Territory Hawai`i v. Apoliona

• Decision Date: 23 March 1910
• Citation: 20 Haw. 109
• Parties: THE TERRITORY OF HAWAII v. SAM APOLIONA, GEORGE KAEA, WILLIAM VIDA AND KEKIPI.
• Court: Hawaii Supreme Court

20 Haw. 109

THE TERRITORY OF HAWAII

v.SAM APOLIONA, GEORGE KAEA, WILLIAM VIDA AND KEKIPI.

Supreme Court of the Territory of Hawai‘i.

Submitted March 21, 1910.

Decided March 23, 1910.

OPINION TEXT STARTS HEREEXCEPTIONS FROM CIRCUIT COURT, FIRST CIRCUIT.

Syllabus by the Court

The evidence in this case held sufficient to support the verdict.

A. Lindsay, Attorney General, J. W. Cathcart, City and County Attorney, and F. W. Milverton, Deputy City and County Attorney, for the Territory.

J. Lightfoot for defendants.

HARTWELL, C.J., PERRY, J., AND CIRCUIT JUDGE ROBINSON IN PLACE OF DE BOLT, J.

OPINION OF THE COURT BY PERRY, J.

The defendants were found guilty by a jury of the offense of “being present” on a day named “at a certain place” in Honolulu “where a certain gambling game was being carried on, to wit, seven-eleven, at which certain things of value, to wit, money, were lost and won.” They except to the verdict on the ground that it was contrary to the law and the evidence and the weight of the evidence and also to the overruling of their motion for a new trial. The only question presented is whether or not there was evidence sufficient to support the verdict. Taylor, a witness for the prosecution, testified that on the day named he saw the defendants seated around a table in the cellar of a building in Honolulu; that the entrances and approach to the cellar were so arranged as to make the latter difficult of access; that while approaching the cellar and before seeing the defendants he heard the jingling of money apparently from below, and also voices and the snapping of fingers and bones; that before entering the cellar he looked through an open trap door immediately above it and from that position saw the defendants seated around a table; that a blanket spread on the table had on it certain chalk marks and numbers representing what is known as the “field” in a crap game; that on the table he saw money, quarters and half-dollars; that he saw money thrown on the table and picked up and passed off; that at times the table would be clear and then again more money would be placed on it; that he saw dice there accompanied “by the noise of snapping fingers;” that he watched the game for almost a minute; that the game that the defendants were playing was seven-eleven; that he “could see hands reaching in and taking up money, later see two dice rolling across the table;” that as the witness entered the cellar he saw hands pick up the money and dice and that by the time...