Court Opinion

ID: 9527338
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:29:46.194486+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:44.419549
License: Public Domain

On Rehearing.
In his brief in support of the State’s application for rehearing, the Attorney General argues that the Sheriff having made an affidavit in connection with the search warrant that he had probable cause for believing liquor was in appellant’s house, taken in connection with what the Sheriff observed, was sufficient for the Sheriff to know that a misdemeanor was being committed in his presence.
We have already concluded that the Sheriff’s observations from outside the house, and under the Sheriff’s own testimony, failed to establish positively that a crime was being committed in his presence, regardless of the reasonable suspicion that appellant’s conduct may have created.
We cannot see that the fact that the Sheriff had previously made an affidavit that he had probable cause for believing that prohibited liquor was in appellant’s house in anywise proves that a misdemeanor was being committed in the Sheriff’s presence. By its own terms the affidavit shows only probable cause for believing, not positive knowledge.
The offense for which this appellant was arrested being a misdemeanor, neither actual belief in the guilt of the appellant, nor reasonable grounds to suspect guilt constitutes a basis for arrest without a warrant. Rhodes v. McWilson, 16 Ala.App. 315, 77 So. 465; Warsham v. State, 17 Ala.App. 181, 84 So. 885; Gambill v. Schmuck, 131 Ala. 321, 31 So. 604.
Application overruled.