Kittrell v. State

Mississippi Supreme Court
Kittrell v. State, 89 Miss. 666 (Miss. 1906)
42 So. 609
Calhoon

Kittrell v. State

Opinion of the Court

Calhoon, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The indictment is based solely on the ground that the defendant “did unlawfully sell and retail intoxicating liquors without license.” When this trial was had (August, 1906) it was well settled that the defendant had the right to demand that the court *670compel the state to elect the particular sale on which it relied, and confine its testimony to that. The following are some of the cases so holding: Ware v. State, 71 Miss., 204 (s.c., 13 South. Rep., 936); King v. State, 66 Miss., 508 (s.c., 6 South. Rep., 188); Bailey v. State, 67 Miss., 334 (s.c., 7 South. Rep., 348) ; Newman v. State, 72 Miss., 126 (s.c., 16 South. Rep., 232) ; Naul v. McGomb City, 70 Miss., 699 (s.c., 12 South. Rep., 903). In the case before us the court below refused to so compel the state, and this was error. Code 1906, § 1762, changes the rule, but this cannot affect the previous trials.

The court below was right in overruling the motion to exclude the state’s evidence because of variance between allegations of the indictment and the proof. One who aids and abets in the commission of a misdemeanor is indictable as a principal, and there was evidence tending to show such aiding and abetting. Beck v. State, 69 Miss., 217 (s.c., 13 South. Rep., 835) ; Wynn v. State, 63 Miss., 260.

Kittrell kept, in the building in which the liquor was said to have been sold, a general mercantile business, and was there only about once a week; he having another business six miles away, where he chiefly was. The sales were by a negro, who, Kittrell says, had nothing to do with the store, and that he (Kittrell) had no knowledge of any sale; and so, under the evidence for defense, which it was for the jury to consider, it was error to give the first charge for the state. That required conviction if the negro was permitted to sell by agents or clerks, even without the knowledge of Kittrell. If this be the law, any citizen may be criminally guilty, where a servant makes a furtive sale of liquor. '

Reversed and remanded.

Reference

Full Case Name
William N. Kittrell v. State of Misssissippi
Cited By
6 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
1. Criminal Law. Sale of intoxicants. Separate sales. Election. Code 1906, § 1762. Under an indictment for the unlawful sale of intoxicants, defendant was entitled, before Code 1906, § 1762, seeking to change the practice, became operative, to demand that the state elect a particular sale and confine the testimony thereto; the statute has no application in the supreme court to trials had in the circuit court before it became operative. 2. Same. Principal and accessory. Misdemeanors. One who aids and abets in the commission of a misdemeanor is indictable as a principal. 3. Same. Indictment. Evidence. Variance. There is no variance between an indictment charging defendant with an unlawful sale of intoxicants and proof that the sale was made by defendant’s employe acting for defendant and with his knowledge and consent. 4. Same. Instruction. An instruction is erroneous if it require a conviction of defendant for the unlawful sale of intoxicants upon proof that his agents for conducting a village store, without his knowledge, allowed a negro porter to make unlawful sales of intoxicants on the premises.