Chaney v. State

• Decision Date: 25 October 1923
• Docket Number: 24,297
• Citation: 141 N.E. 223,193 Ind. 533
• Parties: Chaney v. State of Indiana
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

141 N.E. 223

193 Ind. 533

Chaney v. State of Indiana

No. 24,297

Supreme Court of Indiana

October 25, 1923

From Marshall Circuit Court; Harry L. Unger, Special Judge.

Prosecution by the State of Indiana against Elmer Chaney. From a judgment of conviction, the defendant appeals.

Affirmed.

Martindale & Martindale, for appellant.

U. S Lesh, Attorney-General, and Mrs. Edward Franklin White Deputy Attorney-General, for the State.

OPINION

Travis, J.

Appellant was charged with having unlawfully kept certain intoxicating liquor, to wit: whisky, with intent then and there to sell, barter, exchange, give away, furnish, and otherwise dispose of the same to persons within this state whose names were unknown. The jury trying the cause upon his plea of not guilty returned a general verdict of guilty, which was followed by judgment. Error is assigned in the overruling of appellant's motion for a new trial, based upon insufficient evidence to sustain the verdict, and that it is contrary to law.

On the day of the commission of the offense appellant left his home in Plymouth about four o'clock in the afternoon and went to Culver where he met at the railroad depot the person who had with him the whisky involved. The appointment had been arranged by letter. The two then drove into the country about a mile in appellant's automobile where appellant examined and sampled the whisky which had been brought by his friend whereupon the purchase of the whisky was concluded, and the whisky replaced in the suit case from which it had been taken, and the suit case placed in the back part of the automobile. The two men then returned to the railroad station in Culver where appellant had met the whisky salesman, and there left him. Appellant then went to call upon a friend in Culver whose business had been a vaudeville performer and who then was operating a moving picture theatre which was across the street from his home. He arrived at his friend's home about six o'clock in the evening. After having had supper there, he visited a small restaurant down town which was operated by a colored woman. About nine o'clock in the evening, and while in the act of trying to start his automobile, the town marshal came up to him and accused him of being intoxicated. The marshal testified that he then told him he was under arrest, and leading appellant around to the side of appellant's automobile, asked him if he could get in, to which appellant replied that he could. Then it was that the marshal discovered the suit case in the back part of the automobile, and that it had bottles of liquor in it. The marshal then took appellant and the suit case to the station. Upon examination of the suit case and its contents by the marshal and the former president of the town board of Culver, who also testified, they found seven bottles of whisky, each of which was contained in a pasteboard carton, and two or three empty cartons. Each bottle was examined and marked for identification and was later identified and introduced in evidence upon the trial. Appellant, who testified in his...