State v. Morelock
| Decision Date | 24 January 1927 |
| Docket Number | 27331 |
| Citation | 291 S.W. 1078 |
| Parties | STATE v. MORELOCK |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
North T. Gentry, Atty. Gen., and H. O. Harrawood, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
The defendant, in the circuit court of Stoddard county was charged by information in two counts with feloniously selling corn whisky. The two counts are exact duplicates, each count charging that December 14, 1924, defendant feloniously sold one-half pint, more or less, of moonshine corn whisky. On trial before a jury he was found guilty on both counts, and his punishment on each count assessed at two years' imprisonment in the penitentiary.
Under the instructions, the jury were authorized to render a verdict on the first count, if they believed that on the day mentioned defendant sold moonshine or corn whisky to R. L. Bradley; and on the second count to find him guilty if on the same day he sold moonshine or corn whisky to J. F. Bradley. The evidence tends to show that on the day mentioned he sold a half pint of corn whisky to each of those persons.
Each of the counts in the information charges the commission of a felony. The rule is well established that one cannot be tried for and convicted of two felonies at one and the same time except for certain offenses, for which the statute makes special provision. The trial court therefore either should have compelled the state to elect upon which count it would ask a verdict, or should have directed the jury that they could return a verdict on one count only. In State v. Link (No. 26988) 286 S.W. 12, decided at the last April term of this court and not yet [officially] reported, the subject was considered at length and the authorities in this state collated by Judge Blair, who wrote the opinion.
The judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded.
All concur.
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