State v. Whisner

35 Kan. 271
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJanuary 15, 1886
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 35 Kan. 271 (State v. Whisner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Whisner, 35 Kan. 271 (kan 1886).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Horton, C. J.:

The defendant was Convicted upon two separate counts of an information, charging him with violations of the provisions of the prohibitory liquor law. He was sentenced to pay fines accounting in all to $500, and to terms of imprisonment aggregating four months in the county jail of Linn county. From the judgment he appeals. It is urged that the information is insufficient, and that the proceedings against the defendant were not by due course of law. In support thereof, it is said that the information did not give to the defendant the nature and cause of the accusation against him, and that the proceeding against him was not by the ordinary course established at the common law. Neither of these points is well taken.

In prosecutions of this character, it is not necessary to state the kind of liquor sold, or the name of the person to whom [276]*276sold, for the statute expressly and specifically provides that these things need not be stated. (Laws of 1885, ch. 149, § 14; The State v. Schweiter, 27 Kas. 499; The State v. Sterns, 28 id. 154; The State v. Olferman, 29 id. 502; The State v. Shackle, 29 id. 341; The State v. Brooks, 33 id. 708.) In this case, however, the defendant had no reason to complain of being ignorant as to the offenses he was called upon to defend. The testimony of the principal witnesses as to sales of intoxicating liquors made by him was reduced to writing and filed with the information. Therefore, before the trial began, he was notified that John Beckman, whose name was indorsed upon the information as a witnéss, had testified that he had frequently drank whisky and beer in his saloon at different times since March 10, 1885; and that about the first of May, 1885, John Gaines treated him in the saloon to a glass of whisky. He was also notified by the written testimony that John Gaines, whose name was upon the information, had testified that during the spring and summer of 1885 the defendant was keeping a billiard saloon in La Cygne, and that about May 1, 1885, he bought of him, in his saloon, two glasses of whisky, which he poured out; and that about June 15, 1885, he bought of him, in the same saloon, a drink of whisky and cider mixed together, and at the same time saw other parties get and drink the same kind of mixture. Other witnesses, whose names were upon the information, had also testified to specific sales of intoxicating' liquoi’S made by the defendant in his saloon in 1885, and before the filing of the information, and also the kind of intoxicating liquors sold by him at said times. Of course the defendant had the right to suppose that these witnesses would testify upon the trial to the same facts set forth in the testimony filed with the information. Therefore he was given fair notice of the offenses charged against him; of the kind of intoxicating liquors sold by him; and when he sold the same and to whom he sold the same. In this case, the letter and spirit of § 10 of the bill of rights were complied with, as the defendant was informed of [277]*277the nature and the cause of the accusation against him with great particularity.

4. Statements of witnesses; complaint without cause. 1. Prohibitory liquor law; statements of iimuof oin- ‘ 2. Due process °f law. An attempt is made to question the constitutionality of § 8 of said chapter 149, giving county attorneys power to subpena and examine witnesses concerning violations of that act. From the record, however, this question' is not before us for decision. None of the witnesses who were subpenaed and examined before the county attorney of Linn county on July 13, 1885, concerning the violations of the provisions of the prohibitory liquor law by the defendant, are here complaining, and the defendant has no right to complain for them. He stands before the court in reference to such matter as if all the parties to the statements filed with the information had voluntarily appeared before the county attorney, and had made before him, at their own instance, the statements. The county attorney clearly had the right, for the benefit of the defendant, to file with his in-' formation a bill of particulars, or any sworn statements, showing what specific offenses he intended to charge, when he verified the information. All of this enabled the defendant to prepare his defense, and after such statements or evidence had been filed with the information, the defendant .could not be convicted of any offense not therein referred to or set forth. (The State v. Brooks, supra; The State v. Clark, 34 Kas. 289.) It has already been decided by the supreme court of the United States, in Foster v. Kansas, 112 U. S. 201, that the prohibitory liquor law is not repugnant to the constitution of the United States; neither is it in conflict with any of the provisions of the constitution of this state. (Prohibitory Amendment, 24 Kas. 700; Intoxicating-Liquor Cases, 25 id. 751; The State, v. Schweiter, supra; The State, ex rel., v. Foster, 32 Kas. 14.) And we oan perceive no fundamental rights in that system of jurisprudence, of which ours is derivative, which have in any way been disregarded. The words due process of law” do not mean and have not the effect of limiting the powers of the state to prosecutions for crime by indict[278]*278ment, “but these words do mean law in its regular; course of administration, according to prescribed forms, and in accordance with the general rules for the protection of individual rights.” (Hurtado v. The People, 110 U. S. 516; Walker v. Sauvinet, 92 id. 90-93.) The law authorizing the filing of in-formations in such a case as this, is not in conflict with our constitution, or the constitution of the United States. (The State v. Barnett, 3 Kas. 250; Cooley on Constitutional Limitations, 5th ed., 376 ; Kalloch v. Superior Court, 56 Cal. 229; Ex parte Wilson, 114 U. S. 417.)

3‘ £y°auedprocess of law. A sufficient information was filed against the defendant; with the information was filed the sworn statements of the important witnesses whose names were indorsed thereon. Thereby the defendant was fully ap- ‡ J , ^ , prised of the nature of the charges against him, so that he might know what he was to answer. The proceeding against him was upon inquiry; he was heard before he was condemned, and no judgment was rendered until after trial. Therefore, there is no force whatever in the assertion “that the proceeding was not by due process of law.”

Section 9 of said chapter 149 provides that when a county attorney files a complaint or information with a statement of any witness that intoxicating liquors are being unlawfully sold, the information may be verified by the county attorney upon information and belief. Sec. 67a of the criminal code, Comp. Laws of ,1879, reads:

“When an information in any case is verified by the county attorney, it shall be sufficient if the verification be upon information and belief.”

6' sufficient‘verification. It is insisted that as the verification by the county attorney to the information says the same “ is true according to the best of his information and belief,” it does not comply with the requirement of the statute, and therefore the information is not verified.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Pulskamp v. Martinez
2 Cal. App. 4th 854 (California Court of Appeal, 1992)
Opinion No. Oag 39-81, (1981)
70 Op. Att'y Gen. 154 (Wisconsin Attorney General Reports, 1981)
Bailey v. Hudspeth
191 P.2d 894 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1948)
Whalen v. Cristell
173 P.2d 252 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1946)
Royster, Clerk v. Brock
79 S.W.2d 707 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1935)
Chapman v. Boynton
4 F. Supp. 43 (D. Kansas, 1933)
State ex rel. Boynton v. French
300 P. 1082 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1931)
Burley ex rel. Callery v. Missouri Pacific Railroad
237 P. 903 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1925)
Hanson v. Kendt
146 P. 1190 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1915)
Smith v. Mitchell
72 S.E. 755 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1911)
Woessner v. Bullock
93 N.E. 1057 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1911)
State v. Stevens
123 N.W. 888 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1909)
De Graff v. State
1909 OK CR 82 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1909)
Fletcher v. State
1909 OK CR 59 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1909)
State v. Taylor
89 P. 672 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1907)
State v. Whit
85 Kan. 875 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1901)
State v. Snyder
57 P. 135 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1899)
State v. Burchard
57 N.W. 491 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1894)
State v. Kirkpatrick
52 Kan. 50 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1893)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
35 Kan. 271, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-whisner-kan-1886.