Ferrell v. Commonwealth

• Decision Date: 26 September 1924
• Citation: 204 Ky. 548
• Parties: Ferrell v. Commonwealth.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

Page 548

204 Ky. 548

Ferrell v.Commonwealth.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

Decided September 26, 1924.

Appeal from Mercer Circuit Court.

ERROL W. DRAFFEN for appellant.

FRANK E. DAUGHERTY, Attorney General, and MOORMAN DITTO, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

OPINION OF THE COURT BY CHIEF JUSTICE SAMPSON — Affirming.

The sheriff of Mercer county received information by telephone that a strange automobile, enclosed with curtains and covered with mud, was standing on a cross pike about four miles from town, with two men in it.Immediately the sheriff with three deputies traveling by automobile went to see about the strange car.They found it at the spot designated by the informant.The sheriff drove his car up in front of the strange car, stopping only a few feet therefrom.He and his deputies unloaded, one of the deputies going to the right of the strange car and the other to the left of it.As they approached the doors to the car, which was entirely closed, appellant Ferrell who was driving the car, opened the door and inquired of the deputy approaching if he were a "hi-jacker," meaning a person who holds up and robs bootleggers, as it is explained by the sheriff.When the door was opened the sheriff observed several kegs in the back seat of the strange automobile and at the same time smelled strong odors of whiskey.He then informed appellant Ferrell that he was not a "hi-jacker" but a sheriff.About the same time the deputy sheriff on the other side of the car opened that door, but owing to the fact that Thompson, who occupied that side of the car, had a gun, that deputy did not have a chance to see what the car contained but kept his eyes alone upon Thompson.After putting the men under arrest the sheriffs carried them to town.The automobile contained five 10-gallon kegs of moonshine whiskey.The glass openings in the car were covered with mud as if to render them opaque.At the trial the sheriff and his deputies testified in substance to the facts above related, and the defendant Ferrell was convicted and his punishment fixed at a fine of $300.00 and sixty days in jail.Thompson was a mere boy, and pursuant to the juvenile criminal act was dismissed on account of his age.

Appellant now insists that the evidence obtained by the sheriffs against him was incompetent because the sheriffs had no warrant to search his automobile, and he insists that the search was unlawful, for which reason the evidence thus obtained was incompetent...