Phillips v. State
| Decision Date | 29 January 1927 |
| Docket Number | A-6175. |
| Citation | 252 P. 454,36 Okla.Crim. 130 |
| Parties | PHILLIPS v. STATE. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
Syllabus by the Court.
An information, which fails to charge an offense in the language of the statute or its equivalent, is bad, and a demurrer to the information should have been sustained.
Appeal from County Court, Lincoln County; S. A. Cordell, Judge.
A. B Phillips was convicted of having possession of mash, and he appeals. Reversed and remanded.
John Remy, of Guthrie, and W. L. Johnson, of Chandler, for plaintiff in error.
Edwin Dabney, Atty. Gen., and Smith C. Matson, Asst. Atty. Gen for the State.
The plaintiff in error, hereinafter called the defendant, was informed against in the county court of Lincoln county, Okl on a charge of having committed the crime of having possession of mash, the charging part of the information being as follows:
"That A. B. Phillips, late of the county aforesaid, on the 16th day of August, in the year of our Lord, 1925, in the county of Lincoln, and state of Oklahoma, aforesaid, then and there being, did then and there willfully, unlawfully, and knowingly have the possession of certain spirituous liquor vinous liquor, malt liquor, fermented liquor and intoxicating liquor, to wit: 20 gallons of mash, containing more than one-half of 1 per cent. alcohol and capable of being used as a beverage, with the intent then and there on the part of him, the said A. B. Phillips, of selling, bartering, giving away, and otherwise furnishing the same."
The defendant demurred to the information on the ground that:
"The same does not state facts sufficient to constitute a public offense against the laws of the state of Oklahoma."
Which demurrer was by the court considered and overruled; and the defendant reserved an exception to the ruling of the court; a jury was impaneled, and, after hearing the evidence and instructions to the court, returned a verdict of guilty, fixing the punishment of the defendant at a fine of $100 and imprisonment of 30 days in the county jail. Motion for a new trial was filed and overruled, and exceptions duly saved, and the cause was by the defendant appealed to this court.
The first error assigned by the defendant is that:
"The court erred in overruling the defendant's demurrer to the information."
From the language of the information we cannot tell whether the pleader intended to charge the defendant under section 7002 of the Compiled Statutes of Oklahoma of 1921, or under ...
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