State v. Peck

261 P. 779, 146 Wash. 101, 1927 Wash. LEXIS 969
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 9, 1927
DocketNo. 20605. Department Two.
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 261 P. 779 (State v. Peck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington 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. Peck, 261 P. 779, 146 Wash. 101, 1927 Wash. LEXIS 969 (Wash. 1927).

Opinion

Fullerton, J.

The appellants, Peck, Peterson and Pavich, were convicted of a violation of the liquor laws. The information upon which the conviction was had (omitting the more formal parts) reads as follows:

“Count I.
“Comes now the prosecuting attorney in and for Spokane county, state of Washington, and charges the defendants, Archie Peck, Jack Peterson and Joe Pavich, with the crime of bootlegging, committed as follows:
“That the said defendants, Archie Peck, Jack Peterson and Joe Pavich, in Spokane county, state of Washington, on or about the 21st day of October, 1926, then and there being, did, then and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously carry about with them intoxicating liquor, to-wit, whiskey, for the purpose of the unlawful sale of the same.
Count II.
“And the prosecuting attorney, as aforesaid, further charges the said defendants, Archie Peck, Jack Peter *103 son and Joe Pavich, with the crime of transporting intoxicating liqnor with intent to sell same, committed as follows:
“That the said defendants, Archie Peck, Jack Peterson and Joe Pavich, in Spokane county, state of Washington, on or about the 21st day of October, 1926, then and there being, did then and there wilfully, and unlawfully transport intoxicating liquor, to-wit, whiskey, with intent then and there to unlawfully sell, barter and exchange the same.”

The appellants were severally found guilty on both counts of the information, and two of the defendants were sentenced upon both counts, the sentences to be cumulative and not concurrent.

The intoxicating liquor, which furnished the basis for the charge in the information, was shipped from some place in the state of Montana over the Great Northern railroad to a station called Dean in Spokane county, in this state. It was concealed for shipment in a coal car. The liquor was considerable in quantity. There were fifty-seven sacks of beer, each sack containing two dozen bottles, and fifty-two sacks of one dozen bottles each of various kinds of liquor, such as whiskey, gin, cognac, champagne, and perhaps other varieties. The defendants were arrested by the officers at Dean station, while they were unloading the liquor from the railroad car into automobiles.

The first assignment of error is based upon the refusal of the trial court to instruct the jury to acquit the appellants upon the first count of the information. The officers testified that, when the appellants were intercepted, they attempted to escape, and were captured after some pursuit. They further testified that they were unable to tell from observation whether the persons carrying the liquor from the railroad car to the automobiles were the same persons whom they after-wards arrested, and that they did not. know what the *104 sacks contained until they were examined after the arrest. It is argued that this is not sufficient proof of carrying about intoxicating liquors for the purposes of unlawful sale. Concerning the question of identity, the pursuit was not extended. The appellants were captured before they had proceeded far, and upon a continuous pursuit, and this, with the surrounding circumstances, leaves but little doubt that the persons captured were the persons carrying the liquors; at least, the evidence was sufficient in warranting the jury in so concluding.

But the argument seems to be that, since the charge in the information is that the intoxicating liquor the appellants carried about was whiskey, and since all of the sacks of liquor carried about did not contain whiskey, and since the officers did not see all of the sacks carried from the railroad car to the automobiles, there is no evidence that the appellants were guilty of the offense charged in the information, namely, carrying about whiskey for the purposes of unlawful sale. The argument mistakes the rule. It is not necessary to show a carrying about upon the’person to show a violation of the statute. Any form of transportation over which the person accused has charge or control, and which he accompanies or personally attends, whether the means be a private car or a public conveyance, is a violation of the statute. The authorities are all to the effect that a principal who procures an unlawful act to be done through the instrumentality of an agent is as much liable as he would be did he personally participate therein; and the rule is that a common carrier is an agent in this sense. State v. Warburton, 97 Wash. 242, 166 Pac. 615. So, in this instance, those of the appellants who accompanied the shipment were guilty of unlawfully carrying about with them intoxicating liquor from the time the ship *105 ment reached the state line until it was taken from their possession by the police officer, and the others were guilty when they joined the first after the shipment reached its destination,, and began carrying it from the railroad cars to the automobiles. The state, possibly unnecessarily, limited its proofs by charging that the intoxicating liquor carried about was whiskey, but, since its evidence tended to prove that, in the quantity of liquors so carried, there was whiskey, its proofs were sufficient to sustain the charge.

'[3] It is said, however, that there is no proof that the appellants were carrying the liquors about for the purpose of unlawful sale. But the statute provides that proof of possession of intoxicating liquor is prima facie evidence that such liquor is kept for the purposes of unlawful sale or disposition, and the statute is applicable to the offense of carrying about, — the offense which the legislature has called bootlegging. State v. Spillman, 110 Wash. 662, 188 Pac. 915. The presumption, it is true, is not a presumption' of law; it is a presumption of fact only, and may be rebutted by evidence contradictory of the fact; but it is in itself sufficient to support a conviction unless overcome by evidence to the contrary, and whether it has been so overcome, is usually a question for the jury. State v. Bachtold, 106 Wash. 550, 180 Pac. 896; State v. Conner, 107 Wash. 571, 182 Pac. 602; State v. Jewett, 120 Wash. 36, 207 Pac. 3; State v. Oleen, 135 Wash. 153, 237 Pac. 292; State v. Presta, 142 Wash. 539, 253 Pac. 811. In this instance, neither of the appellants testified as to the disposition they intended to make of the liquor, and the jury were entitled to give the presumption full force and effect.

The appellants complain of certain of the instructions given by the court to the jury, and of its refusal to give certain others they requested to be *106 given. In the concluding part of the instruction in which the court stated the facts necessary to be found by the jury before they could find the appellants guilty on the first count of the information, this language was used:

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Bluebook (online)
261 P. 779, 146 Wash. 101, 1927 Wash. LEXIS 969, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-peck-wash-1927.