State v. Alvord

271 P. 322, 46 Idaho 765, 1928 Ida. LEXIS 169
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 24, 1928
DocketNo. 5234.
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 271 P. 322 (State v. Alvord) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Alvord, 271 P. 322, 46 Idaho 765, 1928 Ida. LEXIS 169 (Idaho 1928).

Opinion

HARTSON, District Judge.

Edwin T. Alvord was convicted of “unlawfully furnishing intoxicating liquor to minor person,” in violation of C. S., sec. 2<621-A (chap. 171, 1925 Sess. Laws). He appeals from the judgment and from an order denying a motion for a new trial.

Appellant demurred to the information, asserting duplicity, and sought an order requiring the state to elect upon which count it would stand. The information accuses defendant of the crime of unlawfully furnishing liquor to a minor person, committed as follows:

*769 “That said Edwin T. Alvord .... on or about the 10th day of April, A. D. 1927, and prior to the filing of this information .... did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously give and furnish and cause to be given and furnished intoxicating liquor to the aforesaid Belvia McCullough, the said Belvia McCullough being then and there a minor female person.....”

C. S., sec. 2621-A, provides:

“Any person who sells, gives or furnishes, or causes to be sold, given or furnished, intoxicating liquor to any minor is guilty of a felony.”

It is contended by appellant that two distinct offenses were joined in one count, viz.: (a) the giving and furnishing and (b) the causing to be given and furnished. We think the contention unsound. The doing and causing a thing to be done are the same in law; therefore a count is not double which charges both. (Bish. Cr. Proc., sec. 434; Joyce on Indictments, sec. 536.) Where a statute makes it an offense to do a thing, or cause such a thing to be done, there is but a single offense. (La Beau v. People, 33 How. Pr. (N. Y.) 66 (affirmed, 34 N. Y. 223); Glass v. United States, 222 Fed. 773, 138 C. C. A. 321; United States v. Nunnemacher, 27 Fed. Cas. No. 15,903.) An allegation charging the defendant with doing or causing something to be done is good in that form, although the statute employs the disjunctive conjunction “or ” instead of ‘‘ and. ’ ’ (United States v. Hull, 14 Fed. 324.) The trial court did not err in respect of this contention.

It is further contended that there is duplicity in the conjunctive allegation of “give” and “furnish.” There is but one offense charged, and but one offense was attempted to be proved.

“When a violation of a criminal statute may be committed in one or more of several ways specified, an indictment or information may, in a single count, charge the commission of the offense in any or all of the ways specified by the statute, if the different acts alleged are not repugnant, *770 and constitute component parts of one transaction.” (State v. Brown, 36 Ida. 272, 211 Pac. 60.)

“The word ‘furnish’ is broader than the words ‘sell’ and ‘give,’ as they are used in the statute, and if said word had been the only one used in the statute as it now reads— that is, if the words ‘sell’ and ‘give’ were not therein used and in their place the word ‘furnish’ was alone employ edit would not for a moment be doubted that a person who had sold or given any alcoholic liquor to another could be convicted of a violation of the statute by thus furnishing to the other person such liquor, if he were charged in the information with furnishing such liquor to another.” (People v. Epperson, 38 Cal. App. 486, 176 Pac. 702.)

In the latter ease “sell” and “furnish” were charged in the conjunctive, and held not repugnant. But it is not necessary here to go further than hold that there is no repugnancy between “give” and “furnish,” and that the information states but one single offense." Albrecht v. United States, 273 U. S. 1, 47 Sup. Ct. 250, 71 L. ed. 505, and Creel v. United States, 27 Fed. (2d) 690, are distinguishable by reason of different punishments, thus emphasizing the distinction of offenses.

It is urged that the trial court improperly admitted evidence that appellant gave liquor to two men and two girls other than prosecutrix, thus showing other offenses. Testimony was adduced to show that on April 16, 1927, one of the men met the appellant in Rexburg, and appellant invited him to the ranch, and to bring some girls, that he had some “booze” out there; that the prosecutrix, her sister and the two men went to appellant’s ranch the next morning about daylight. When they entered the house appellant went outside and brought in a bottle of whisky. He gave it to prosecutrix but she refused to drink it. He then offered it to her sister, and she refused to drink. He then offered it to the men, and they drank. Then the two girls prepared breakfast, and another pint was brought in by appellant, who gave it to prosecutrix, who did not drink, and he passed it around to the others. One of the men *771 then went after some more girls, and later in the day returned with two girls. Then appellant brought in another bottle of whisky, gave it to prosecutrix, who did not drink. Then he gave it to the two girls just arrived, and they drank.

The rule against admitting proof of extraneous crimes is subject to certain exceptions, one being that evidence of other offenses is admissible when two or more crimes are so linked together in point of time or circumstances that one cannot be fully shown without proving the other. (8 R. C. L., p. 200, sec. 195.) The evidence objected to relates to an invitation to and attendance upon one certain liquor party at which appellant is shown to have thrice given prosecutrix a bottle containing whisky (she refusing to drink it). The charge is that appellant gave and • furnished intoxicating liquor to her on that day. In making proof of the facts showing the connection of appellant with the offense charged it was, we think, competent for the state to show the actions of appellant on the occasion of the alleged offense, and to develop as part of the res gestae the various things that he did on that particular occasion. The facts were so linked together in point of time and circumstance as to render the acts constituting proof of all admissible in order to develop one. The appellant denied offering prosecutrix any intoxicating liquor, and denied himself having any liquor on his premises. (Burnett v. State, 83 Tex. Cr. 97, 201 S. W. 409.)

Error is assigned based on leading questions propounded by the prosecuting attorney. We are unable to say that the trial court abused its discretion in this regard. (C. S., sec. 8032.)

Notwithstanding the fact that appellant’s counsel sought to impeach State’s witness Afton Jolley by cross-examination to the same end, he assigns as error certain parts of the cross-examination of appellant as an attempt to show particular wrongful acts having no connection with the crime charged, and not showing conviction of a felony. C. S., sec. 8038, provides that a witness may be impeached by the adverse party, not by evidence of particular wrong *772 ful acts, but by showing, either by examination of the witness or the record of the judgment, that he had been convicted of a felony. C. S., sec.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Heil
28 Misc. 3d 215 (Rye City Court, 2010)
State v. Pierce
685 P.2d 837 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1984)
State v. Palmer
574 P.2d 533 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1978)
State v. Martin
463 P.2d 63 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1969)
State v. Bishop
405 P.2d 970 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1965)
State v. Bassett
385 P.2d 246 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1963)
State v. Roderick
375 P.2d 1005 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1962)
State v. Coburn
354 P.2d 751 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1960)
State v. Aims
326 P.2d 998 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1958)
State v. Cronk
307 P.2d 1113 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1957)
State v. Love
283 P.2d 925 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1955)
State v. Rorvick
277 P.2d 566 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1954)
State v. Owen
253 P.2d 203 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1953)
State v. Scott
239 P.2d 258 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1951)
State v. Wheeler
220 P.2d 687 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1950)
State v. Salhus
189 P.2d 372 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1948)
State v. Randolph
102 P.2d 913 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1940)
State v. Parris
44 P.2d 1118 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1935)
State v. McDermott
17 P.2d 343 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1932)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
271 P. 322, 46 Idaho 765, 1928 Ida. LEXIS 169, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-alvord-idaho-1928.