Blair v. State

Decision Date13 June 1922
Docket Number7 Div. 807.
Citation93 So. 45,18 Ala.App. 615
PartiesBLAIR v. STATE.
CourtAlabama Court of Appeals

Rehearing Denied June 30, 1922.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Randolph County; S. L. Brewer, Judge.

Jim Blair was convicted of violating the prohibition law, and he appeals. Affirmed.

C. B Clegg, of Wedawee, and Walter S. Smith, of Lineville, for appellant.

Harwell G. Davis, Atty. Gen., for the State.

BRICKEN P.J.

This defendant was seen at a still in which whisky was at the time being made. There were three other men at the still with him at the time the officers appeared, and all of them ran as soon as they discovered the officers approaching. One of the state's witnesses, a fast runner, pursued this defendant and captured him, and at that time, as the testimony tends to show, he had beer marks and slop on his clothes, and "his hands were nasty and smutty." The defendant's home was near by, and there was some testimony that his was the closest house to the still. The defendant denied that he was interested in the still, and also that he was assisting in its operation. He admitted his presence at the still at the time in question, and also admitted that he drank beer out of a bucket while there. We are of the opinion that these facts presented a question for the determination of the jury.

The rule of evidence in all criminal cases is that the jury after a consideration of all the evidence, must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of the guilt of the accused, before they would be authorized to return a verdict of guilty. But in the consideration of a case of this character-in fact, in all criminal cases-the jury may look to all the attendant facts and circumstances adduced upon the trial, and, as in other criminal cases, a conviction may be had upon circumstantial evidence in a case of this character, if the circumstances in evidence, in the opinion of the jury, meet the required rule of evidence above referred to. In the instant case the undisputed evidence tended to show the presence of the defendant at the still where whisky was being made; also "large quantities of beer, which was alcoholic in the highest stage, and intoxicating," as testified to by the sheriff. This, coupled with the attempted flight of the defendant at the approach of the officers, his smutty, nasty hands, and beer spots on his clothes constitutes in our opinion sufficient incriminating facts to authorize the court in...

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10 cases
  • Tarver v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • June 10, 1986
    ...might have concluded that the defendant was guilty of the crime charged.' McGlamory, 441 F.2d at 135 and 136. "See also Blair v. State, 18 Ala.App. 615, 93 So. 45 (1922). Whether circumstantial evidence tending to connect the defendant with the crime excludes, to a moral certainty, every ot......
  • Hayes v. State, 6 Div. 2
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • November 25, 1980
    ...might have concluded that the defendant was guilty of the crime charged.' McGlamory, 441 F.2d at 135 and 136. See also Blair v. State, 18 Ala.App. 615, 93 So. 45 (1922). Whether circumstantial evidence tending to connect the defendant with the crime excludes, to a moral certainty, every oth......
  • Cumbo v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • December 19, 1978
    ...might have concluded that the defendant was guilty of the crime charged." McGlamory, 441 F.2d at 135 and 136. See also Blair v. State, 18 Ala.App. 615, 93 So. 45 (1922). Whether circumstantial evidence tending to connect the defendant with the crime excludes, to a moral certainty, every oth......
  • Stewart v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • October 6, 1981
    ...might have concluded that the defendant was guilty of the crime charged. McGlamory, 441 F.2d at 135 and 136. "See also Blair v. State, 18 Ala.App. 615, 93 So. 45 (1922). Whether circumstantial evidence tending to connect the defendant with the crime excludes, to a moral certainty, every oth......
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