Simpson v. Commonwealth
Simpson v. Commonwealth
Opinion of the Court
Opinion op the Court by
Affirming.
W. W. Simpson, the appellant, was in-dieted for a violation of the prohibition statute of 1920. The indictment charged him with each of the offenses of unlawfully selling, bartering, loaning, keeping for sale and transporting spirituous liquors. There was no demurrer to the indictment on account of it charging improperly the commission of more than one offense, nor was there any motion made to require the attorney for the Commonwealth to elect, for which, of the offenses charged in the indictment, he would prosecute the appellant under the indictment. The appellant entered a plea of not guilty, thus waiving the defects in the indictment. A trial by jury was waived and the parties entered' into a writing, by which it was agreed that the court should try and decide the action. The following was agreed to constitute the evidence upon which the court should decide the issue. One Robert' Main and Paul Threlkeld, before the finding of the indictment and after the enactment of the statute, went into the business house of appellant, hunting for whiskey, presumably for the purpose of slaking a strong and raging thirst. There they found and secured two and one-half gallons of whiskey, which they took away with them
Upon the foregoing evidence the court adjudged that appellant was guilty of the offense of keeping intoxicating liquors for sale, for other than sacramental, medicinal, scientific or mechanical purposes, and that for such offense, he pay a fine of one hundred dollars and suffer imprisonment for thirty days, in the county jail.
The grounds for a new trial did not raise any question except the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict and judgment. In the trial of a misdemeanor, where a jury is waived, the same effect should be given to the finding of the facts by the court, as is given to the verdict of a properly instructed jury. To sustain an indictment for keeping for sale intoxicating liquors, it is unnecessary to prove that a sale was either made or attempted. All that is necessary is to prove that the liquor's are kept for sale, and that may be accomplished by circumstantial evidence, as well as by positive and direct testimony, and a verdict of conviction cannot be overthrown upon the ground, that the evidence fails to support it, unless it is palpably and flagrantly against the evidence. The possession of an unusual quantity of spirituous liquors, without any explanation, has always been held to be a circumstance which with others' surrounding it from which a jury was authorized to infer that the possessor was keeping it for sale. The evidence indisputably proved, that appellant had the liquors, in his possession, in an unusual quantity, and there was no attempt in the evidence to deny the possession or knowledge of the possession, or show any purpose for which .it was kept. There was no
The judgment is therefore affirmed.
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