State v. Weis

• Decision Date: 20 December 1927
• Docket Number: 6373
• Citation: 52 S.D. 104,216 N.W. 863
• Parties: STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA, Respondent, v. NICK WEIS, Defendant and appellant.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

52 S.D. 104

216 N.W. 863

STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA, Respondent,

v.

NICK WEIS, Defendant and appellant. South Dakota Supreme Court Appeal from Circuit Court, Tripp County, SD Hon. John G. Bartine, Judge File No. 6373—Affirmed P. A. Hosford, of Winner, SD Attorneys for Appellant. Buell F. Jones, Attorney General Bernard A. Brown, Assistant Attorney General, Pierre, SD Attorney for the State. Opinion filed December 20, 1927

MORIARTY, C.

The appellant, Nick Weis, was convicted on a charge of transporting intoxicating liquor. From the judgment pronounced upon said conviction, and from an order denying a new trial, this appeal is taken.

The undisputed evidence shows that the defendant drove a Ford coupe to a Farmers’ Union picnic being held at Brandon Springs, in Tripp county. During the evening, while a dance was being held in connection with said picnic, defendant’s car was parked near other cars near the dance floor. While the cars were so parked, defendant was seen to take a bottle of beer from the rear compartment of his car, open the bottle, carry it in his hands to another car parked a few feet from his own, and place the bottle between two women who were sitting on the running board of said other car. An officer took immediate possession of this bottle of beer, and, upon examining the rear compartment of the defendant’s coupe, found there a bucket or pail containing was bottles of beer. There was no evidence as to when the beer was put in the car, but both the defendant and his wife swore that it was not in the car when they arrived at the picnic grounds.

The sole contention of the defendant is that the mere carrying of the beer from one car to another a few feet away should not be held to constitute transportation of the liquor.

The time when the alleged offense was committed was on July 23, 1925. Therefore the law then in force was section 10303 of the Revised Code of 1919, as amended by chapter 204 of the Laws of 1925. So far as it applies to the question involved herein, said section as so amended provides as follows:

“It shall be unlawful for any person to carry or transport any intoxicating liquors, … in any wagon, buggy, automobile, automobile truck, boat, air or water craft or other vehicle or conveyance, or in any other manner, from any point in this state or from any point outside of this state to any point in this state.”

This court has already held that the carrying of intoxicating liquor upon the person while walking from place to place would constitute a violation of section 10303. State v. Burns, 195 N.W. 445.

As to the distance which the liquor must be carried to constitute transportation, the record shows that the defendant carried the liquor but a few feet, but he carried it from his own car to that of another. There is no limitation of distance in the statute. The law reads, “from a point to a point.”

To hold that the points referred to in the statute must be some definite distance apart would be reading into the law a limitation that is not there, and would be contrary to the provision...