Gransbury v. State

1938 OK CR 74, 82 P.2d 240, 64 Okla. Crim. 423, 1938 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 60
Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma·Decided August 12, 1938·No. No. A-9372.·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

BAREFOOT, J.

The defendant was convicted in the district court of Alfalfa county, where he was charged with the crime of unlawful possession of liquor, and as a second and subsequent violation, and given a sentence of 18 months in the penitentiary, and to pay a fine of $1,500 and has appealed.

Defendant in his petition in error alleges 18 different specifications of error. In his brief he relies upon four of the 18, for a reversal of the judgment. Three of the specifications refer to the motion of the defendant to quash the search warrant, and the fourth is that the court erred in overruling the demurrer to the evidence offered by the state. At the conclusion of the state’s testimony this would naturally follow, if any of the first three specifications of error were valid. They may all be considered together.

The defendant was charged in the information with having the unlawful possession on January 14, 1937, of 134 pints of whisky; 30 pints of gin; 20 pints of apricot liquor; and 69 pints of alcohol, with the intention of selling, bartering, giving away and otherwise furnishing said intoxicating liquor to others, in violation of the prohibitory liquor law of the state of Oklahoma, and with having been previously convicted in the county court of Alfalfa county on the 14th day of February, 1936, of the unlawful possession of intoxicating liquor, and to have been sentenced and served a term of 30 days in the county jail and paid a fine of $150.

The possession of the liquor as alleged in the information grew out of the execution of a search warrant based upon the affidavit of Ted Guffy, a deputy sheriff of Alfalfa county, and the issuance of the same by the county judge. The affidavit as a basis for the issuance of the search warrant was in part as follows:

*425 “State of Oklahoma, County of Alfalfa, ss.:
“In the County Court in and for Said County and State.
“Complaint and Affidavit for Search Warrant.
“I, Ted Guffy, being first duly sworn depose and say, that in Alfalfa County, in the State of Oklahoma, on the 14th day of January, 1937, Henry Gransbury and John Doe, whose name is otherwise to your informant unknown, in certain buildings and premises described as follows, to wit: The west y%, of section 1, township 28, range 10, W.I.M., in said county and state, did then and there unlawfully and willfully have in their possession and under their control, and did then and there unlawfully keep and does now unlawfully have in their possession and under their control, and does keep intoxicating liquors, described as wine, whisky, beer and other spirituous, fermented and malt liquors, the exact quantity thereof, and a more particular description thereof this af-fiant cannot give, and certain personal property, fixtures and furniture, consisting of bars, glasses, jugs, bottles and other furniture, containers and fixtures, a more particular description of which this affiant cannot give, use for same.
“That the said persons are still willfully and unlawfully keeping the said property and intoxicating liquors above described for the purpose and with the intent to violate the laws of the state of Oklahoma, and that they are used in and about the business of keeping a place where intoxicating liquors are wilfully and unlawfully sold, and that all of the above said described devices, furniture, fixtures and appliances are being used by said persons in aid of said unlawful business.
“And the affiant further says that the above named persons, at the said place and in the said buildings, are now engaged in the business of keeping a place where intoxicating liquors are sold, given away and otherwise furnished to divers persons whose names are to this affiant unknown, in violation of the prohibitory laws of the state of Oklahoma, and is using all of the said above described property in connection with and in aid thereof.
“Affiant says that the above mentioned premises is in part a private residence, and that which is a private residence the same is a place of public resort. That divers per *426 sons, whose more full and correct names to the affiant are unknown, are permitted to congregate and do congregate on said premises for the purpose of purchasing and drinking intoxicating liquors.”

Upon the filing of the above affidavit a search warrant was issued by the county judge and was executed on the same day by searching the premises therein described on the land shown, and there was found on the premises 134 pints of whisky; 30 pints of gin; 20 pints of apricot liquor; and 69 pints of alcohol.

Upon the filing of the information against the defendant, a motion was made to suppress the evidence and a hearing was had thereon. Evidence was taken both by the defendant and the state. This evidence revealed that the defendant and one Nellie Minnick had been husband and wife and had obtained a divorce in June, 1936; that at that time they had a property settlement and the property described in the search warrant became the property of Nellie Min-nick, defendant’s wife, other real property a few miles distant had been taken as the property of the defendant, however the defendant had secured a lease from his former wife and occupied the house located upon the premises described in the search warrant, and used the pasture for grazing purposes. The house occupied by the defendant was where the liquor was found, and the defendant was present at the time of the search, and at that time he admitted to the deputy sheriff who made the search, and in the presence of others, that the liquor belonged to him; and that if he had been given a little time he would have disposed of the same as he intended to quit. He did not move from the premises until in February, 1937.

Without reviewing all the evidence in this opinion, it may be said that the contention of the defendant that Nellie Minnick, his former wife, was in possession of the premises, is not borne out by the evidence. It reveals that she had abandoned the premises and was staying at the home of her *427 parents, several miles distance; that she had gone to the premises on the date of the search for a definite and specific purpose. There is nothing to show that she was in any way interested in the liquor found.

The contention that the brother of the defendant resided on the premises, and also Clara Hoefer, an incompetent ward of the defendant who acted as his housekeeper, is wholly without merit. The evidence revealed that the brother had moved away from the premises prior to the search, and Clara Hoefer was an incompetent ward of the defendant, who had no control or supervision over the premises where the liquor was found. Certainly the defendant should not be allowed to hide behind the skirt of this unfortunate and incompetent ward.

The contention of the defendant that Floyd and Mollie Gonzales, Mexican sheepherders, resided in a tent on the premises at the time the search was made, was wholly disproved by the witness Jim Mills, who testified that these parties moved away from the premises, going to New Mexico, just after July, 1936, and long prior to the time the search was conducted and the liquor found.

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Gransbury v. State, 1938 OK CR 74, 82 P.2d 240, 64 Okla. Crim. 423, 1938 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 60 (Okla. Ct. App. 1938).

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