Case ID: ga-app_25/html/0175-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Broyles, C. J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

11224.
    Alexander v. The State.
    Decided April 13, 1920.
    Indictment for misdemeanor; from Taliaferro superior court — Judge Walker. November 28, 1919.
    The sheriff testified that in a swamp about 400 yards from the house of Felix Alexander (the defendant) they found “a lard can still apparatus and a barrel of mash such as is used in making liquor.” Felix Alexander’s field that he cultivated ran up to 50 feet of where they found the still on one side; on the other three sides the witness did not know whose land it was. He did not know of his own knowledge whose land it was or who was in possession of the swamp where the still was found, but supposed it was Felix Alexander’s. There was no other testimony as to ownership, possession, or control of the land. The defendant’s statement at the trial was: “ I never made any liquor in my life and had nothing to do with this still, if any one was found, and did not know it was there.”
    
      J. A. Beazley, for plaintiff in error.
    
      R. C. Norman, solicitor-general, Alvin G. Golucke, contra.
   Broyles, C. J.

The defendant was convicted, under section 22 of the act of 1917 (Ga. L. Ex. Sess. 1917, p. 18), of knowingly permitting apparatus for the distilling or manufacturing of intoxicating liquors to be located on his premises. There was no evidence that authorized a finding that the land upon which the apparatus was discovered was owned, controlled, or possessed by the defendant. His conviction, therefore, was contrary to law and the evidence, and the court erred in overruling his motion for a new trial.

Judgment reversed.

Luke and Bloodworth, JJ., concur.