State v. Watts

• Citation: 27 S.E. 302,43 W.Va. 182
• Parties: STATE v. WATTS.
• Decision Date: 24 March 1897
• Court: Supreme Court of West Virginia

27 S.E. 302

43 W.Va. 182

STATE v. WATTS.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

March 24, 1897

Submitted January 22, 1897

Syllabus by the Court.

Indictment against physician for issuing prescription under sections 6, 7, c. 32, of the Code, to aid druggists in violation of provisions of said chapter, held sufficient.

Error to Circuit Court, Wayne county.

Alvis Watts was indicted for issuing prescriptions to aid druggists to violate the liquor law, and brings error. From a judgment sustaining the demurrer to the complaint the state brings error. Reversed.

T. S Riley, Atty. Gen., for the State.

McWHORTER J.

Alvis Watts was indicted in the circuit court of Wayne county on the 30th day of January, 1896, which indictment is as follows: "State of West Virginia, Wayne county, to wit The grand jurors of the state of West Virginia in and for the body of the county of Wayne, impaneled and sworn in the circuit court of said county, and now attending said court upon their oaths, present that Alvis Watts, a practicing physician, in said county, on the 1st day of January, 1896 for the purpose of aiding one Fitzhue Stephens, a licensed druggist doing business as such in said county, in violating chapter 32 of the Code of West Virginia, in the unlawful sale of spirituous liquors, did unlawfully give one G. W. Fry a written prescription for spirituous liquors, specifying therein the said G. W. Fry as the person to whom said liquors were to be furnished by said Fitzhue Stephens, druggist together with the kind and quantity of liquors to be so furnished, and did in said prescription falsely, knowingly, and unlawfully state that said spirituous liquors so prescribed were absolutely necessary as a medicine, and not to be used as a beverage; he, the said Alvis Watts, then and there well knowing that said spirituous liquors so prescribed for the said G. W. Fry were not absolutely necessary as a medicine for the said G. W. Fry, and were to be used by him as a beverage; against the peace and dignity of the state. Found at the January term, 1896, of said court, upon the information of G. W. Fry, sworn in open court, and sent before the grand jury to give evidence before that body,"--to which indictment the defendant appeared and demurred, which demurrer the court sustained on the 26th day of May, 1896, and discharged the defendant, from which judgment the stat e was allowed from this Court a writ of error.

The indictment was made under that clause of section 6, c. 32, of the Code, which provides that "no sale of alcohol except for mechanical or scientific purposes, spirituous liquors or wine shall be made by any druggist under the provisions of this chapter, except upon the written prescription of a practicing physician in good standing in his profession, and not of intemperate habits, specifying the name of the person and the kind and...