Richardson v. State

1922 OK CR 127, 208 P. 1052, 21 Okla. Crim. 393, 1922 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 271
Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma·Decided September 11, 1922·No. No. A-3962.·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Defendant was prosecuted in the county court of Oklahoma county, charged with having, on the 6th day of May, 1920, and for a long time prior thereto, kept &nd maintained a public nuisance at 220 North Laird street, Oklahoma City, Oklahomla county, Okla., where intoxicating liquors, to wit, whisky, beer, Choctaw beer, and wine were bartered, sold, and given away, and also alleging that said Choctaw beer contained more than one-half of 1 per cent, of alcohol, measured by volume, and that defendant permitted nu *394 merous and divers persons, unknown to the informant, to congregate at said place for the purpose of drinking said intoxicating liquors, contrary, etc. Upon a trial defendant was convicted, and the punishment assessed at a fine (of $50 and imprisonment in the county jail for a period of 30 days.

The prosecution is based on section 13, chapter 70, Session Laws 1910-11, declaring all places where any spirituous, vinous, fermented, or malt liquors, or imitations thereof, or any malt liquors or compounds of any kind or description, whether medicated or not, which contain as much as one-half of 1 per centum of alcohol, measured by volume, and which are capable of being used as a beverage, except preparations compounded by any licensed pharmacist, the sale of which would not subject him to the payment of the special tax required by the laws of the United States, are manufactured, sold, bartered, given ■away, or otherwise furnished in violation of law, or where any such liquors are kept for the purpose of violating the law, or where persons congregate or resort for the purpose of drinking such liquors, to be public nuisances, and upon conviction the owner or keeper may be adjudged guilty of maintaining a public nuisance, and the punishment fixed at a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $500, and by imprisonment in the county jail not less than 30 days nor; more than 6 months.

The evidence for the state is substantially as follows:

J. T. Jerkins testified that he was a captain of police in Oklahoma City; that he went to the home of defendant, at 220 North Laird street, Oklahoma City, together with some other police officers, and found defendant! and his wife there, and found a glass pitcher about half full of Choctaw beer, and a'tub on the stove in which Choctaw beer was being made, but they found no other kind of liquor there, and did not know1 whether the Choctaw beer was intoxicating or not, did not have it analyzed, and did not know whether it contained *395 more than one-half of 1 per cent, of alcohol. The witness also testified that he had never got anything there before, and from certain' reports coming to the police station the witness testified that the general reputation of the place as to being a place where intoxicating liquors were manufactured, sold, bartered, and given away, was bad.

Walter .Lucas, policeman, testified that on the 6th day of May, 1920, ini company with Jerkins, he went to defendant’s place; found a glass pitcher about half full of Choctaw, beer; did not know whether this Choctaw beer) was intoxicating or not; found a tub practically full of what witness believed to be Choctaw beer in the making; had no knowledge of the general reputation of the place, but went to the house in search of stolen property.

Harry Wolf, another policeman, testified practically the same as did’ the witness Lucas.

This was all the evidence introduced in behalf of the state.

Defendant, in Ms own behalf, testified that he had lived at the premises about 3 years, and had lived in Oklahoma City about 12 years; that, ,’he worked at' the Morris & Co. packing house, but at the time Ms premises were searched he was suffering from a broken leg, and was not working; that Ms wife ■had got a half gallon' of Choctaw beer and brought it home; that he never manufactured any Choctaw beer there, nor never sold or gave away any beer or wine at his place.

The foregoing is in substance all the material evidence introduced in the case. Counsel for defendant, among other assignments of error, contends that the evidence is insufficient in, law to sustain the conviction.,

There is absolutely no proof to sustain the allegations of the information that the defendant at any time ever kept and *396 maintained a place at 220 North,' Laird street in which whisky, beer, and wine were ever kept for purposes of sale, etc., or were ever sold! on said premises, or that persons ever congregated on said premises for the purpose of drinking such liquors. The defendant was convicted of maintaining a public nuisance at said place because he had in his possession^ or at least there was found on the premises, about one-half gallon of Choctaw beer and a tub on the stove in which the police officers testified Choctaw beer was being made. There is not a line of evidence that this Choctaw beer was an intoxicating liquor, nor is there any evidence that it contained more than one-half of 1 per centum of alcohol, measured byj volume.

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Richardson v. State, 1922 OK CR 127, 208 P. 1052, 21 Okla. Crim. 393, 1922 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 271 (Okla. Ct. App. 1922).

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