a
fraud Is IN secret, hence the rule which
permits the Introduction Of evidence
Of separate individual acts which you
are now called upon to consider. The
common design Is the essence OF the
charge, and to prove It, It IL not neces-
sary to prove that the parties actually
came together and actually agreed In
terms to have that design and to pur-
SUE It by common means. Therefore,
II you find from the evidence that the
parties charged In the Indictment knew
Of the object to be accomplished, and
all Intentionally participated In the
transaction in furtherance OF the com
mon design and purpose to defraud the
United States then you may find that
there was a taCit understanding, and so
far az the conspiracy IL concerned, that
is sufficient to constitute the offense.
There need be no specific agreement"
oFFENsE HARD TO PROVE.
He said that such an offense rarely, II
ever IL proven by direct testimony,
Evidence IN proof Of conspiracy may
be and from the nature Of the case gen.
orally must be clrcumstantal,
THE defendants he said, have
gone on the witness stand and testified
in their own behalf II, therefore, be-
comes my duty to say to you that you
ought to scrutinizo their testimony In
view Of the fact that they are inter-
eSted In the outcome Of the trial. But
IN doing so. | do not wish to be UNDER
stood a saying that you should not be-
lieye the testimony of the defendants
because Of the fact that they are in
terested, and If, after considering their
testimony and the circumstances under
which 1t was given, you are OF the
opinion that they have told the truth
about the transaction, il Is as much
SbNI uull " blNN AlNNlN w NilAN '''''
may have stated as IT Is to believe any
other witnesses who may have testified
during the progress Of this trial.
lie instructed the jury that II they
were satisfied beyond reasonable
doubt that Machen and the other de-
PENDANTS or any two or more OF them
conspIred to sell the fasteners to the
government at price In excess Of that
which they otherwise would have sold
the same and divided the proceeds
among themselves, they were guilty as
Indicated The jury, he said, could
find the defendants guilty ms to each
count In the indictment or ac.
quit them as to some and find them
guilty as to others, and a verdict Of not
guilty should be found as TO one or
more Of them.
TWO MUST BE GUILTY.
"But," be added, before you can re-
turn a verdict Of guilty you must find
that az least two Of the defendants are
guilty Of the conspiracy charge as
charged in the Indictment; that Is 10
say, you cannot find one defendant