State v. Vasquez
| Decision Date | 12 June 1905 |
| Parties | STATE v. VASQUEZ. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Error to Circuit Court, Hillsborough County; Joseph B. Wall, Judge.
Habeas corpus proceeding by P. A. Vasquez. The prisoner was discharged, and the state brings error. Reversed.
Syllabus by the Court
1. The use of the writ of habeas corpus to test the sufficiency of the evidence upon which an information may have been based is disapproved.
2. A statute (Laws 1903, p. 9, c. 5106, s 19) licensing 'lung testers, striking machines, weighing machines, chewing gum stands, automatic penny in the slot machines or any other device of a similar nature,' under a Constitution prohibiting lotteries, will not be construed to license the operation of a machine in which the element of chance largely predominates.
COUNSEL W. H. Ellis, Atty. Gen., Donald C. McMullen, and Frank M. Simonton, for the State.
P. O Knight and C. C. Whitaker, for defendant in error.
A writ of error was allowed herein on behalf of the state, under chapter 4920, p. 52, Laws 1901, by the circuit judge of Hillsborough county, to have reviewed a proceeding in habeas corpus heard by such judge, resulting in the discharge of the prisoner.
The record shows that the sheriff of said county, to whom the writ of habeas corpus was directed, made return that the petitioner was held under a warrant issued out of the criminal court of record of that county upon an information charging Vasquez with keeping a gaming apparatus. The warrant is attached to the return. Thereupon the circuit judge took evidence as to the nature of the apparatus kept by the petitioner, and which presumably was the basis of the criminal charge. Upon hearing the testimony the court found that the machine was 'an automatic slot machine, such as are licensed under the laws of Florida,' and therefore ordered that the petitioner be discharged from custody. A bill of exceptions was made up and settled in behalf of the state.
From the foregoing statement it would appear that the sphere of activity of the highly beneficial writ of habeas corpus has been enlarged beyond the limits heretofore imposed by this court, and a reversal might be placed upon this ground. However, as the case has been presented to us by counsel for either side upon the merits of the question actually passed upon below, we shall consider the question so presented.
The statute referred to by the court below is contained in the license act of 1903, p. 9, c. 5106, § 19, which reads as follows: ...
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