State v. Collins

67 A. 796, 28 R.I. 439, 1907 R.I. LEXIS 70
CourtSupreme Court of Rhode Island
DecidedMay 31, 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 67 A. 796 (State v. Collins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Collins, 67 A. 796, 28 R.I. 439, 1907 R.I. LEXIS 70 (R.I. 1907).

Opinion

*440 Dubois, J.

The defendant, after a verdict of guilty in the Superior Court, upon a complaint and warrant duly charging him with unlawfully keeping for sale intoxicating liquors in the town of Westerly on the seventh day of October, 1905, is now before this court prosecuting his bill of exceptions, based upon numerous alleged errors on the part of the justice who presided at the trial of the case in the Superior Court. The exceptions have been treated by the defendant under eight heads, or points, and for convenience this arrangement will be maintained in the present consideration of the same.

(1) The exceptions assembled under the first point relate to the admission of testimony of the complainant as to the liquors he found during a search made by him of the premises where the defendant was alleged to be doing business, and as to his testifying to the same after reference to a memorandum.

The defendant claims that the search warrant and the officer’s return thereon constitute the best evidence, and that the same should have been produced, or a proper foundation laid, before the introduction of secondary evidence. The search warrant and the return thereon not only were not the best evidence, but they would not have been even admissible in evidence against the defendant at the. trial. The complainant might have used the return as a memorandum to refresh his recollection instead of the' memorandum he did use, but he was not bound to use any, and would not ordinarily be permitted to use any, until he had stated to the court that it was necessary to .refresh his recollection. See State v. Costa, 78 Vt. 198, 203. The exceptions in this group must therefore be overruled.

(2) The second point relates to the admission of the testimony of witnesses as to empty bottles being found in a lane or driveway adjoining the store of the Albert B. Collins Drug Company, and to the going in and coming out of the store by people with packages; and to the temperate or intemperate condition of such people during the period of time from June to October, in the year 1905. The defendant objects that the offence is not laid with a continuando, but is charged as of a certain day; that the search was made on that day, and that the *441 admission, of testimony as to what happened during the several months preceding the day laid in the complaint was contrary to law. The defendant also claims that Gen. Laws cap. 102, § 57, limits the proof to the times mentioned in the complaint. The object of the section is not to limit, it is to extend. It is an enabling statute. It is expressly provided therein, among other things: “it shall not be necessary to set forth the kind or quantity of intoxicating liquors . . . . or the time of the sale or manufacture thereof; but proof of the violation of any of the provisions of this chapter, the substance of which is briefly set forth therein, within the times mentioned therein, by the person complained of, shall be good and sufficient.” This simply means that the true date of sale or manufacture need not be set forth, and that when an- offence has been laid with a continuando, proof of the offence in such case may be made within the times mentioned.

The offence charged, namely, of • unlawfully keeping in-toxicatihg liquor with intent unlawfully to sell the same in this Commonwealth on a certain day, is in its nature a continuing offence, and evidence is therefore admissible tending to show that the same condition of things existed both before and after the day named, for the purpose of showing the intent with which the liquors were kept on the day set forth dn the complaint. Such evidence must be confined within reasonable limits.” Commonwealth v. Vincent, 165 Mass. 19-20. The true rule is that the evidence in such cases must be confined within reasonable limits, and that such limits are usually left to the judicial discretion of the presiding justice, subject to’exception in case of gross abuse. Commonwealth v. Vincent, supra, and cases cited.

In this case we are unable to say that this discretion was improperly exercised. There was evidence indicating a desire on the part of the defendant to sell liquor, for on June 24, 1905, he made application for a license to sell liquors in that town,, which was denied by the town council on the tenth day of the following July. .All the evidence introduced on this branch of the case related to the period between June 1st and *442 October 7th in the same year. It was perfectly proper to admit evidence concerning the manner in which the defendant used the premises occupied by him for business purposes during that timé. There was evidence that full bottles of Ballentine’s ale and beer were found in the defendant’s place at the time of the seizure, and that from twenty-five to forty barrels containing empty bottles bearing Ballentine’s labels were found in the defendant’s barn, headed up, and that they had shipping tags upon them marked B'allentine and Company from Albert B. Collins, Westerly, R. I.” There was also evidence that within the period alluded to numerous empty, and apparently recently emptied, Ballentine beer bottles were found, at different times, in the driveway leading to the barn and shed used by the defendant and near to the back door of the shop wherein the seizure was afterwards made. It was proper to admit such evidence in order that the jury might weigh the same in connection with the other evidence. It is not contended that alone it would have been of much weight, but it was pertinent in the circumstances of the case. No error was committed by the court in these respects, and the exceptions treated under this head must be overruled.

The third point relates to the refusal of the court to charge: In order to find a verdict of guilty, the jury must find two essential facts: 1st, that the defendant kept the intoxicating liquors, etc., in his possession, on his premises, and under his charge; 2nd, that he did so with intent to sell the same without lawful authority.”

The answer to the objection of the defendant is that the court had already sufficiently charged the jury upon the matter.

We have frequently decided that no exception lies to a refusal to charge in such circumstances. . The exception must therefore be overruled.

The fourth point embraces the thirty-fifth exception: “that the court erred in its modification to the defendant’s fourth request to charge, which reads as follows:

Fourth: If the intoxicating liquors were in the possession *443 or under the charge of the respondent, as agent, officer, or employee of the Albert B. Collins Drug Company, he can not be found guilty for the acts of other agents, officers, or employees of said company, in unlawfully keeping for sale intoxicating liquors, without proof of knowledge of such unlawful keeping or proof of authority from him to them for such unlawful keeping.”

The following is the modification to which objection was made:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
67 A. 796, 28 R.I. 439, 1907 R.I. LEXIS 70, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-collins-ri-1907.