State v. Sauls, 457.
| Decision Date | 02 July 1930 |
| Docket Number | No. 457.,457. |
| Citation | 154 S.E. 28 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE. v. SAULS. |
Appeal from Superior Court, Gaston County; Clement, Judge.
George Sauls was convicted for carrying a concealed weapon, to wit, a pistol, off his own premises, in breach of C. § 4410, and he appeals.
New trial.
J. F. Flowers, of Charlotte, for appellant.
Dennis G. Brummitt, Atty. Gen., and Frank Nash, Asst, Atty. Gen., for the State.
The statute provides that if any one, except when on his own premises, shall carry a deadly weapon concealed about his person, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. The essential elements of the offense are these: (1) The defendant must be off his own premises; (2) he must carry a deadly weapon; (3) the weapon must be concealed about his person.
R. C. Thompson testified that he was the chief of police of Mt. Holly, and that he arrested the defendant at the house of Press Hamilton in ML Holly; so the defendant was off his own premises. He testified that he carried the defendant to the police station and there found a pistol on his person. This is evidence that the defendant had the pistol at the time of his arrest. That it was adeadly weapon is self-evident and undisputed. When he was arrested, did the defendant have the weapon concealed about his person? There is no evidence that the officer saw the pistol at the time he made the arrest. Frank Torrence, another witness for the state, testified that he was with Thompson when the defendant was arrested, and that he first saw the pistol when it was taken from the defendant. This was at the police station. Neither of the witnesses for the state said that the weapon was not concealed when the arrest was made. Now, the statute (C. S. § 4410) contains this provision: "If any one, not being on his own lands, shall have about his person any such deadly weapon, such possession shall be prima facie evidence of the concealment thereof." Testimony that the defendant, when arrested, was off his own premises and had the pistol in his possession was sufficient of itself to take the case to the jury—particularly in the absence of affirmative evidence on the part of the state that the weapon was not concealed.
The defendant was arrested at Hamilton's house, taken to an automobile, and carried to the police station. Thompson testified that he then found the pistol on the defendant's person, that it was on his belt in front of his body, and was concealed by his sweater which came down over it. The officers walked behind the defendant to the car, but it is hardly legitimate to infer that they were behind him when the arrest was made, or that they would not have seen the pistol in the defendant's belt if it had not been concealed.
The defendant and his witness testified that the pistol was not concealed; but their testimony simply raised an issue for the jury. The motion to dismiss the action was therefore properly overruled. The significance of prima facie proof is...
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State v. Phillips, 509
...for the purpose of impeachment. State v. Broom, 222 N.C. 324, 22 S.E.2d 926; State v. Jordan, 207 N.C. 460, 177 S.E. 333; State v. Sauls, 199 N.C. 193, 154 S.E. 28. The question insinuating that the male defendant's brother had been convicted of receiving stolen goods with knowledge of thei......
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State v. Howard
...Gen.Stat. § 14–269(a1) (2011) (making it unlawful to “willfully and intentionally” carry a concealed weapon); see also State v. Sauls, 199 N.C. 193, 154 S.E. 28 (1930) (holding that this requirement equates to criminal intent to conceal). Therefore, Officer Parker's testimony may have had l......
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State v. Williamson
...off his own premises; (2) he must carry a deadly weapon; (3) the weapon must be concealed about his person. G.S. § 14-269; State v. Sauls, 199 N.C. 193, 154 S.E. 28. Counsel for the defense concede with commendable candor that the State's evidence is sufficient to establish that the defenda......