Opinion ID: 1216392
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Competency of Evidence.

Text: The defendants objected to the testimony of Leonard reciting that L. C. Sykes was one of the operators of the lotteries; that he had a calculator in his home for totaling tickets, which the witness identified; that Sykes had been tried and convicted and had since left the State or town. The indictment charges that the defendants (naming them) did    conspire together and with each other and divers other persons to operate lotteries in Guilford County, etc. It was therefore competent to show who the divers other persons were, or to make known the other conspirators in the enterprise. State v. Andrews, 216 N.C. 574, 6 S.E.2d 35. Without objection, the witness freely told of conversations and transactions with C. A. (Shug) York after a mistrial had been ordered as to him or in his case. If the defendants now find it embarrassing to be identified as associates of L. C. Sykes, they have no one to blame but themselves. State v. Beal, 199 N.C. 278, 154 S.E. 604. The association was originally of their own choosing. Those who enter into a conspiracy to violate the criminal laws thereby forfeit their independence, and jeopardize their liberty, for, by agreeing with another or others to engage in an unlawful enterprise, they thereby place their safety and freedom in the hands of each and every member of the conspiracy. State v. Williams, 216 N.C. 446, 5 S.E.2d 314. The acts and declarations of each conspirator, done or uttered in furtherance of the common, illegal design, are admissible in evidence against all. State v. Ritter, 197 N.C. 113, 147 S.E. 733. Everyone who enters into a common purpose or design is equally deemed in law a party to every act which had before been done by the others, and a party to every act which may afterwards be done by any one of the others, in furtherance of such common design. State v. Jackson, 82 N.C. 565; State v. Smith, 221 N.C. 400, 20 S.E.2d 360; State v. Summerlin (Hole-in-the-Wall Case), 232 N.C. 333, 60 S.E.2d 322; State v. Anderson, 208 N.C. 771, loc. cit. 786, 182 S.E. 643; State v. Herndon, 211 N.C. 123, 189 S.E. 173. The calculator was competent to be shown in evidence as a part of the paraphernalia used in the operation of the lotteries. State v. Wells, 219 N.C. 354, 13 S.E.2d 613; State v. Fogleman, 204 N. C. 401, 168 S.E. 536; State v. Lea, 203 N.C. 13, 164 S.E. 737; Stansbury's N. C. Evidence, Sec. 85. Moreover, in cases grounded on fraud or conspiracy, considerable latitude is allowed in the reception of evidence offered to establish the gravamen of the charge or offense. Direct evidence of the charge is not essential, though here it is both direct and positive, with its credibility, however, sharply challenged. The calculator was offered to bolster the testimony of the witness whose credibility was being attacked. It was competent for this purpose. State v. Anderson, supra.