State v. Campbell

105 S.W. 637, 206 Mo. 579, 1907 Mo. LEXIS 171
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedNovember 19, 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 105 S.W. 637 (State v. Campbell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Campbell, 105 S.W. 637, 206 Mo. 579, 1907 Mo. LEXIS 171 (Mo. 1907).

Opinion

FOX, P. J.

This cause is now pending in this court upon appeal by the defendant from a judgment of conviction in the Barry Circuit Court for the offense of exposing for sale goods, wares and merchandise on the first day of the week commonly called Sunday. The information upon which this prosecution is predicated, which was duly verified, omitting formal parts, is as follows:

“D. H. Kemp, prosecuting attorney within and for the county of Barry, in the State of Missouri, acting herein under his oath of office, and upon his knowledge, information and belief, informs the court that Jim Campbell and John W. Campbell at and in the county of Barry and State of Missouri, on the 23rd day of July, 1905, said day being the first day of the week [582]*582commonly called Sunday, did then and there, unlawfully expose to sale goods, wares and merchandise, to wit, lemons, candy, ice cream, ice cream soda, chill., in the city of Moriett, Barry county, Missouri, said goods, wares and merchandise, to-wit, lemons, candy, ice cream, ice cream soda and chili, not being drugs, medicines or provisions or other articles of immediate necessity, against the peace and dignity of the State.”

. Defendant filed an application for a change of the venue of said cause on the ground of the bias and prejudice of the Hon. F. G. Johnston, who was the regular judge of that court. Said application was sustained and it was ordered that Hon. Howard Gray of Carthage, Missouri, be called to sit as judge in this cause on the 4th day of December', 1905, the same being the 3rd day of the September adjourned term of said court, 1905. Court met pursuant to adjournment on December 4, 1905, and the Hon. Howard Gray appeared to sit in the trial of said cause. The defendant interposed a demurrer to the information, “asserting, among other reasons, that it violated certain provisions of the Constitution of the United States and' of this State, designating in the demurrer the particular provisions of the Constitution to which the grounds were specially applicable. This demurrer was by the court overruled and the trial proceeded before a jury.-

With the views we entertain respecting this cause it is unnecessary to detail the evidence developed at the trial. It may be conceded for the purposes of this case that there was exposed in the ice cream and chili parlor of the defendant the articles designated in the information. The defendant James Campbell is the only defendant appealing, but James Campbell and John Campbell were both put upon trial. At the close of the evidence the court gave an instruction in the nature of a demurrer directing the jury to find John Campbell not guilty. Counsel for appellant also [583]*583requested an instruction in the nature of a demurrer to the evidence, directing the jury to find James Campbell not guilty, which request was denied, and proper exceptions were preserved to the action of the court. The court then proceeded to instruct the jury as follows :

“1. The court instructs the'jury that the law of this case will be found in the following instructions, and it is the duty of the jury to accept these instructions as the law of the ease. And by the information herein'"filed in this case on the 24th day of July, 1906, the State of Missouri charges .the defendant with the crime of exposing goods, wares and merchandise for sale on Sunday, and he pleads not guilty, and it is upon the question of his guilt or innocence that you have now to pass.

“2. The court instructs the jury that if they find and believe from the evidence in this case that the defendant, Jim Campbell, at the county of Barry, and State of Missouri, on Sunday, the 23rd day of July, 1905, did unlawfully expose to sale any lemons, and that said lemons were goods, wares, or merchandise, then you will find said defendant guilty, and assess his punishment at a fine of not exceeding fifty dollars.

“3. The court instructs the jury that by the term * expose for sale,’ the court means keeping and showing, for the purpose of selling the same, and it is not necessary for the State to prove an actual sale.

“4. Even though the jury find the defendant, James Campbell, did expose to sale or did sell lemons in the month of July, yet unless the jury further find that he did so on Sunday, the 23rd day of July, 1905, they should find him not guilty.

5. The court instructs the jury that the information in this case is merely a formal accusation against the defendant, and is not of itself any evidence of guilt, and no juror should permit himself to in any degree be [584]*584influenced against the defendant because of or on account of the information in this case.

“6. The court instructs the jury that the burden of proof to establish the guilt of the defendant rests upon the State, and the defendant is presumed to be innocent of the charge against him, and this presumption of innocence attends and protects him: throughout the trial until overcome by evidence which shows the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt. If the jury have a reasonable doubt of the defendant’s guilt, you should give him the benefit of such doubt, and acquit him. By a reasonable doubt - is meant a doubt which has reason for its basis, and arising from a consideration of all the evidence in the case, and not a mere possibility of his innocence.

“7. The court instructs the jury that to expose to sale means to place in view with the purpose and intention of selling; and, although you may find from the evidence that lemons were in sight or could be seen by parties going into the defendant’s place of business, yet, unless you further find that the lemons were thus in view by the defendant with the purpose and intention of selling on Sunday, you will find him not guilty. ”

To the giving of said instructions and each of them, the defendant excepted at the time, and still excepts. The cause was submitted to the jury and they returned a verdict finding the defendant guilty and assessing his punishment at a fine of one dollar. • Timely motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment were duly filed and by the court overruled. Judgment was duly entered for the recovery of the fine imposed by the jury and from this judgment the defendant prosecuted his appeal to the St. Louis Court of Appeals and that court certified the cause to this court on the ground of the constitutional question properly raised by the motion to quash the information, and the record is now before us for consideration.

[585]*585OPINION.

It is apparent from the disclosures of the record' in this cause that the questions confronting us are brought within a very narrow compass. It is sufficient to say upon the constitutional question suggested in the motion to quash this information, that this statute, embracing substantially the same provisions as it does now, was reviewed and held constitutional in the early case of State v. Ambs, 20 Mo. 214. In the recent case of City of St. Louis v. DeLassus, 205 Mo. 578, Judge G-antt exhaustively reviewed all of the authorities applicable to the constitutional question presented in the case at bar, and the statute now assailed was in that case fully recognized as a valid and constitutional law.

Numerous complaints are urged against the action of the trial court in this case as grounds for the reversal of this judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
105 S.W. 637, 206 Mo. 579, 1907 Mo. LEXIS 171, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-campbell-mo-1907.