Court Opinion

ID: 9807630
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 20:11:50.196526+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:50:14.862076
License: Public Domain

CONNOR, J.,
dissenting. At the trial of' this action in the Superior Court of Transylvania County, the defendants, T. H. Shipman, J. S. Silversteen, J. H. Pickelsimer, C. R. McNeely, Ralph Fisher, A. M. White, S. R. Owen and W. L. Talley, were each convicted of a criminal conspiracy, as charged in the indictment; the defendants other than T. H. Shipman and J. S. Silversteen, were also convicted of the criminal misapplication of funds belonging to Transylvania County. The jurors in their verdict recommended that mercy be extended to each of the defendants in the judgment of the court.
The judgment on the verdict that the defendants are guilty of a criminal conspiracy as charged in the indictment was (1) that the defendants, T. H. Shipman, J. H. Pickelsimer, O. R. McNeely and Ralph Fisher, each pay a fine of $5,000, and be confined in the State’s prison *547for a term of not less than two or more than five years; (2) that the defendant, J. S. Silversteen pay a fine of $5,000; and (3) that the defendants, A. M. White, S. R. Owen and W. L. Talley, each pay a fine of $1,000..
It was ordered by the court that judgment on the verdict that the defendants other than T. H. Shipman and J. S. Silversteen, are guilty of a criminal misapplication of funds belonging to Transylvania County, as charged in the indictment, be continued, and that the defendants pay the costs of the action, pro rata, as directed in the judgment.
From the judgment, the defendants appealed to this Court, assigning errors at the trial, for which they contend that the judgment should be reversed, or at least that they be granted a new trial. On this appeal, the assignments of error based on the exceptions of the defendants, A. M. White, S. R. Owen and W. L. Talley, to the refusal of the trial court to allow their motions for judgment as of nonsuit (O. S., 4643), are sustained. Under the provisions of the statute, a verdict of not guilty as to these defendants will be entered in the Superior Court of Transylvania County. This Court is of the opinion that the evidence at the trial was not sufficient to support a verdict of guilty as to the defendants, A. M. White, S. R. Owen and W. L. Talley, and therefore reverses the judgment as to these defendants. The judgment as to the other defendants is affirmed. I concur with Brogden, J., that the evidence is not sufficient to sustain the verdict of guilty as to any of the defendants and that for this reason the judgment of the Superior Court should be reversed not only as to the defendants, A. M. White, S. R. Owen and W. L. Talley,, but also as to the other defendants.
In my opinion, there was no- evidence at the trial of this action in the Superior Court tending to show that the defendants, or any two or more of them entered into an agreement to do an unlawful act, or to do a lawful act for the purpose of accomplishing an unlawful end, or that any of the defendants misapplied any funds belonging to Transylvania County, as charged in the indictment.