State v. Welch
| Decision Date | 10 May 1950 |
| Docket Number | No. 577,577 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE, v. WELCH. |
Coble Funderburk, Monroe, for defendant-appellant.
Attorney-General Harry McMullan and Assistant Attorney General Ralph Moody for the State.
The defendant puts his chief reliance on the appeal upon his claims that the trial court erred in refusing to dismiss the action upon a compulsory nonsuit, and in giving the jury certain instructions in which it directed the jury in specific detail to convict the defendant in case it found beyond a reasonable doubt from the testimony that the defendant knowingly transported two gallons of alcoholic beverages, even though one gallon of such beverages may have belonged to his wife.
The solution of these problems is to be found in the statutes relating to the transportation of intoxicating liquors and alcoholic beverages. These terms are not synonymous; but the broader term 'intoxicating liquors,' as defined in G.S. § 18-1, includes the more restricted term 'alcoholic beverages,' as delimited in G.S. § 18-60.
Since Union County has not elected to establish county liquor stores, the Turlington Act of 1923 is in full force in Union County except to the extent of its modification by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act of 1937. State v. Wilson, 227 N.C. 43, 40 S.E.2d 449.
Section 2 of the Turlington Act specifies that 'no person shall * * * transport * * * any intoxicating liquor.' G.S. § 18-2. This provision of the Turlington Act has been modified by sections 14 and 22 of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act of 1937, which are now codified respectively as G.S. §§ 18-49, and 18-58.
G.S. § 18-49 is as follows:
G.S. § 18-58 provides that a person may bring into this State for his own personal use not more than one gallon of alcoholic beverage which he has purchased legally outside the State.
It is axiomatic at common law that a crime is not committed if the mind of the person doing the act is innocent. The statutes relating to the unlawful transportation of intoxicating liquor are to be construed in the light of this common law principle, and the existence of guilty knowledge on the part of the accused is to be regarded as essential to criminality, even though it is not required by the statutes in express terms. State v. McLean, 121 N.C. 589, 28 S.E. 140, 42 L.R.A. 721. In consequence, a person transporting liquor is not criminally responsible for so doing under these statutes when he has no knowledge of the nature of the goods transported. Parker v. Commonwealth, 135 Va. 625, 115 S.E. 566; State v. Fishback, 122 Wash. 246, 210 P. 375.
A person violates section 2 of the Turlington Act, i. e., G.S. § 18-2, as modified by sections 14 and 22 of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act of 1937, i. e., G.S. §§ 18-49, and 18-58, and is guilty of unlawfully transporting intoxicating liquor by reason thereof if he knowingly transports intoxicating liquor for any purpose other than those specified in the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, or in a quantity in excess of one gallon, unless such liquor is in actual course of delivery to an alcoholic beverage control board established in a county coming under the provisions of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act. State v. Davis, 214 N.C. 787, 1 S.E.2d 104.
The word 'transport' means to carry or convey from one place to another. Alexander v. Atlantic Coast Line R. R., 144 N.C. 93, 56 S.E. 697; Cunard Steamship Co. v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 100, 43 S.Ct. 504, 67 L.Ed. 894, 27 L.R.A. 1306. Hence a person transports liquor when he carries or conveys it from one place to another on his person, or in some vehicle under his control, or in any other manner. Asher v. State, 194 Ind. 553, 142 N.E. 407, 143 N.E. 513; West v. State, 93 Tex.Cr. 370, 248 S.W. 371; 48 C.J.S., Intoxicating Liquors, § 234; Annotation: 65 A.L.R. 983. This is so even though the liquor belongs to the person who carries or conveys it, and is intended for his personal use. State v. Winston, 194 N.C. 243, 139 S.E. 240. But it is not an essential element of the crime of unlawfully transporting intoxicating liquor that the accused own the liquor, Simpson v. State, 195 Ind. 633, 146 N.E. 747; or that he have any pecuniary interest in it, Szymanski v. State, 93 Tex. Cr. 631, 248 S.W. 380; or that he have the custody of it. Loomis v. U. S., 9 Cir., 61 F.2d 653; 48 C.J.S., Intoxicating Liquors, § 234. This being true, an automobile driver who knowingly carries in his automobile intoxicating liquor belonging to and in the custody of a passenger is guilty of transporting such liquor. Green v. Commonwealth, 195 Ky. 698, 243 S.W. 917; People v. Ninehouse, 227 Mich. 480, 198 N.W. 973; Maloney v. State, 119 Tex. Cr. 273, 45 S.W.2d 216.
The task of applying these legal principles to this case must now be performed. When the evidence is considered in the light most favorable to the State, it is sufficient to warrant these findings by a jury: That an automobile, which the defendant owned and controlled, contained two gallons of alcoholic beverages; that the defendant knew that such quantity of alcoholic beverages was in his automobile; and that with such knowledge the defendant carried or conveyed such quantity of alcoholic beverages from one place to another in his automobile for some purpose other than that of delivering the...
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