George v. Commonwealth
George v. Commonwealth
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the Court by
— Affirming.
The appellant, Pete George, upon his trial in the Pike circuit court under an indictment returned therein was convicted of the offense of illegally manufacturing spirituous, vinous and malt liquors.. His motion for a new trial was overruled and lie prosecutes this appeal relying for reversal principally upon the ground that the evidence of the Commonwealth was insufficient to sustain the conviction and that his motion for a peremptory instruction should have prevailed, although he makes numerous other complaints in his application for a new trial.
The officers found in defendant’s residence in the search made by them some kind of copper container with a copper lid in the middle of which was a hole with some soldering around it indicating that something had been soldered to it and the container had raisins and other substances adhering to its inner sides indicating that some substance had been used therein containing raisins. They found on the premises some ten or twenty gallons of a substance made of or containing raisins and from which, under the proof, an intoxicating liquor called “raisin jack” could be distilled. There was also testimony as to defendant’s reputation as a dealer in or manufacturer of intoxicating liquors. Defendant admitted owning the copper container but said that he had purchased it for strictly legal domestic purposes and used it in cooking and washing and sometimes for making soap, but he failed to explain the hole in the top of the lid. or the soldering around it. He likewise admitted owning and possessing the substance containing the raisins but said that he was preparing to make of it some kind of sacred drink used by the nationality of people to which he belonged on sacred days and occasions.
Another ground relied on in the motion for a new trial was that the indictment was duplicitous and the demurrer filed thereto should have been sustained. The indictment was faulty in that respect but upon the filing of the demurrer the Commonwealth elected to try defendant on the single charge of unlawfully manufacturing intoxicating liquors, and it has been uniformly held that such an election cured the objection upon which this complaint is made. Complaint is also made of the instructions which the court gave to the jury but we have examined them and they conform substantially, if not literally, to the correct rules of practice and we detect no error therein, nor is any pointed out in brief of counsel.
While the evidence is not as conclusive as it might have been the jury were the triers of the facts and it is not the province of this court to disturb their finding, unless it is so flagrantly against the evidence as to indicate that it was the result of passion or prejudice and to such an extent as to shock the conscience of the court, which rule as applicable to appellate practice has been frequently announced by us.
Under that rule we do not feel authorized to disturb the verdict in this case, and finding no error prejudicial to the substantial rights of the defendant, the judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.