Williams v. Com.
| Decision Date | 17 November 1896 |
| Citation | 37 S.W. 680 |
| Parties | WILLIAMS v. COMMONWEALTH. |
| Court | Kentucky Court of Appeals |
Appeal from circuit court, Harrison county.
"Not to be officially reported."
James Williams was convicted of carrying concealed a deadly weapon and appeals. Reversed.
Blanton & Berry, for appellant.
W. S Taylor, for the Commonwealth.
Section 1309, St. Ky. under which appellant was indicted and convicted, provides that, if any person shall carry concealed a deadly weapon upon or about his person other than an ordinary pocket knife, he shall be fined, etc. According to testimony of the prosecuting witness in this case, upon which alone the jury did or could base their verdict, he heard his sheep running, and, looking around, saw three boys and three dogs leaving his place, and go upon the turnpike road. He then ran, and, getting over the fence, went to within three or four feet of them, having picked up a rock, which was still held in his hand. Upon having thus approached appellant pulled a pistol from in front of his person, and pointed it at witness, saying he was ready for him. He testified that the pistol was a very large one, being described as long as his arm; that the boys had been out hunting; that appellant did not have on any vest, but a sack coat, and had a leather belt around his waist. He further testifies that he did not see the pistol until appellant turned around, and pulled it as he turned.
To "conceal," as the word is defined by lexicographers, according to the common and approved usage of language, and therefore in proper meaning of the statute, is to hide, secrete, screen, cover. And adopting that meaning of the term, which is the only one we are authorized to accept we think the verdict of the jury in this case is not simply contrary to the weight of the evidence, but is totally without any evidence, direct or circumstantial, to support it; for the fact that witness, being behind him, did not see the pistol until appellant turned around, does not show or tend to show that he had it hid or secreted. On the contrary, considering the size of the pistol, absence of a vest, the purpose for which the boys went on witness' place, which was to hunt, it is plain that the pistol was not, nor could have been, concealed, but was stuck in appellant's belt, where a person in front of him could and would necessarily see it. Wherefore the judgment is reversed, and cause remanded for a...
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Avery v. Commonwealth
...to define what was meant by the word "concealed," but no such circumstances existed in this case. In the case of Williams v. Commonwealth, 37 S.W. 680, 18 Ky. Law Rep. 663, this court had before it a state of facts similar to the facts now before us. In that case the offender pulled a pisto......
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Avery v. Com.
... ... and universally understood. It might be that circumstances ... could exist in a case where the court would be called upon to ... define what was meant by the word "concealed," but ... no such circumstances existed in this case ... In the ... case of Williams v. Commonwealth, 37 S.W. 680, 18 ... Ky. Law Rep. 663, this court had before it a state of facts ... similar to the facts now before us. In that case the offender ... pulled a pistol and pointed it at the witness. The witness ... did not see the pistol until he turned around and pulled it ... ...
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Combs v. Com.
... ... was committed within 12 months before the finding of the ... indictment, unless it is in lieu of a former indictment, and ... then it must show that the offense was committed within a ... year before that indictment was found or the prosecution was ... begun. In Williams v. Commonwealth, 37 S.W. 680, 18 ... Ky. Law Rep. 666, the court said: "Section 129, Cr ... Code, is as follows, to wit: 'The statement in the ... indictment as to the time at which the offense was committed ... is not material further than as a statement that it was ... committed before the ... ...
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Reid v. Commonwealth
...or proper." The offense with which Reid was charged is in violation of KRS 435.230 (KS 1309). In the case of Williams v. Commonwealth, 37 S.W. 680, 18 Ky. Law Rep. 663, it was held that the defendant, who had a pistol stuck his belt, as did Reid, was not guilty of violating the statute. The......