Title: Warden v. State
Citation: 381 S.W.2d 247
Docket Number: N/A
State: Tennessee
Issuer: Tennessee Supreme Court
Date: July 15, 1964

381 S.W.2d 247 (1964) Lynn WARDEN and Eunice Barrowman, Plaintiffs in Error, v. STATE of Tennessee, Defendant in Error. Supreme Court of Tennessee. July 15, 1964. Thomas E. Mitchell, Johnson City, for plaintiffs in error. George F. McCanless, Atty. Gen., Thomas E. Fox, Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville, for defendant in error. HOLMES, Justice. The plaintiffs in error were found guilty of possessing intoxicating liquor for the purpose of sale in violation of T.C.A. § 39-2527. The jury fixed the punishment of each plaintiff in error at a fine of $500.00 and imprisonment in the County Jail for six months. The motions for new trial of plaintiffs in error were overruled by the Trial Judge and they have perfected their appeal. Hereinafter, the parties will be referred to according to their status in the Trial Court. The defendants were jointly indicted and tried, not only for the violation of T.C.A. § 39-2527, but also as second offenders in violation of T.C.A. § 39-2527 and for the violation of T.C.A. § 39-2502, which prohibits the sale of intoxicating liquors, and T.C.A. § 39-2504, which makes a second violation of T.C.A. § 39-2502 a felony. As stated, the jury found the defendants guilty only of the possession of intoxicating liquor for the purpose of sale and did not find either of the defendants guilty of a second violation of either of the offenses with which they were charged. *248 The record shows that, at the same term of the Criminal Court of Washington County at which the present case was tried, the defendants were tried under other indictments charging various violations of the liquor laws. Only three witnesses testified on the trial of the present case. The first witness was a constable of the Fourteenth Civil District of Washington County, who testified that on January 22, 1963 he went to the residence of the defendants at 121 West Chilhowie Avenue in Johnson City, Tennessee, and purchased a pint of whiskey for $4.00. He stated that the defendant Warden admitted him to this residence, that when he asked to buy some whiskey the defendant Eunice Barrowman stepped back into a room, got the whiskey and set it on a table, and that the witness paid the defendant Barrowman for the whiskey and came out of the house. The second witness, who was likewise a constable of Washington County, testified that the bottle of whiskey was labeled and marked in his presence on January 22, 1963. The third witness was the Clerk of the Criminal Court of Washington County, who testified that, in Cause Number 6408 in that Court, Lynn Warden had been found guilty of the sale of intoxicating liquor and fined $500.00. In that same numbered cause Eunice Barrowman had been found not guilty by the jury. The record shows that Cause Number 6408 was tried on the morning of May 31, 1963, and the present case was tried on the afternoon of that same day. Neither of the defendants offered any proof on the trial of the present case. Four assignments of error are made in this Court. The first assignment is that there is no competent evidence upon which these defendants could be found guilty. The fourth assignment of error is that "This conviction was obtained upon evidence allegedly procured by constables, who were participating in a felonious transaction, and became accomplices thereto, and their testimony is so absurd as to be unbelievable". The jury did not find either of the defendants were guilty as second or subsequent offenders, but only found the defendants guilty of the misdemeanor of possessing intoxicating liquor for the purpose of sale. In Thorpe v. State, 202 Tenn. 298, 304 S.W.2d 309, the Court stated: The uncorroborated testimony of the constables is therefore sufficient to sustain the conviction for the misdemeanor. It is contended their testimony is unbelievable. The testimony of the two constables is in no way contradicted, nor is the credibility of these witnesses in any way impeached. In Hyde v. State, 131 Tenn. 208, 174 S.W. 1127, the Court stated: The above quoted language from the Hyde case was expressly approved in Thomas v. State, 182 Tenn. 380, 187 S.W.2d 529. In Hagemaker v. State, 208 Tenn. 565, 347 S.W.2d 488, the Thomas and Hyde cases are referred to as the leading cases in Tennessee establishing the rule that the doctrine of entrapment is not recognized in this state. By the second assignment of error, it is stated: By the third assignment of error, it is stated: As heretofore stated, the present case was tried on the afternoon of May 31, 1963. Cause Number 6408 in the Criminal Court of Washington County was tried on the morning of that day and in that case the defendant Lynn Warden was found guilty of the illegal sale of intoxicating liquor. Eight of the jurors in the present case were physically present in the court room and heard all or a part of the evidence introduced in Cause Number 6408. The state, in its brief, states: We do not understand from the record that any of the jurors in the present case had voted to convict defendants in a previous trial. The record shows that when the first twelve prospective jurors were placed in the box for voir dire examination, counsel for the defendants stated: Since the defendants were indicted for a felony, it was agreed the defense had sixteen peremptory challenges. Counsel for the defendant then peremptorily challenged all twelve of these jurors, and twelve members of the regular panel who had not served in the previous prosecution of these defendants were placed in the jury box. The State accepted these twelve jurors. The defense excused the first four of them. Thereupon the Court instructed the Sheriff to go out and summon four bystanders qualified for jury service. This was done. With the eight remaining members of the regular panel and four bystanders seated in the box, counsel for the defendant asked them, "How many members of the Jury heard the first case against these two defendants tried this morning?" Thereupon, the Court stated, "They were in the Court Room, Now, they were not on the jury.", to which counsel for the defendants replied, "No, Your Honor, but they heard it. They were in the court room and heard the trial, Your Honor. There is one, two, three, four, five nine members of the Jury that heard it." It thus appears that none of the jurors who served in the present case had ever voted as jurors to convict either of the defendants of any prior offense. They had heard testimony while sitting in the court room in a case in which these same parties were defendants. There is no showing that any of the jurors at any time expressed any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendants in the case which they heard tried earlier. By statute, in Tennessee, T.C.A. § 40-2507, the fact that a prospective juror has formed and expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the accused, based upon newspaper statements or like sources of information, does not disqualify the *250 juror if he further states on oath that notwithstanding such opinion he, if chosen as a juror, believes he can give the defendant a fair and impartial trial upon the law and the evidence and the Trial Judge shall be of opinion that he is a fair juror. Since the record in the case before the Court does not show that any of the members of the jury in this case had formed or expressed any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendants of the offense being tried, or of any other offense on the part of either of them, the mere fact that they had heard testimony given in the trial of these defendants on another offense would not of itself disqualify the jurors. The defendants cite Winer v. United States, 6 Cir., 228 F2d 944, as authority for the contentions made by the assignments of error now being discussed. In that case: In affirming the conviction of appellant, the Court at 950 of 228 F.2d stated: In passing upon the qualifications of jurors under facts quite similar to those in the present case, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Wilkes v. United States, 291 F. 988, 990, stated: In Manning v. State, 155 Tenn. 266, 292 S.W. 451, this Court stated the real question to be determined in the present case, as follows: The jury did not find either of the defendants guilty as a second or subsequent offender under T.C.A. § 39-2528, nor under T.C.A. § 39-2504. Therefore, in our judgment, it cannot be said that the result of the trial was in any way affected by the fact that some of the jurors heard the evidence in the prior prosecution. The evidence is uncontradicted that the defendants are guilty of the offense of which they were convicted. The assignments of error are overruled and the judgment of the Trial Court is affirmed.