State v. . Hayne

88 N.C. 625

• Court: Supreme Court of North Carolina
• Decided: February 5, 1883
• Status: Published

Opinion

Ashe, J.

There is no error in the charge of the judge below. The law never intended to give persons, clothed with ministerial authority, the privilege of habitually carrying about their person concealed weapons, simply because they have in their hands warrants or process for the arrest of some one. The exemption from the provisions of the statute is only given to such officers, while iu the actual discharge of their official duties.

The defendant offered himself as a witness in his own behalf, and he did not pretend that he went to the restaurant with the expectation of meeting there any one against whom he had process, or that he was, on the night mentioned in the evidence, acting in the discharge of his official duties. He was, after night, at the restaurant of a colored man, intoxicated, and producing such a disturbance that he had to be carried off' by his friends to a boarding-house in the town, and, when the proprietor refused to permit him to stay there, he attempted to draw his pistol, and would probably have done so, if it had not been for the prompt act of the latter in going for his gun, which caused the flight of the defendant.

The law gives no protection to a man under such circumstances, although clothed with the authority of a deputy marshal of the United States, and having at the time warrants and process in his possession.

The case does not fall within any of the exceptions of the statute.' The defendant was properly convicted. There is no error. Let this be certified, &c.

No error. Affirmed.