State v. Hurst

205 P. 335, 59 Utah 543, 1922 Utah LEXIS 123
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 9, 1922
DocketNo. 3752
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 205 P. 335 (State v. Hurst) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah 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. Hurst, 205 P. 335, 59 Utah 543, 1922 Utah LEXIS 123 (Utah 1922).

Opinion

THURMAN, J.

The information filed by the district attorney charges the defendant as follows:

"Charles Hurst, the defendant above-named, having heretofore, to wit, on the 16th day of August, A. D. 1921, been duly committed to this court by Charles Kryger, a justice of the peace in and for Eureka City, Juab county, Utah, acting as a committing magistrate, to answer to the charge hereinafter set forth, is accused by William B. Higgins, the district attorney of the Fifth judicial district of the state of Utah, i'n and for Juab county, by this information of the crime of felony, to wit, being a persistent violator of title 54 of the Compiled Laws of Utah 1917, committed as follows:
“That the said Charles Hurst, at Juab county, state of Utah, on the 6th day of August, A. D. 1921, having theretofore, to wit, on the 12th day of March, 1920, been duly and regularly convicted of willfully, unlawfully and intentionally having in his possession intoxicating liquors without a permit or authority of law, by and in the • justice’s court of Eureka City, Juab county, state of Utah, did willfully, unlawfully, knowingly, feloniously, and intentionally, have in his possession one gallon jar of intoxicating liquors, to wit, whisky, without a permit, license, or authority whatsoever.
“All of which is contrary to the form, force, and effect of the statutes of Utah, in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state of Utah.”

The defendant demurred to the information for want of sufficient facts, and also on the ground that there is no statute making it a felony for having liquor in one’s possession where the former conviction of having liquor in one’s possession was under a city ordinance. Upon substantially the same grounds defendant moved to quash the information.

It nowhere appears in the information that the defendant [545]*545bad formerly been convicted under a city ordinance. It does appear that be bad been convicted before a city justice of tbe peace, but, for' augbt that appears, the conviction may have been for a violation of tbe statute. Comp. Laws Utah 1917, § 630, confers jurisdiction upon city justices of tbe peace in statutory misdemeanors as well as of' offenses under city ordinances. Tbe information, therefore, 1 is not obnoxious to tbe objections raised by the demurrer. Tbe motion to quash also assumes that tbe objections relied on appear on the face of tbe information, and for that reason its effect is that of a demurrer only.

If we bad nothing before us in this case but tbe informa-iton, demurrer, and motion to quash we would feel compelled to bold that tbe information is invulnerable, and that tbe demurrer should have been overruled and tbe motion to quash denied.

The trial court, however, sustained both tbe demurrer and motion to quash, and dismissed tbe case. This action of tbe court is explicable only upon the theory that, by common consent, or some bind of understanding between tbe parties and tbe court, documents other than tbe pleadings were made a part of tbe record and considered by tbe court in arriving at a conclusion. Tbe parties themselves, 2 with tbe evident consent of tbe court, having waived tbe informality, tbe question will be determined upon tbe record as presented.

Tbe court bad before it tbe complaint filed before the examining magistrate upon which tbe information was based, tbe ordinance of Eureka City making it an offense to knowingly have intoxicating liquor in one’s possession without authority, tbe complaint in tbe city justice’s court of Eureka City charging defendant with tbe offense under tbe city ordinance, and a certified copy of tbe judgment of conviction in said court. From all of tbe foregoing documents, including tbe pleadings in this action, it is made to appear that tbe defendant was duly convicted March 12, 1920, in tbe justice’s court of Eureka City of tbe offense of knowingly having in [546]*546his possession, without authority, intoxicating liquor, in violation of an ordinance of said city.

In the instant ease the information, after alleging the conviction in the justice’s court, charges the defendant with a felony, and with being a persistent violator of title 54, Comp. Laws Utah 1917, relating to intoxicating liquors, and specifically charges that, on the 6th day of August, 1921, at the city of Eureka, Juab county, Utah, without permit or authority of law, the defendant .willfully, knowingly, feloniously, and unlawfully had in his possession one gallon of whisky, •contrary to the form of the statute in such cases made and provided. Thus it appears that the first conviction was for an offense against a city ordinance, and the charge of the case at bar is for a felony in violation of the laws of the state.

The concrete question for our determination is, Does the statute (title 54, Comp. Laws Utah 1917) reláting to intoxicating liquors authorize a prosecution for a felony where the former conviction relied on was not for a violation of the statute, but for a violation of a city ordinance? The solution of this question involves the interpretation of two or more sections of the statute, and renders it necessary that the same should be specifically referred to and quoted:

“3343. Except as hereinafter provided, the manufacture, sale, keeping, or storing for sale in this state, or offering or exposing for sale or importing, carrying, transporting, advertising, distributing, giving away, exchanging, dispensing, or serving of liquors, are forever prohibited in this state. It shall be unlawful for any person within this state knowingly to have in his or its possession any intoxicating liquor, except as in this title provided.”
“3345. Any person convicted of violation of any of the provisions of this title shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, where the punishment therefor is not herein specifically provided, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $299, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not less than thirty days nor more than six months, or both such fine and imprisonment. A person having once been convicted of a violation of any of the provisions of this title, except § 3361, who thereafter violates the provisions thereof, shall be considered a persistent violator of this title, and shall be deemed guilty of felony, and upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the state prison at hard labor for not less than three months nor more than two years. It shall be the duty [547]*547of .the prosecuting attorney, in all cases, to the best of his ability, to ascertain whether or not the defendant has at any time been convicted of any violation of any of the provisions of this title, and, if so, such fact shall be set out in the complaint, and the said prosecuting attorney shall, at the trial of such second or subsequent offense, introduce in evidence a certified copy of any on all such prior judgments of conviction, which shall be sufficient evidence of any such prior convictions; and said prosecuting attorney shall not be permitted to use his discretion in charging and proving said second or subsequent offense.”

It will no doubt be conceded that section 3345, as quoted, does not authorize prosecutions for a felony for a subsequent violation of the law where the former conviction relied on was for an offense against a city ordinance.

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Bluebook (online)
205 P. 335, 59 Utah 543, 1922 Utah LEXIS 123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hurst-utah-1922.