Crosby v. Commonwealth
Crosby v. Commonwealth
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of.the court.
Lee Crosby has been convicted of the illegal sale of intoxicating liquor. Robert Watkins, a witness for the Commonwealth, testified that the accused, in his house, sold him half a pint of whiskey; that immediately thereafter, as he was walking along a public street in the city of Norfolk, going towards his own home, he was arrested for the unlawful transportation of such whiskey, and that he was under indictment therefor. Dickins, a police officer, testified that he saw Watkins go into the house of the accused, remain three or four minutes, then come out and walk down the street; that he found in his possession half a pint of whiskey; that just before he saw Watkins go into the house, he saw the accused come to the window and look in both directions up and down the street. The only conflicting testimony is that of the accused, to the effect that he had not sold the whiskey to Watkins.
There is no other material fact shown in the record, and no ground for-reversal is shown.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Lee Crosby v. Commonwealth
- Cited By
- 16 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Intoxicating Liquors—-Accomplice—Bayer.—Where there is an illegal sale of intoxicating liquors the purchaser is an accomplice of the seller. 2. Intoxicating Liquors—A complice—Buyer—Instructions.—Upon a prosecution for the illegal sale of intoxicating liquors, the court upon request should have instructed the jury to the effect that as the buyer was an accomplice of the seller, his testimony should be received with caution. 3. Accomplices and Accessories—Conviction Upon the Uncorroborated Testimony of Accomplice.-—The rule in this jurisdiction is that the jury, as triers of the fact, may, if they are satisfied of the guilt of the accused, convict him upon the uncorroborated testimony of a single accomplice, though it is well settled that the evidence of an accomplice should be received and acted upon by a jury with great caution. 4. Appeal and Error—Instructions—Harmless Error—Refusal to Instruct that an Accomplice’s Testimony Should be Received with Caution.—The refusal of the court to instruct the jury that an accomplice’s testimony was to be received with caution was not prejudicial to the accused in a prosecution for the illegal sale of whiskey, where the occasion and opportunity for the crime, as well as the possession of the whiskey alleged to have been purchased, were clearly shown by other testimony. The case was not one of a conviction on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice.