Lewis v. State

• Court: Alabama Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: SAMFORD, J.
• Citation: Lewis v. State, 140 So. 179, 25 Ala.App. 32 (Ala. App. 1932)
• Decision Date: 01 March 1932
• Docket Number: 8 Div. 232.
• Parties: LEWIS v. STATE.

140 So. 179

25 Ala.App. 32

LEWIS v. STATE.

8 Div. 232.

Court of Appeals of Alabama

March 1, 1932

Appeal from Circuit Court, Lawrence County; W. W. Callahan, Judge.

Jack Lewis was convicted of manufacturing prohibited liquor and possessing a still, and he appeals.

Reversed and remanded.

W. H Long, of Decatur, for appellant.

Thos E. Knight, Jr., Atty. Gen., and Jas. L. Screws, Asst. Atty Gen., for the State.

SAMFORD J.

The evidence tending to connect the defendant with the still in question was largely circumstantial. The inferences to be drawn from the proven facts were questions for the jury and if, after weighing and considering all of the evidence, they were convinced of defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, it was their duty to render a verdict of guilty.

It is urged by appellant that the court admitted evidence of a confession of guilt by defendant, without the corpus delicti having been first proven. The contention as to the law is correct, i. e., a confession of guilt is inadmissible against a defendant until there was evidence of the corpus delicti. But in this case the appellant mistakes his facts. The corpus delicti in this case consists of a whisky still and facts from which a jury may conclude that such still was in the possession of some person. The location of this still in a pasture near appellant's residence, coupled with evidence tending to prove its recent use, is a sufficient proof of the corpus delicti to admit the offered evidence of defendant's confession. Arthur v. State, 19 Ala App. 311, 97 So. 158; Mancil v. State, 21 Ala. App. 18, 104 So. 880.

It is next insisted that evidence of defendant's confession, or admission of guilt, was improperly admitted, because no proper predicate had been proved showing the voluntary character of such confession. Confessions or incriminatory statements in criminal cases are prima facie inadmissible in evidence, and unless the objection is waived they will not be received in evidence until the court is satisfied by proper evidence that such statements are entirely voluntary, and a general objection is sufficient to raise the point. Poarch v. State, 19 Ala. App. 161, 95 So. 781.

It is insisted by appellant that the court erred in permitting the witness Smith to state that he understood that defendant did not make a crop during the year 1929 and that he understood that defendant was "batching it." This, of course was...