Hatchett v. State
| Decision Date | 05 May 1961 |
| Citation | 208 Tenn. 399,346 S.W.2d 258,12 McCanless 399 |
| Parties | , 208 Tenn. 399 Ab HATCHETT v. STATE of Tennessee. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Joe C. Davis, Lexington, for plaintiff in error.
Walker T. Tipton, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.
The defendant below, Ab Hatchett, was convicted of violation of the liquor laws and fined $500 and sentenced to 6 months in prison. This appeal in error followed.
Hatchett is a resident of Henderson County, and resides in a home a short distance from Lexington, on the old Perryville Road. Officers, on January 18, 1958, went to the home of the defendant with a search warrant and searched his home for whiskey. The raid took place about 6:00 p. m., the officers having parked their car about a half mile from the defendant's home and then walked on to the home of the defendant. The officers entered the house and informed the defendant that they had a search warrant, and the defendant told them not to bother with reading it, but to go ahead and make the search. They found no whiskey in the house and then they went to the barn some 50 yards away from the house, where 35 one gallon jugs of untaxed whiskey were found.
It is contended that the evidence preponderates against the verdict of guilty. This assignment is without merit as the proof clearly shows that the whiskey was found in the defendant's barn.
It is well settled in this jurisdiction that the unexplained presence of contraband whiskey upon the premises occupied by the accused and under his control is sufficient to convict. Lampley v. State, 196 Tenn. 534, 268 S.W.2d 572.
The second through the fifth assignments attack the search warrant. It is the contention of the defendant that the search warrant does not particularly describe the property to be searched, and therefore is invalid. The description reads as follows:
The rule is that the property to be searched must be particularly described in the search warrant before it is valid. The test is whether, or not, the description will enable an officer to locate the place to be searched with reasonable certainty.
We have held that the describing of the place to be searched by...
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State v. Smith
...the officer to locate the place to be searched with reasonable certainty without leaving it to his discretion. Hatchett v. State, 208 Tenn. 399, 346 S.W.2d 258, 259 (Tenn.1961); State v. Cannon, 634 S.W.2d 648, 650 (Tenn.Crim.App.1982). Neither of the two alleged defects prevents satisfacti......
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State v. Vanderford
...the constitutional mandates. 3 868 S.W.2d at 572. See Bostic, 898 S.W.2d at 245. The most cited and quoted case is Hatchett v. State, 208 Tenn. 399, 346 S.W.2d 258 (1961). In Hatchett, the supreme court said: "The rule is that the property to be searched must be particularly described in th......
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State v. Parker
...reasonable certainty without leaving it to his discretion." State v. Smith, 868 S.W.2d 561, 572 (Tenn. 1993) (citing Hatchett v. State, 346 S.W.2d 258, 259 (Tenn. 1961); State v. Cannon, 634 S.W.2d 648, 650 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1982)). Inaccuracies in the address or directions provided will no......
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State v. Hinds
... ... ascertainable place so as to exclude all others and enables ... the officer to locate the place to be searched with ... reasonable certainty without leaving it to his ... discretion." State v. Smith , 868 S.W.2d 561, ... 572 (Tenn. 1993) (citing Hatchett v. State , 346 ... S.W.2d 258, 259 (Tenn. 1961); State v. Cannon , 634 ... S.W.2d 648, 650 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1982)). Inaccuracies in the ... address or directions provided will not "invalidate the ... warrant [when] the overall description of the premises ... ...
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