Lewis v. State
| Decision Date | 08 October 1945 |
| Docket Number | 35952. |
| Citation | 23 So.2d 401,198 Miss. 767 |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
| Parties | LEWIS et al. v. STATE. |
C F. Pittman, of Hattiesburg, for appellants.
Greek L. Rice, Atty. Gen., and Geo. H. Ethridge Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Separate affidavits were filed in the County Court of Forrest County against Mattie Lee Lewis, Cornelius Henderson, and Matthew Nelson alleging that each of them did have in his (or her) possession whiskey against the peace and dignity of the State of Mississippi. Over the objection of the defendants these cases were consolidated by the County Court and tried together, but separate judgments of conviction were rendered against each.
On his motion for a new trial the County Court set aside its judgment and the jury verdict against Cornelius Henderson and discharged him. The other two appealed separately to the Circuit Court, where the judgments against them were affirmed.
The evidence on which the appellants were convicted was obtained by means of a search warrant describing a lot owned by Mattie Lee Lewis, but she lived in a house on another lot separate from and not included in the one described in the search warrant. The sheriff who served this warrant found Matthew Nelson in the front room of the house described therein, who admitted that he lived there. A door leading from this room into an adjoining room was nailed and boarded up on the inside of the adjoining room. This door was broken down by the sheriff who then entered the room and found therein a lot of whiskey in bottles. Another door to this room, but which did not lead into the one occupied by Nelson, was locked. The sheriff then went across the alley to the house where Mattie Lee Lewis lived, arrested and searched her and found on her person a key which fitted the lock of the door to the room in which the whiskey was found and with which the sheriff unlocked it. No other person is shown to have had a key to this lock. All of this evidence was objected to. The appellants' complaints are: (1) That the County Court was without power to consolidate and try these cases together, (2) that all of them were entitled to a directed verdict of not guilty, and further (3) as to Mattie Lee Lewis that the search of her person, which resulted in the finding of the key to the lock of the room in which the whiskey was stored, was illegal and the evidence relative thereto was incompetent.
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Henry v. State of Mississippi, 6
...for directed verdict, renewed at the close of all the evidence, is improperly denied is to dismiss the prosecution. See Lewis v. State, 198 Miss. 767, 23 So.2d 401; Adams v. State, 202 Miss. 68, 30 So.2d 593; Smith v. State, 205 Miss. 170, 38 So.2d 698. The opinion offers no explanation of ......
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Canning v. State, 45479
...took the clothing of the defendant from her while she was in jail indicated her consent. We said in the case of Lewis v. State, 198 Miss. 767, 23 So.2d 401 (1945), that whiskey found in a room by the use of a key taken from the defendant's person by an illegal search was inadmissible in The......
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Keys v. State
...and tools that may be used as a means of escape. In Smith, we said: 'Our Court has made it very clear in the case of Lewis v. State, 198 Miss. 767, 23 So.2d 401, that, where a sheriff has no warrant for arrest of a defendant and the defendant had not committed any crime in the sheriff's pre......
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Penick v. State
... ... See: Pollard v. State, 233 So.2d 792 (Miss.1970); Terry v. State, 252 Miss. 479, 173 So.2d 889 (1965); Smith v. State, 228 Miss. 476, 87 So.2d 917 (1956); Lewis, et al v. State, 198 Miss. 767, 23 So.2d 401 (1945); Hinton, et al v. Sims, et al, 171 Miss. 741, 158 So. 141 (1934); Castillow v. State, 160 Miss. 473, 135 So. 205 (1931); Myers v. State, 158 Miss. 554, 130 So. 741 (1930) ... We, therefore, reverse and remand for proceedings ... ...