State v. Williamson, 434

Citation78 S.E.2d 763,238 N.C. 652
Decision Date25 November 1953
Docket NumberNo. 434,434
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
PartiesSTATE, v. WILLIAMSON.

Atty. Gen. Harry McMullan, Asst. Atty. Gen. T. W. Bruton, and Gerald F. White, Raleigh, Member of the Staff, for the State.

Taylor & Mitchell, Raleigh, for defendant, appellant.

ERVIN, Justice.

The defendant makes these assertions by his assignments of error:

1. The trial judge erred in refusing the motion of the accused for a compulsory nonsuit on the charge of carrying a concealed weapon.

2. The trial judge erred in his charge by giving the jury this information: 'The defendant is being tried upon two warrants first tried in the Recorder's Court of Franklin County.'

3. The trial judge erred in his charge by failing to instruct the jury as to the law governing the effect which the petit jurors may give to evidence of the previous good character of an accused in a criminal action.

4. The trial judge erred in his charge by unduly emphasizing the contentions of the State.

We consider the assignments of error in the order in which they are stated.

The essential elements of the statutory crime of carrying a deadly weapon are these: (1) The accused must be 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 defendant carried a deadly weapon, i. e., a pistol, about his person when off his own premises. They stressfully contend, however, that all of the State's evidence indicates that the pistol was not concealed at any time, and that the charge of carrying a concealed weapon ought to have been involuntarily nonsuited in the court below on that ground. We are unable to agree. The State's evidence is to the effect that the pistol was hidden from the observation of persons who were in full view of the defendant and near enough to him to see it if it were not concealed. This evidence warrants the inference that the pistol was concealed. 68 C.J., Weapons, section 27.

The defendant would not be advantaged in any practical way on the present record by the refusal of the trial judge to nonsuit the charge of carrying a concealed weapon even if he could sustain his contention that the State's evidence does not support that charge. The sentences on the two charges are concurrent and equal, and the sufficiency of the State's evidence to support the charge of assault is neither questioned nor questionable. State v. Hicks, 233 N.C. 511, 64 S.E.2d 871.

The statute now incorporated in G.S. § 15-177.1 provides that 'in all cases of appeal to the superior court in a criminal action from a justice of the peace or other inferior court, the defendant shall be entitled to a trial anew and de novo by a jury, without prejudice from the former proceedings of the court below, irrespective of the plea entered or the judgment pronounced'. State v. Meadows, 234 N.C. 657, 68 S.E.2d 406, 408. The defendant asserts that the trial judge substantially impaired his statutory right to have the charges against him tried anew and de novo in the superior court without prejudice from the former proceedings of the recorder's court by informing the jury that the defendant was 'being tried upon two warrants first tried in the Recorder's Court of Franklin County.'

It would have been well had the trial judge refrained from any reference to any proceeding of the recorder's court. We are nevertheless at a loss to comprehend how the defendant could have suffered any harm from the naked statement of the trial judge that the charges embraced in the warrants had been first tried in the recorder's court. The jury was given no inkling of what happened in the recorder's court. Moreover, the trial judge instructed the petit jurors in most understandable...

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17 cases
  • State v. Walker, 373
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
    • January 14, 1960
    ...concurrently. Error would have to appear as to all three to be prejudicial. State v. Thomas, 244 N.C. 212, 93 S.E.2d 63; State v. Williamson, 238 N.C. 652, 78 S.E.2d 763; State v. Hicks, 233 N.C. 511, 64 S.E.2d Motions to quash after the evidence was in and motions to nonsuit had been overr......
  • State Carolina v. Best
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of North Carolina (US)
    • August 2, 2011
    ...be concealed about his person.’ ” State v. Gayton, 185 N.C.App. 122, 127, 648 S.E.2d 275, 279 (2007) (quoting State v. Williamson, 238 N.C. 652, 654, 78 S.E.2d 763, 765 (1953)). “The State must prove that the weapon is concealed ‘not necessarily on the person of the accused, but in such pos......
  • McClamrock v. White Packing Co., 385
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
    • November 25, 1953
  • State v. Dobbins, 57
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
    • January 20, 1971
    ...concerning travel purposes not within the prohibition of the ordinance. State v. Mundy, 265 N.C. 528, 144 S.E.2d 572; State v. Williamson, 238 N.C. 652, 78 S.E.2d 763; State v. Durham, 201 N.C. 724, 161 S.E. In his brief in the Court of Appeals, the defendant asserted, without any further a......
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