Stout v. State

93 Ind. 150, 1884 Ind. LEXIS 714
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 26, 1884
DocketNo. 11,373
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 93 Ind. 150 (Stout v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stout v. State, 93 Ind. 150, 1884 Ind. LEXIS 714 (Ind. 1884).

Opinion

Howk, C. J.

— In this case the appellant was indicted, tried and convicted for the alleged commission of one of the mis[151]*151■demeanors defined in section 5320, R. S. 1881. Erom the judgment of conviction he has appealed to this court, and has here assigned as errors the following decisions of the circuit court:

1. The overruling of his motion to quash the indictment; and,

2. The overruling of his motion for a new trial.

In the indictment it was charged that the appellant, on the 1st day of September, 1883, in Monroe county, Indiana, “ did then and there unlawfully sell to one John Ward certain intoxicating malt liquor, to be drunk, and suffered to be drunk, in the house, out-house, yard, garden and the appurtenances thereto belonging, of the said Daniel A. Stout, where the same was sold, to wit, one quart of malt liquor, commonly called ; beer/ at and for the price of fifteen cents, he, the said Daniel A. Stout, not then and there having a license to sell such intoxicating liquors to be drunk, or suffered to be drunk, in his said house, out-house, yard, garden or the appurtenances thereto belonging, contrary to the form of the statute/’ etc.

The first objection to the indictment,urged in argument by appellant’s counsel is that it is bad for duplicity. There is no duplicity in the indictment. It charges but one unlawful sale of intoxicating liquor, made to one person, at one time, for one price. The charge that the one quart of liquor, thus sold, was sold to be drunk, and suffered to be drunk, in the appellant’s house, out-house, yard, garden and the appurtenances thereto belonging, does not make the indictment bad for duplicity. In Stockwell v. State, 85 Ind. 522, the offence was charged in substantially the same manner as in the case at bar, and it was there held that there was no error in overruling a motion to quash the indictment.

Another objection urged to the indictment in this case is that it is not signed by the prosecuting attorney. Upon this point the appellant’s counsel say: “ It is true, the indictment has a pretended signature attached to. it, as follows: Henry V. Duncan, Prosecuting Attorney, by Jos. E. Henley, deputy.’ [152]*152The statute requires the indictment to be signed by the prosecuting attorney. Sections 1669 and 1670, R. S. 1881.” Counsel also say: “ The prosecuting attorney is not authorized by law to sign an indictment by deputy.” It is a sufficient answer to this objection to say that, in section 5568, R. S. 1881, it is provided that a prosecuting attorney may appoint a deputy; and section 5569 provides that such deputy may perform all the official duties of his principal. Therefore the indictment in this case was properly and legally signed.

Again, it is objected by the appellant’s counsel that the record fails to show that the grand jury, who returned the indictment into court, were ever empanelled, and, therefore, it is claimed the motion to quash the indictment ought to have been sustained. Upon this point the showing in the record is as follows: “Come now the grand jury and return into open court the following indictments, numbered as follows, to wit: No. 15, being in the words and figures following, to wit.” Then follows a copy of the indictment. After giving-the venue and title of the cause, and the style and term of the court, the indictment proceeds as follows: “The grand jurors of Monroe county, in the State of Indiana, good and lawful men, duly and legally empanelled, charged and sworn to en-quire into felonies and certain misdemeanors, in and for the body of said county of Monroe, in the name and by the authority of the State of Indiana, on their oath present,” etc.

By these recitals in the record and indictment, it is sufficiently shown that the grand jury, who returned the indictment in this case, were duly and legally empanelled, when the question in regard to their empanelment is presented only by a motion to quash the indictment. In the recent case of Powers v. State, 87 Ind. 144, it was held by this court that where the record shows that the grand jury returned the indictment into open court, and the indictment itself states that the grand jury were duly empanelled, sworn and charged, the empanelling of the grand jury is sufficiently shown. Thisd‘6-[153]*153cisión is conclusive of the point under consideration, adversely to the appellant.

The motion to quash the indictment in this case was correctly overruled.

In appellant’s motion for a new trial, the only causes assigned therefor were that the finding of the court was not sustained by sufficient evidence, and that it was contrary to law. It is earnestly insisted by the appellant’s counsel that the evidence was wholly insufficient to sustain the finding of the trial court. The prosecuting witness, John Ward, testified, substantially, as follows: “ On or about the 1st day of September, 1883, in company with Lewis Cole, I went to the saloon in which Stout keeps bar, and called for one quart of beer; defendant Stout handed me a quart bottle of beer, and I paid fifteen cents for it; I think, yes, I am certain, I paid for it; Stout gave me the beer, and also handed me two glasses to drink out of; he did not tell me where to drink the beer, or where not to drink it; but Stout must have seen Cole and myself go out the back door of the saloon; the back door opens into a room that was formerly used as a ten-pin alley; we proceeded along said alley for about twenty or thirty feet from the rear door of the saloon, and there drank the beer; there is where the boys usually drink that patronize the saloon in which Stout stays, and where I usually drank; where we drank was in the rear of the saloon, and about ten feet from the alley; I do not know who owned the ground north of the saloon ; after drinking the beer I returned the bottle and glasses to Stout in the saloon ; the beer was intoxicating, and the place where I bought the beer is in Monroe county and 'State of Indiana; it is usual for the boys to buy a bottle of beer and go out the back door in the ten-pin alley to drink the same; Patrick Fitzpatrick owned the saloon, and Stout was keeping bar and lived up-stairs over the saloon/”

Appellant testified : “I sold John War’d the quart of beer, but did not see him drink it on the premises; he did not drink the beer in the saloon. I can not say whether he drank [154]*154it in the rear of the saloon or not. I did not own the saloon, nor did I lease the building. I was merely bartender for Fitzpatrick.”

Patrick Fitzpatrick testified: I am the owner of the saloon mentioned. I leased the saloon building of James Kelley, and my leased premises only extended as far back as the door that opens into the ten-pin alley. Back of said door for about twenty feet belongs to James Kelley, and still back of that, to the road-alley, belongs to William Burk. I had no contract back further than the door leading from the saloon into the ten-pin alley. I never authorized any ope to drink out there, although people frequently drank there, and some did so that did not buy at my place.”

The foregoing is all the material evidence given on the trial of this cause as 'the same appears in the bill of exceptions properly in the record.

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Bluebook (online)
93 Ind. 150, 1884 Ind. LEXIS 714, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stout-v-state-ind-1884.