Opinion ID: 1338105
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jaynes' Appeal

Text: Defendant Jaynes first contends that, although there was ample evidence from which the jury could have found that the prosecuting witness, Ronald W. Clark, and codefendant David W. Abernathy entered into an agreement to rob the Rector residence, there is no evidence whatsoever in the record of any agreement between defendant Jaynes and the other alleged co-conspirators. Defendant contends, therefore, that the court erred in denying his motion for dismissal of the charge of conspiracy made at the close of the State's evidence and at the close of all the evidence. A criminal conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to do an unlawful act or to do a lawful act in an unlawful way or by unlawful means. State v. Bindyke, 288 N.C. 608, 220 S.E.2d 521 (1975). To constitute a conspiracy it is not necessary that the parties should have come together and agreed in express terms to unite for a common object; rather, a mutual, implied understanding is sufficient, so far as the combination or conspiracy is concerned, to constitute the offense. The conspiracy is the crime and not its execution. State v. Carey, 285 N.C. 497, 206 S.E.2d 213 (1974). Therefore, no overt act is necessary to complete the crime of conspiracy. As soon as the union of wills for the unlawful purpose is perfected, the offense of conspiracy is completed. [Citation omitted.] State v. Bindyke, supra, 288 N.C. at 616, 220 S.E.2d at 526. The existence of a conspiracy may be established by direct or circumstantial evidence. Direct proof of the charge [conspiracy] is not essential, for such is rarely obtainable. It may be, and generally is, established by a number of indefinite acts, each of which, standing alone, might have little weight, but, taken collectively, they point unerringly to the existence of a conspiracy. . . State v. Whiteside, 204 N.C. 710, 169 S.E. 711 (1933). Upon a motion for nonsuit in a criminal action, the court considers the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, resolves all contradictions and discrepancies therein in its favor, and gives it the benefit of every reasonable inference which can be drawn from the evidence. State v. Goines, 273 N.C. 509, 160 S.E.2d 469 (1968); State v. Cutler, 271 N.C. 379, 156 S.E.2d 679 (1967). In present case State's witness Clark testified: I know David Abernathy and Jack Jaynes. I did see them prior to May 8th, 1973, at my house. . . . At the time they came . . . they asked if I wanted to make some money to go check out a place. Clark further testified that on 8 May Abernathy came to his home in a pickup truck and they then drove straight to Jaynes' house where they got out of the truck and into a parked car. Jaynes and a man named Cherokee then came out of Jaynes' trailer and got in the car with them. With Jaynes driving, they then drove directly to the Rector residence in Marion, McDowell County. They went by the house one time, turned around at an intersection, and drove to a graveyard about 100 yards from the Rector house. They then got out of the car and took masks, guns and tape from its trunk. Clark, Abernathy and Cherokee put on masks and went toward the Rector house. There they broke into the house and robbed the Rectors. While they were in the Rector house for thirty minutes to an hour, Jaynes drove the car up and down the road in front of the house. While there is no direct evidence that the defendant Jaynes expressly agreed to commit the crime, the circumstantial evidence is sufficient to create an inference that Jaynes knew of an agreement to rob the Rector residence and that there was an implied understanding between him and the others to accomplish this purpose. Furthermore, Jaynes participated in the crime by driving the other parties to the scene of the crime, and by waiting for the actual robbers in order to assist them in escaping after the robbery was completed. This evidence is sufficient to point unerringly to the existence of a conspiracy. This assignment is overruled. Defendant Jaynes next contends that the court erred in allowing into evidence testimony of Deputy Sheriff Trinks and S.B.I. Agent Jarvis as to his bad character without first requiring a sufficient foundation to be laid to establish the witnesses' knowledge of the community's regard for defendant's character, and in failing to allow his motion to strike the witnesses' testimony after his cross-examination as to the factual basis of their knowledge. When a defendant testifies, but does not otherwise put his character in issue, he is subject to impeachment by evidence of bad character on the issue of his credibility but not as substantive evidence of guilt or innocence. 1 Stansbury, N.C. Evidence § 108 (Brandis rev. 1973). Character is generally proved by evidence of reputation, and although the rule formerly prevailing in North Carolina was that the testimony of a character witness must be confined to the general reputation of the person in the community in which he lives, State v. Steen, 185 N.C. 768, 117 S.E. 793 (1923), evidence will not be received from one knowledgeable with any community or society in which the person has a well-known or established reputation. Such reputation must be his general reputation, held by an appreciable group of people who have had adequate basis upon which to form their opinion. Of course, the testifying witness must have sufficient contact with that community or society to qualify him as knowing the general reputation of the person sought to be attacked or supported. State v. McEachern, 283 N.C. 57, 67, 194 S.E.2d 787, 793-94 (1973). The record in instant case shows that defendant testified but otherwise did not put on any evidence of his character. The State, therefore, properly could put on evidence of defendant's bad character on the issue of credibility. In State v. Hicks, 200 N.C. 539, 157 S.E. 851 (1931), this Court stated: The rule is, that when an impeaching or sustaining character witness is called, he should first be asked whether he knows the general reputation and character of the witness or party about which he proposes to testify. This is a preliminary qualifying question which should be answered yes or no. If the witness answer it in the negative, he should be stood aside without further examination. If he reply in the affirmative, thus qualifying himself to speak on the subject of general reputation and character, counsel may then ask him to state what it is. This he may do categorically, i. e., simply saying that it is good or bad, without more, or he may, of his own volition, but without suggestion from counsel offering the witness, amplify or qualify his testimony, by adding that it is good for certain virtues or bad for certain vices. S. v. Colson, 193 N.C., 236, 136 S.E., 730; S. v. Nance, 195 N.C., 47, 141 S.E., 468. In this case each of the State's witnesses answered the preliminary qualifying question in the affirmative, that is, that they knew defendant's general character and reputation in the community where he lived. This requirement having been met, the court properly overruled defendant's objections. State v. Denny, 294 N.C. 294, 240 S.E.2d 437 (1978); State v. Stegmann, 286 N.C. 638, 213 S.E.2d 262 (1975); State v. McEachern, supra ; State v. Hicks, supra . Furthermore, the court did not err in failing to strike each witness's testimony as to defendant's character upon the conclusion of defendant's cross-examination of them. The cross-examination did not elicit such facts as would disqualify them from testifying. Moreover, defendant apparently did not move to strike the testimony of Trinks until after he had been excused and another witness had been called, and defendant at no time objected to or moved to strike Jarvis's testimony after his examination into the facts of his knowledge of defendant's reputation. This assignment of error is without merit. Defendant Jaynes finally argues that the trial court erred in the following instruction: [T]he State contends that he is guilty, even though under all the evidence there is  Jaynes never entered the house of the Rectors. Defendant argues that the statement amounts to a comment by the judge in violation of G.S. 1-180 in that the jury could have interpreted the remark as an assertion by the judge that Jaynes, though he never entered the house, was still present at the scene in an automobile. This argument is manifestly without merit. Placed within its context, the instruction clearly reveals that the judge was simply recounting the State's contention that defendant was an aider and abettor to the crime, for the sentence which immediately follows the above is, The State contends that he was present as an aider and abettor. Since the judge made it quite clear that he was simply recounting the State's contentions, the jury could not have understood the statement to be an opinion by the judge regarding the facts of the case. The language will not support the inference which defendant tries to draw from it. This assignment is without merit. We have made a careful examination of the entire record and find no prejudicial error. No error.