Jewell v. State, 53739

• Decision Date: 02 May 1977
• Docket Number: No. 2,No. 53739,53739,2
• Citation: 142 Ga.App. 169,235 S.E.2d 637
• Parties: Jim JEWELL v. The STATE
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 637

235 S.E.2d 637

142 Ga.App. 169

Jim JEWELL v. The STATE.

No. 53739.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 2.

May 2, 1977.

Guy B. Scott, Jr., Athens, for appellant.

Ken Stula, Sol., Athens, for appellee.

QUILLIAN, Presiding Judge.

The defendant appeals his conviction for possession of nontax-paid liquor. Held:

1. The evidence was sufficient to sustain the verdict.

2. The trial judge charged: "Now I charge you Ladies and Gentlemen that in this State where a person is married, the husband is known as the head of the household and all contraband found on the premises absent an explanation as to ownership being in some other party, would be the responsibility and under the control and ownership of the head of the household, he being the husband." This is contended to be erroneous.

"In this State the husband is recognized by law as the head of his family, and, where he and his wife reside together, the legal presumption is that the house and all the household effects, including any intoxicating liquors, belong to the husband as the head of the family. This presumption of course is rebuttable." Hendrix v. State, 24 Ga.App. 56, 57, 100 S.E. 55; Isom v. State, 32 Ga.App. 75, 122 S.E. 722. "To raise the presumption stated above, it is essential that it be proved that the husband and wife reside together on the premises where the whisky is found." Barron v. State, 46 Ga.App. 829(2), 169 S.E. 323. Accord, Cole v. State, 109 Ga.App. 576, 578, 136 S.E.2d 483. The charge as given failed to include the correct maxim and was error.

Judgment reversed.

SHULMAN and BANKE, JJ., concur.