Huckabaa v. State

• Court: Alabama Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: SAMFORD, J.
• Citation: Huckabaa v. State, 23 Ala.App. 333, 125 So. 202 (Ala. App. 1929)
• Decision Date: 17 December 1929
• Docket Number: 4 Div. 558.
• Parties: HUCKABAA v. STATE.

125 So. 202

23 Ala.App. 333

HUCKABAA v. STATE.

4 Div. 558.

Court of Appeals of Alabama

December 17, 1929

Appeal from Circuit Court, Covington County; E. S. Thigpen, Judge.

Jasper Huckabaa was convicted of violating the prohibition laws, and he appeals. Reversed and rendered.

A Whaley, of Andalusia, for appellant.

Charlie C. McCall, Atty. Gen., and Wm. P. Cobb, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

SAMFORD J.

The conviction in this case was had before the court sitting as a jury, upon the testimony of two deputy sheriffs, who went into defendant's home in his absence, without warrant and searched the house. They found in a receptable in the dining table and under one of the leaves several bottles containing whisky. The defendant's wife was present, but the defendant was not present, and there is no evidence connecting the defendant with the whisky. There is no guilty scienter shown, and the defendant should have been discharged. Tuggle v. State, 22 Ala. App. 89, 112 So. 540; Ammons v. State, 20 Ala. App. 283, 101 So 511; Hutcheson v. State, 21 Ala. App. 174, 106 So 206. Strickland v. State, 20 Ala. App. 600 104 So. 351, is not in conflict with the foregoing. In the Strickland Case there were other facts and circumstances tending to prove a guilty knowledge, while in the instant case there is none. There must be a guilty scienter before a defendant can be convicted of crime, and this must be established by the evidence...