Elliott v. State

165 P. 300, 19 Ariz. 12, 1917 Ariz. LEXIS 59
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedMay 19, 1917
DocketCriminal No. 397
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 165 P. 300 (Elliott v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Elliott v. State, 165 P. 300, 19 Ariz. 12, 1917 Ariz. LEXIS 59 (Ark. 1917).

Opinion

CUNNINGHAM, J.

The uncontroverted facts appearing in this record are that J. J. Elliott, one of these appellants, sold to William H. Woolf on September 24, 1915, two bottles filled with a liquor called “Frio beer,” one of which bottles was filled by the manufacturer, and was the original package, and the other bottle filled from a keg or barrel through a faucet; that the place at which the sale was made was known as the Anheuser Bar in the city of Phoenix, Maricopa county, Arizona, and the stated purpose of the purchaser at the time he made the purchase was to analyze the liquid to determine its alcoholic contents and intoxicating qualities; that at the time of the said sale and for two or three days previous thereto, and for about the same length of time subsequent thereto, the business of selling this liquid was carried on at said bar. Appellant Elliott testified in answer to the question:

“Q. . . . What business was carried on there? A. We was selling this Frio; this stuff we got from the Copper City Brewing Company. Q. Who was selling it? ... A. Why me and Mr. Hall. . . . Q. How long had you been engaged in selling Frio? A. From the 22d to the 25th.”

The undisputed evidence is that during that period of time, and particularly on the 23d and 24th of September, the place was doing a rushing business selling “Frio.” The information charged the appellants, Elliott and Hall, with the unlawful sale of intoxicating liquor. Therefore I find in the record, aside from the undisputed facts above referred to, the controverted fact of the intoxicating character of the liquor sold, and Hall’s connection with the sale in question.

The appellant Hall rested his case at the time the state rested its case in chief. This defendant thereupon moved “that he be discharged for the reason that there is no evidence to connect him with this alleged offense.” The motion was denied. Thereupon the defendant Hall moved the court to direct the jury to return a verdict of not guilty, and demurred “to the evidence for the reason that it is not sufficient to sustain the allegations in this case against the defendant O. B. Hall.” The court denied this motion. The counsel for both defendants made the following announcement:

“By Mr. Bamum: The defense will proceed only as to the defendant Elliott.”

[14]*14At the close of the evidence in the case the motion to direct a verdict as to defendant Hall was renewed and denied. The motion was based upon the grounds that the evidence does not connect the defendant Hall with the sale, and shows that he was not present at the time of the sale; and upon the further grounds that a variance between the allegations of the information and the proof is shown in the particular that the information charges the defendants with having jointly made the sale, and the proof shows that defendant O. B. Hall was not present or took any part in the alleged sale; and for the further reason that there is no evidence showing that said O. B. Hall is interested in the sale of said liquor, nor that he participated therein.

The defendant Hall made an attempt to close the case against himself at the time the state rested. Such efforts as defendant Hall made at the close of the state’s case in chief to shut out all further evidence against him by resting his defense on the state’s evidence was ineffective for that purpose, and so recognized by said defendant when at the close of the evidence the defendant renewed his motion. Of course the trial court could not intelligently pass on the motion made at the close of all of the evidence, unless he considered all of the evidence produced on the trial bearing upon the matter of defendant Hall’s connection with the alleged sale. In so considering the motion the duty of the court was plain to disregard the ruling on the motion as formally made, and give exact regard to all of the evidence bearing on the matter, whether the evidence was produced before or after the former ruling was made. A defendant cannot rest his case on the evidence produced by the prosecution in chief and limit the court’s or jury’s consideration to only such evidence as had been produced up to the time the defendant announced that his case is rested. Further evidence may be offered by the prosecution either in chief or as rebuttal, which materially affects the defendant who has rested his case. Such evidence may be offered, and when it is offered, if received by the trial court at any stage of the trial before the cause is submitted to the jury, such evidence is as important in the consideration by the court of a motion to direct a verdict or by the jury in. arriving at a verdict as if it had been offered and received in the due order of the trial. Because evidence is received in the course of the trial out of its due, regular order [15]*15is no reason why the evidence should not be considered and given due force.

The evidence in the record which tends to connect the defendant Hall with the sale of the “Frio beer” is that at the time of Hall’s arrest in the presence of Elliott both Hall and Elliott spoke about who were running the place.

“He said that they had a contract with the management of the concern that manufactured the goods. . . . Q. Did he [meaning Hall] say ‘they’ or ‘we?’ A. I took it he was speaking of the two. • Q. Did he say ‘they’ or ‘we?’ A. ‘We.’ Q. Who was there when he was saying that? A. Mr. Elliott and Mr. Hall and myself [William H. Woolf].”

This is the state of the evidence connecting Hall with the transaction at the time he first moved for his discharge and for a directed verdict. The defendant Elliott testified as a witness in his own behalf, and admits that he sold Woolf “the stuff we was selling; Frio.”

“Q. How long had you been selling this Frio beer? A. We sold it altogether about four days. Q. Where did you obtain this Frio ? A. We got it from the Douglas Copper City Brewing Company.”

On cross-examination this witness was asked:

“Q. . . . What business was carried on there? A. We was selling this Frio; this stuff we got from the Copper City Brewing Company. Q. Who was selling it? (Objected to. Objection overruled.) A. Why me and Mr. Hall. . . . Q. How long have you and M'r. Hall been engaged there in this selling of Frio? (Objected to, and objection sustained as to Mr. Hall.) . . . He may answer for himself, and not for Mr. Hall Q. How long had you been engaged in selling Frio? A. From the 22d to the 25th.”

This evidence tends to prove the fact that O. B. Hall and 'J. J. Elliott jointly conducted the business carried on at the Anheuser Bar from September 22 to September 25, 1915, and that the nature of the business so carried on by said parties was that of selling Frio beer to all parties offering to purchase the said liquor. From such facts, if believed by the jury beyond a reasonable doubt, they were justified in drawing the inevitable inference that O. B. Hall, although not present, did advise and encourage every sale made, and impliedly gave his full consent to each sale made to each person who purchased the same during said period of time, [16]*16including the sale to William H.-Woolf by J. J. Elliott. As a consequence, the defendant Hall is shown to be a principal in the commission of the offense charged. His connection with the commission of the offense is sustained by the evidence.

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Related

Oliver v. State
348 S.W.2d 325 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1961)
State v. Menke
129 A.2d 456 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1957)
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1947 OK 169 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1947)
Cooper v. State
172 P. 276 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1918)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
165 P. 300, 19 Ariz. 12, 1917 Ariz. LEXIS 59, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/elliott-v-state-ariz-1917.