State v. Kelly

253 N.W. 49, 217 Iowa 1305
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMarch 6, 1934
DocketNo. 41796.
StatusPublished

This text of 253 N.W. 49 (State v. Kelly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Kelly, 253 N.W. 49, 217 Iowa 1305 (iowa 1934).

Opinion

Kindig, J.

On February 2, 1932, the grand jury of Union county indicted the defendant-appellant, P. E. Kelly, for maintaining a liquor nuisance, on or about October 17, 1931, at 211 East Montgomery street, in Crestón. To that indictment the appellant pleaded not guilty. Accordingly, on September 1, 1932, the appellant was tried to a jury on the charge named in the indictment. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and, on September 16, 1932, sentence was imposed upon the appellant. From the judgment thus imposing the sentence, the appellant appeals.

Three propositions are argued on the appeal. They are:'First, that the evidence is not sufficient to convict the appellant; second, that the district court erroneously instructed the jury; and, third, that the sentence was not imposed according to law.

I. At the close of the evidence, the appellant made a motion for a directed verdict in his favor on the theory that the evidence was not sufficient. This motion was overruled. A complaint of that ruling is now interposed by the appellant.

It is claimed by the appellant that his position in this regard is sustained by the case of State v. Friend, 207 Iowa 742, 223 N. W. 546. In that case, we held, in effect, that the mere finding of intoxicating liquors in the home of the head of the family is not enough in and of itself “on which to base a finding that a son, as a member of the family, was in posséssion of the liquor.” That is not the situation in the case at bar. According to the record, the appellant had occupied 211 East Montgomery street, in Crestón, for a period of approximately five years. There the appellant conducted a feed, produce, and near beer business. Complaints were made to the officers of the illegal traffic in intoxicating liquors at the appellant’s place of business.

On two occasions the premises were raided by officers armed with search warrants. The first search was made in 1930 and the *1307 second on October 17, 1931. Chris Thompson, the sheriff of Union county, in which Crestón is located, made the last search with the assistance of Charles Cruzen, chief of police in Crestón, C. J. Hines, a policeman in that city, and Virgil Jungst, a deputy sheriff in Union county. It seems that the sheriff and Mr. Hines went to the basement of the building, while Mr. Cruzen and the deputy sheriff searched the office. Before making the search, these officers read the search warrant to the appellant. Virgil Jungst, the deputy sheriff, testified as follows:

“I had the warrant. The sheriff and I went to the south double door. From there (I went) into the office through the east door. We found the Kelly boys (the appellant and his brother) and other fellows; Pete Kelly (the appellant) was there; I read the warrant in front of Pete Kelly. I said, ‘I got a search warrant for the place’; he (the appellant) started for the east door that goes out into the storeroom; the chief (Chief of Police) stopped him; he (the appellant) came back and went to the south wall and pulled a wire; it went up through the ceiling and across the rafters; it was in the southeast corner along the south wall; I said, ‘Is that a signal’ and he (the appellant) did not answer; then I heard a crash like breaking glass; I searched.the cloak room and wash room and behind the counter, then went into the basement where the rest of the men were. The sheriff had a gallon jug (of intoxicating liquor) in his hand; there was a drain in the southeast corner of the basement, under the stairway. There was broken glass over the drain; there was an odor of alcohol there; there was a rope hanging a board to the ceiling; there was a cleat on the wall where the board apparently had sat; there was another cleat about the length of the board from The other one; we put the board on the cleats and it sat there; the rope went up to the ceiling through the floor and into the office and tied to a wire where Mr. Kelly (the appellant) pulled it. I operated the device; we laid the board on the cleats and I told the rest of them (the officers) to watch and I would pull the wire and it raised the board off the cleat; anything that was setting on the board would have to slide off and hit right over the drain.” This testimony of the deputy sheriff is corroborated fully by the other officers.

Not only does the record contain the foregoing testimony of the deputy sheriff and the corroboration thereof by other witnesses, *1308 but, in addition thereto, there is the testimony of the sheriff as follows:

“I went downstairs and went behind the stairs and found a jug of alcohol; I saw a broken jug laying under the stairway. * * * I took the liquor. * * There was a strong smell of alcohol in the cellar; I saw wet places around the drain. * * * A broken jar was lying over the drain. * * * Exhibit 2 is a jug we found laying on top of the broken glass in the basement of defendant’s (appellant’s) place. I examined the contents of the jug by tasting, smelling, and burning it.” The officers testified that the liquor found in the basement was an intoxicating beverage.

It is to be remembered that the liquor was found in the appellant’s place of business. He, and no one else, pulled the wire which led through the building into the basement. Why should such contraption be maintained by the appellant? When testifying, the appellant suggested that the alcohol belonged to his brother, and that the wire and rope contraption was a signal device to call people, from the basement for legitimate purposes. Of course, that testimony, as controverted by the statements of the officers, presented a jury question, and the jury found against the appellant. Manifestly there is a distinction between the facts in this case and those involved in State v. Friend (207 Iowa 742, 223 N. W. 546), supra, relied upon by the appellant. In the Friend case, the defendant was not identified as the possessor of the liquor, while in the case at bar there is much evidence indicating that the appellant was interested in the intoxicating liquors found by the officers in the basement.

There has been no attempt to set out all the evidence in the record, but it is manifest that enough of the record has been set forth to indicate that a jury question was presented on the issue of the appellant’s guilt of the charge made in the indictment. This conclusion is sustained by the following cases: State v. Bamsey, 208 Iowa 796, 223 N. W. 873; State v. Bruns, 211 Iowa 826, 232 N. W. 684; Iowa v. Tibbits, 207 Iowa 1033, 222 N. W. 423; State v. McGee, 207 Iowa 334, 221 N. W. 556.

II. Not only does the appellant ask for a reversal on the ground just discussed, but, as before explained, he demands such reversal also because the district court improperly instructed the jury. Under instruction No. 8, the district court told the jury that they were not confined, in determining the appellant’s guilt, to the *1309 exact date named in the indictment, but that they could find the appellant guilty if he committed the offense at any time within three years before the indictment was returned. That instruction is erroneous, the appellant argues, because the effect of it is to put him on trial twice for the same offense.

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Related

State v. Tibbits
222 N.W. 423 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1928)
State v. Reinhard
209 N.W. 419 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1926)
State v. McGee
221 N.W. 556 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1928)
State v. Bruns
232 N.W. 684 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1930)
State Ex Rel. Preston v. Hamilton
220 N.W. 313 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1928)
State v. Friend
223 N.W. 546 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1929)
State v. Boever
210 N.W. 571 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1926)
State v. Bamsey
223 N.W. 873 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1929)
State v. Graham
35 N.W. 628 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1887)
State v. Norman
113 N.W. 340 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1907)
State v. Broderick
191 Iowa 717 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1921)

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Bluebook (online)
253 N.W. 49, 217 Iowa 1305, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kelly-iowa-1934.