Slaten v. State
Slaten v. State
Opinion of the Court
One Thrasher was the only witness examined for the prosecution. To a question asking if he had ever bought any whisky from the defendant, he replied that he had sent his boy to the defendant’s father’s house to get some whisky, and that he got a half pint of whisky and- brought it to him. Following this unresponsive answer to the question, the solicitor again asked the witness if he had bought any whisky from the defendant. This question was objected to on the ground that “the state had already made an election as to which offense it would prosecute the defendant, that is, for a sale or delivery of whisky to the witness’ son.” There was no merit in the objection, and it was properly overruled. The solicitor had done nothing to indicate a desire or willingness to bring out anything except testimony as to the purchase of whisky by the witness from the defendant. The failure of the witness to answer the question when it was first asked
The witness testified to a purchase by him from the defendant of a pint of whisky, and that this occurred in Lawrence county within 12 months before the finding of the' indictment. The indictment charged that the defendant “sold, offered for sale, kept for sale, or otherwise disposed of spirituous, vinous, or malt liquors, contrary to law,” etc. No motion was made to require the prosecution to elect for which of the offenses charged in the alternative in the single count of the indictment a conviction would be sought. No election having been required or made, the prosecution was to be regarded as seeking a conviction of any offense embraced in the indictment of the commission of which there was evidence submitted for the consideration of the jury. The court refused to give the following written charge, requested by the defendant: “Under the evidence in this case you cannot find the defendant guilty of offering for sale spirituous, vinous or malt liquors, contrary to law, as charged in the indictment.” As the offense mentioned was embraced in the indictment, the charge was properly refused, unless there was an absence of evidence tending to prove the commission of that offense by the defendant. Only a single sale of whisky by the defendant was testified to; but it does not necessarily follow from this that the
The refusal of the court to give that charge cannot be interpreted as a ruling by it that the defendant could be convicted of anything if the jury did not believe that the single transaction testified to by the witness for the state occurred, as the court, in a written charge given at the request of the defendant, instructed the jury as follows: “Unless you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, and to a moral certainty that the defendant sold spirituous, vinous or malt liquors, contrary to law, as charged in the indictment, you should find the defendant not guilty.” In the light of the fact that this instruction was given at the re
From the testimony of the witness for the state, the jury might well have inferred that he got from the defendant a pint of whisky on the occasion of the purchase testified to. It was also a permissible inference from the fact that the defendant sold and delivered whiskey when he was afforded the opportunity to do so that he kept or had it in possession for sale. If one has in possession prohibited liquor for the purpose of sale, he is keeping it for sale within the meaning of the statute (Acts of Ala. 1909, p. 9, § 3), and of one of the alternative charges contained in the indictment in this case. — Priest v. State, 5 Ala. App. 171, 59 South. 318.
The record does not show that the court had presented to it or decided the question as to whether or not it was permissible for the jury, on the evidence submitted to them, to convict the defendant of more than one of the offenses charged in the alternative in the single count of the indictment. It made no ruling in conflict with the one made by us in the case of Moss v. State, 3 Ala. App. 189, 58 South. 62, to the effect that a conviction of more than one offense under such a charge is not authorized.
The rulings above considered are the only ones of which complaint has been made in the argument of the counsel for the appellant. There is no error in the record.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.