Opinion ID: 2317934
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Twelfth and Thirteenth Exceptions.

Text: In the Twelfth Exception the respondent objects to the refusal of the presiding Justice to charge that if Zahn was not guilty then the respondent must be acquitted. The same issue is raised in the Thirteenth Exception to the instruction that the jury could find Zahn not guilty and the respondent guilty. In effect, the respondent requested a directed verdict in event Zahn was acquitted. The respondent first attacks the indictment in these words from his brief: Under the indictment, it was not possible for the jury to be permitted to return a verdict of `not guilty' for Zahn and a verdict of `guilty' against Papalos. The indictment alleges but a single conspiracy and one in which the respondent, Zahn, was an essential and indispensable party. The proof of a conspiracy between Sahagian and Papalos, without Zahn, would constitute a fatal variance. For the reasons set forth under the Fourteenth Exception, we hold the indictment was a proper vehicle for a charge of conspiracy between Sahagian and the respondent to bribe Zahn, without the participation of Zahn. With Zahn eliminated by the verdict, the charge of conspiracy remained against Sahagian and the respondent. The second argument is directed to the sufficiency of the evidence. The respondent's position is stated as follows: According to the direct evidence, then, there could be a finding of a genuine common purpose and meeting of the minds between Sahagian and Papalos only if the complicity of Zahn in the conspiracy is accepted. Zahan's actual participation in the conspiracy was the foundation and inducement of the entire project between Sahagian and Papalos. The Court's instruction to the jury that, on the evidence, the jury could acquit Zahn and yet convict Papalos (of conspiring with Sahagian to implicate Zahn at some future time, all of this being unknown to Zahn,) was, therefore, a contradiction of all the direct, categorical, and undisputed evidence in the case. The acquittal of Zahn is of course a finding that Zahn did not join the evil project. If the actual participation of Zahn in the conspiracy was essential to the proof of a conspiracy by the respondent and Sahagian, then the Court was in error in the rulings. The conspiracy of Sahagian and the respondent does not rest upon the participation of Zahn in fact. Without entering into details, the jury could properly make the following significant findings: The respondent induced in Sahagian the belief that Zahn was implicated prior to the October agreement between Sahagian and the respondent. Zahn was a public official whom Sahagian believed could be bribed. From the agreement, and the other evidence including in particular the meetings of the respondent and Sahagian, it was the understanding on the part of Sahagian that Zahn would be paid for future benefits from the commission received by the respondent on the sale of Sahagian's wines to the State Liquor Commission. The intention of Sahagian to enter into a conspiracy with the respondent to bribe Zahn could be based upon a belief in, as well as upon the fact of, Zahn's implication. The essential evil intention on the part of the respondent is not negatived by the innocence of Zahn. It does not follow therefrom that the respondent did not intend to bribe Zahn when the October agreement was made with Sahagian. The jury did no more it would seem than accept his statements of intention directed to Sahagian. In short, the respondent asserts he was not telling the truth and therefore his intention however clearly expressed in words did not exist as a fact. From the entire record we conclude it was a question of fact for the jury whether Sahagian and the respondent both intended to agree to bribe Zahn, or in the case of Sahagian, only to uncover corruption, or in the case of the respondent, only to cheat Sahagian. The jury, in reaching its decision, necessarily considered the fact of Zahn's freedom from guilt, and the lack of evidence that either Sahagian or the respondent approached Zahn. The weight to be given such evidence in a search for the intention of the respondent and Sahagian was for the determination of the jury. We have found no compelling reason for holding that the jury having acquitted Zahn could not find the respondent to be guilty. The rulings were correct, and the exceptions are overruled.