Reynolds v. State

161 P. 885, 18 Ariz. 388, 1916 Ariz. LEXIS 123
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 22, 1916
DocketCriminal No. 406
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 161 P. 885 (Reynolds 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
Reynolds v. State, 161 P. 885, 18 Ariz. 388, 1916 Ariz. LEXIS 123 (Ark. 1916).

Opinions

CUNNINGHAM, J.

The county attorney of Maricopa county filed an information in the superior court of Maricopa county charging the appellant with unlawfully introducing whisky into the state of Arizona. The appellant demurred upon the grounds that the court had no jurisdiction of the offense charged in the information, for the reason, the offense, if committed at all, was necessarily committed in Yuma county. The demurrer was overruled. He thereupon entered a plea of not guilty, and upon the trial objected to the introduction of any evidence upon the same ground urged in his demurrer to the jurisdiction of the court. This objection was overruled.

The facts developed by the evidence, according to appellant’s statement of the facts in his brief, are:

‘ ‘ That appellant and his wife were found in an automobile at Agua Caliente, Maricopa county (the defendant driving and in full charge of the machine and contents); that said automobile was upon the road leading from Yuma to Phoenix; [390]*390and that in said automobile was two barrels of whisky and several bottles of whisky.”

Preceding such statement, appellant says in the brief:

“ . . . The various witnesses for the prosecution questioned appellant as to where he got the whisky, and that appellant stated ‘that it was loaded in his automobile at El Centro in the Imperial Yalley, California, and that he had brought the same into Arizona via Yuma across the railroad bridge at Yuma, said whisky having been transported all the way in his automobile; that he was carrying the whisky in the barrels for Jack Elliott, and that said Elliott had given him the whisky in the bottles as pay for the carriage of the whisky in the barrels.’ ”

The record bears out such statements as the evidence.

The further facts appear from the record that the appellant was stopped while traveling east along the Arizona-California highway at about 9 o’clock in the morning, and at the time he was stopped the whisky in barrels found in the machine was.covered up with bedding or canvas, and the bottles were in every part of the machine where space permitted. The whisky was contained in two kegs or barrels, and in fifty or sixty bottles. The jury were permitted to make an examination of the appearance of the kegs or barrels, as to the condition of labels and marks thereon. Some of the bottles were received in evidence. The condition of the labels and markings on such kegs or barrels does not appear in the record as a part of the evidence. The appellant was convicted and sentenced to punishment, from which judgment he has appealed.

The motions and objections made, and exceptions reserved by the appellant to the court’s rulings duly present for our consideration three dominant questions, viz.: (1) whether the offense of the unlawful introduction of intoxicating liquors into the state may be tried in an interior county of the state. (2) Whether the evidence is sufficient in law to sustain a conviction. (3) Whether the court erred in its instructions to the jury or failed to give a necessary instruction. These questions will be discussed in the order in which they are above set forth.

The appellant contends that every element necessary to constitute the offense of the unlawful introduction of intoxi[391]*391eating liquors into the state is complete the moment the intoxicating liquor crosses the state line. He argues that the offense is not in its nature a continuing offense, for the reason the law is not violated by transporting intoxicating liquors from one county of the state to another county of the state, and that as Maricopa county is an interior county, intoxicating liquors cannot, in the very nature of things, be transported into Maricopa county from without the state without necessarily crossing some other county of the state. And, as the act of introduction is complete the moment the liquor crosses the state line, the offense is necessarily committed in the county into which it enters the state, and is triable only in such county. If we concede that the mere act of passing intoxicating liquors over the state line completes the “introduction” of liquors into the state within the meaning of section 1, article 23 (Prohibition Amendment), of the state Constitution, then, certainly, appellant’s contention is correct. But this we cannot concede. In Sturgeon v. State, 17 Ariz. 513, 527, 154 Pac. 1050, 1055, we said:

“That the word ‘introduce’ as used in the law is not a technical word. It is one of ordinary meaning and common acceptation, and is used as such in the constitutional amendment” (giving the definition of the word from the approved dictionaries of the language).

The constitutional amendment reads as follows:

“Ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine, or intoxicating liquor or liquors of whatever kind shall not be manufactured in or introduced into the state of Arizona under any pretense.”

In Gherna v. State, 16 Ariz. 344, 361, Ann. Cas. 1916D, 94, 146 Pac. 494, 501, we suggest in relation to the purpose of the amendment as follows:

“It is perfectly obvious, to the mind of candid inquiry: That the prohibition of the manufacture and traffic in liquor in Arizona is the main purpose sought to be accomplished by the amendment, and that the prohibition concerning the introduction of liquor into Arizona is rather an auxiliary or as an incidental to the better accomplishment of the main design. That the prohibition of its introduction will be contributory to the accomplishment of the main object, to wit, the suppression of the liquor traffic.”

[392]*392To this last expression, we may very properly add: “The-suppression of the liquor traffic in the entire state, ’ ’ for such is the meaning. The evil intended to be corrected by the prohibition amendment, then, was the evil wrought by the liquor-traffic carried on in every county in the state. The transportation of such liquor into the state would make it accessible for traffic, and its accessibility to use in traffic is present in any county into which it is transported. The law must have-been intended by the legislative power enacting it, to operate coextensive with the evil sought to correct, and giving effect, to the legislative intent, the provision must be interpreted to mean that the liquors mentioned shall not be transported into any part of the state, without regard to county lines. That the offense is committed when any of the liquors are brought into any part of the state of Arizona, and thereby made accessible to be used in violation of law, there can be no question.

Where one has the control over the whisky, as by having it loaded in his automobile in an adjoining state, for the purpose of transporting it to a specified point in this state as a single transaction, and in carrying out such transaction he brings, leads, carries, puts, conducts, ushers or hauls such liquors into the state, any distance, a few feet or a few hundred miles, as contemplated, then he has introduced the whisky into the state. The distance into the state which he succeeds in transporting the whisky is of no effect other than requiring greater or less time and power for its accomplishment. Such time and power if devoted to the accomplishment of the single purpose of carrying out the original transaction, as a part of the one transaction, are parts of the original transaction.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
161 P. 885, 18 Ariz. 388, 1916 Ariz. LEXIS 123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reynolds-v-state-ariz-1916.