Thornhill v. State

1930 OK CR 130, 287 P. 743, 47 Okla. Crim. 9, 1930 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 295
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 29, 1930
DocketNo. A-7262.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1930 OK CR 130 (Thornhill v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thornhill v. State, 1930 OK CR 130, 287 P. 743, 47 Okla. Crim. 9, 1930 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 295 (Okla. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

DAVENPORT, J.

The plaintiff in error, hereinafter referred to as the defendant, was tried in the county court of Dewey county on a charge of having possession of intoxicating liquor, to wit, beer, with the unlawful intent then and there to sell, barter, give away, and otherwise furnish to others, and was sentenced to pay a fine of $50 and be confined in the county jail of Dewey county for a period of 30 days, from which judgment the defendant has appealed to this court.

The defendant filed a demurrer to the information, alleging the information did not state facts sufficient to constitute an offense against the laws of the state of Oklahoma; second, the information does not allege that the beer is a cask or as much as a cask; third, the information alleges possession of 108 pints of beer, which shows on its face it is less than a cask of beer; and, fourth, the evidence will show that it is not beer but home brew, a substitute for beer, and the information does not allege that it contains more than one-half of 1 per cent, of alcohol measured by volume and capable of being used as a beverage. This motion ivas overruled and the defendant saved an exception. The jury was impaneled, and the state called as a Avitness C. C. Jones, the substance of Avhose testimony is as follows: “I was sheriff of Dewey county on the 12th day *11 of July, 1928; I am acquainted with the defendant T. W. Thornhill.” The defendant then objected to any testimony of the sheriff, C. C. Jones, on the same grounds as set forth in his demurrer to the information, which objection was by the court overruled, and the defendant duly excepted. Witness Jones then státed he was at defendant’s place on July 12, 1928; “Walter Tower and Marvin Compton was with me; we went there with a search warrant; we found some beer, beer bottles, and jars out there, and brought them to Taloga; the empty bottles and jars have been in the old jail; the janitor has the key to that.” The defendant then entered a motion and objection to the court trying- said cause on the ground that the court did not have jurisdiction at this time to try the cause as no order was made by the court fixing a time for a November term of court. Testimony was taken on defendant’s motion, the court after hearing the same overruled his motion, and defendant excepted.

Witness Jones further testified as to the number of bottles of beer and to the number of empties, and the county attorney then asked the following questions, and he gave the following answers:

“I will ask you, Mr. Jones, to take the cap off that bottle? A. Haven’t anything to take it off with.
“Q. Might pull it off on some of this stuff here.”

The sheriff takes the cap off the bottle. The county attorney then asks the court to be allowed to pass the beer bottle to the jury, to which the defendant objected, the court overruled the objection and gave the defendant an exception, and the jury taste the contents of the bottle. Witness then stated he had sampled some of the beer and that it was intoxicating. On cross-examination, he thought there were 108 pint bottles. He was then asked the following- question:

*12 “Q. That is home brew, is it? A. Some call it beer and some home brew. (The defendant objected, which objection was overruled, and the witness proceeded.) If it was made at home it would be home brew; I drank a bottle of it and that is the way I arrived at the conclusion that it was intoxicating. I did not drink enough of it to feel the effect of it-but I have drank beer, Mr. Corn, and I know what beer it. I have drank beer several years ago before prohibition.”

The witness further stated defendant told him the empty bottles had been brought to his house by a man by the name of John Boatman; they were brought there for a man at Sharon.

Walter Tower, called as a witness, in substance, stated the same facts as did the witness Jones as to what took place at the defendant’s home and what was found there.

At the close of the state’s direct testimony, the defendant moved the court for a directed verdict on the ground that the state had failed to show that the law had been violated, and the state’s evidence discloses that the alleged intoxicant was not beer but home brew, and there is no testimony showing that it contained more than one-half of 1 per cent, alcohol measured by volume and capable of being used as a beverage, which motion was overruled, and defendant duly excepted.

The defendant called Clark Bowser, whose name appears on the affidavit for the search warrant, and the witness, in substance, stated that the affidavit for the search warrant was not read to him, nor did he know what it contained; that he was working at a threshing machine, and his uncle Marvin Compton and the deputy came out to where he was threshing and took him to town and handed him a paper which he signed, and that the court did not swear him to it. It developed in the testimony it was an affidavit for a search warrant. The deputy *13 sheriff stated that Clark -Bowser stated he did not like to sign the affidavit. The defendant then introduced the affidavit of Clark Bowser in evidence, and stated, in substance, that he had never been convicted of any crime; “my family consists of my wife, five children, and myself;” defendant admitted the stuff found at his house was called home brew; he made it himself, and the stuff they had in the courtroom looked like the stuff he made, and gave the formula he used in making this brew, and stated it ivas a substitute for beer; the empty bottles had been brought by a man named John Boatman, for some one from Sharon.

On cross-examination, the defendant testified that he had drunk as many as ten or twelve bottles of this drink the officers found in the bottles in a few hours; that he had drunk as many as eight or ten bottles in a space of two hours, and he knew it was not intoxicating.

Marvin Compton was called in rebuttal by the state and stated he was acquainted with Clark Bowser; that some time during the spring he had Clark Bowser in his custody; that he was incarcerated in jail, and the court permitted the witness to testify as to a conversation he had with Clark Bowser while he was in jail, in which conversation Clark Bowser said Marvin Compton told him he knew where Raymond and Paul were getting their beer; he said they were getting it at Tom Thornhill’s. Witness further stated he did not read this affidavit to Clark Bowser, and was then permitted over the objection of the defendant to tell of a conversation he had with Clark Bowser in the absence of the defendant. Marvin Compton then stated Clark Bowser signed the affidavit in his presence, and was asked if Judge Wood administered the oath to Clark Bowser, and said: “Well, now, I could not say' whether Judge swore him or not.”

*14 Witness on cross-examination stated be told Clark Bowser what was in tbe affidavit, and asked him to sign it, and he said, “I don’t much like to do it.” “I heard Clark Bowser say the defendant had liquor at his house and was selling and otherwise disposing of it.” This statement was objected to by the defendant on the ground that it was incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial. The court overruled the same. This is, in substance, the testimony in the case.

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Related

Reininger v. State
1931 OK CR 237 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1931)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1930 OK CR 130, 287 P. 743, 47 Okla. Crim. 9, 1930 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 295, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thornhill-v-state-oklacrimapp-1930.