State v. Guffey

• Decision Date: 24 February 1960
• Docket Number: No. 2,2
• Citation: 112 S.E.2d 734,252 N.C. 60
• Parties: STATE, v. Inez GUFFEY.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 734

112 S.E.2d 734

252 N.C. 60

STATE, v. Inez GUFFEY.

No. 2

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Feb. 24, 1960

Malcolm B. Seawell, Atty. Gen., and T. W. Bruton, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

Thomas J. Moss, Forest City, and Stover P. Dunagan, Rutherfordton, for defendant, appellant.

PARKER, Justice.

The evidence for the State--the defendant offered none--reveals these facts:

About 1:30 p. m. o'clock on 16 June 1959 Damon Huskey, Sheriff of Rutherford County, with a deputy, went to a house owned by defendant, and in which she has lived for ten years, on Highway No. 74 just east of Forest City. Defendant, her grandmother eighty years old, her daughter thirty-one years old, and her grandchildren lived in the house. He knocked at the door. Defendant's daughter came to the door, and Sheriff Huskey went in. When he went in he saw in the house defendant's daughter, defendant's mother, a taxicab driver, Albert Downey and Strawberry Moore. Defendant was not in the house at that time. The Sheriff had no search warrant. The first time the Sheriff saw defendant, she came to the door from the outside. When Sheriff Huskey was standing in the doorway from the kitchen, he smelt a strong odor of whisky. He turned his head, and saw a half-gallon jar of white, nontaxpaid whisky, with the lid off the jar, sitting on a shelf above the sink in the kitchen. A bottle of Clorox and some glasses that would hold four or five ounces were close to the sink. When defendant came in the kitchen, she ran to the Sheriff.

Prior to 16 June 1959 Sheriff Huskey has seen lots of traffic in and out of defendant's home. He has arrested several people for public drunkenness coming out of her house.

A week or ten days prior to 16 June 1959 Wilbur Kiser, a deputy sheriff, saw lots of traffic, taxis and other cars, going to and from defendant's home.

During the course of the argument to the jury, the court, in its discretion, permitted the State to introduce in evidence, over defendant's objection and exception, the jar of whisky.

At present, the possession of nontaxpaid whisky in any quantity anywhere in the State is, without exception, unlawful. G.S. §§ 18-48, 18-50; State v. Barnhardt, 230 N.C. 223, 52 S.E.2d 904; State v. Parker, 234 N.C. 236, 66 S.E.2d 907; State v. May, 248 N.C. 60, 102 S.E.2d 418--as to alcoholic content of whisky.

Nontaxpaid whisky is outlawed by statute in this State. G.S. § 18-48 and G.S. § 18-50 are statewide in application, and the possession of any quantity of nontaxpaid liquor is, without exception, unlawful, and under G.S. § 18-11 raises the presumption, even though less than one gallon in quantity, that possession is for the purpose of sale. State v. Hill, 236 N.C. 704, 73 S.E.2d 894; State v. Gibbs, 238 N.C. 258, 77 S.E.2d 779.

Possession of nontaxpaid whisky within the meaning of G.S. § 18-48 may be either actual or constructive. State v. Brown, 238 N.C. 260, 77 S.E.2d 627.

When Sheriff Huskey had entered defendant's home without a search warrant and was standing in the doorway from the kitchen, he turned his head and saw a halfgallon jar of white, nontaxpaid whisky sitting on the shelf above the sink in the kitchen. Assuming, but not deciding, that this evidence was competent, the State had ample evidence to show that some person violated the statute relating to the possession of nontaxpaid whisky. But the crucial question is whether the State's evidence is sufficient to carry the case to the jury that the culprit was the defendant.

When the Sheriff entered the house, the defendant was not at home. The jar of whisky was not concealed, but exposed to view. Defendant's 80-year-old mother, her 31-year-old...