Williams v. State
| Citation | 166 N.E. 663,201 Ind. 175 |
| Decision Date | 29 May 1929 |
| Docket Number | 25,571 |
| Parties | Williams v. State of Indiana |
| Court | Supreme Court of Indiana |
1. SEARCHES AND SEIZURES---Search Warrant---When Unnecessary---Defendant Committing a Felony.---A search warrant was not necessary where the defendant was seen by peace officers actively assisting in the use of a still for the manufacture of intoxicating liquor, as they had actual knowledge that defendant was guilty of a felony, and therefore they had the right to arrest him and seize the articles used in the commission of the crime, and such articles were admissible in evidence against him. p. 178.
2. SEARCHES AND SEIZURES---Arrest for Felony---Right to Seize Articles with which Crime Committed.---When peace officers have reasonable and probable cause to believe that a felony is being committed, they have a right to arrest the felon and to seize the articles used in the commission of the felony. p. 178.
3. SEARCHES AND SEIZURES---Illegality of Search---Objection Thereto---Who may Make.---One who has no interest in the premises searched and has no control over them cannot object to the legality of a search thereof. p. 178.
4. SEARCHES AND SEIZURES---Constitutional Inhibition against Unreasonable Searches---Application to Fields, Woods and Lands.---The constitutional inhibition against unreasonable searches and seizures protects the people in their right "to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects" (Art. 1, 11, Constitution), but a search warrant is not required to enable officers to search fields woods or land which is some distance from a house or dwelling. p. 178.
5. INTOXICATING LIQUORS---Manufacture Thereof---Evidence Held Sufficient to Sustain Conviction.---In a prosecution for assisting in the use of a still for the manufacture of intoxicating liquor, testimony to the effect that accused was seen by peace officers actively participating in the manufacture of intoxicating liquor by means of a still was sufficient to sustain a conviction, though the still was the property of a codefendant. p. 178.
6. CRIMINAL LAW---Appeal---Province of Appellate Tribunal---As to Credibility of Witnesses---Weighing Evidence---Determining Guilt or Innocence of Defendant.---On appeal from a conviction for crime, the Supreme Court cannot determine the credibility of the witnesses, the weight of conflicting evidence, or whether the inference of guilt or innocence should have been drawn, where either of such inferences might reasonably have been drawn from the evidence; such matters being exclusively for the jury or the court when trial is by the court. p. 179.
From Ripley Circuit Court; John R. Carney, Judge.
Louis Williams was convicted of a violation of § 6 of the Prohibition Law of 1925 (§ 2719 Burns 1926) which makes it a felony to own, possess, control, use, or assist in using, a still or distilling apparatus for the manufacture of liquor, and he appealed.
Affirmed.
Crawford A. Peters and Richard L. Ewbank, for appellant.
Arthur L. Gilliom, Attorney-General, and Donald R. Mote, Deputy Attorney-General, for the State.
Appellant was convicted of violating Acts 1925, ch. 48, § 6, § 2719 Burns 1926, which makes it unlawful to own, possess, control, use or assist in using any still or distilling apparatus for the unlawful manufacture of intoxicating liquor. His assignment of errors presents two questions: first, was the evidence obtained by the arresting officers and on which he was convicted incompetent because it was obtained without the aid of a search warrant, and second, was the evidence sufficient to sustain the verdict?
The evidence, briefly, was that Harrison, the owner of a farm on Laughery Creek which was leased to Lindsay Borders, visited the farm and was within 40 feet of a place where a still was in operation thereon, heard a fire cracking, heard someone conversing there and smelled the mash. He telephoned to the sheriff and then accompanied the sheriff and three others, whom the sheriff deputized, to the farm. The officers surrounded the location of the still and one of them, while waiting in the weeds for the sheriff and other deputies to locate themselves, saw three men, one of whom was appellant, working around the still. Two officers testified that appellant, who was within three or four feet of the still, had a copper coil in his hands and took a kettle to a point on the creek nearby where some barrels were located, started to run when discovered by the sheriffs, and, on being told to halt, kept on running. Appellant and his codefendants, Henderson and Borders, were arrested after several shots were fired. Henderson and appellant, who were wounded, carried arms and ammunition, and all the deputy sheriffs were armed. In addition to the still, the officers found four and one-half barrels of mash and eight gallons of "white-mule" whisky in jugs, kegs and milk cans, the liquor being hot when found.
It was not necessary that the search, seizure and arrest in this case be made under a search warrant in order to effect a valid arrest of the appellant and to render admissible against him the evidence obtained, for the following reasons:
First. The arresting officers had reasonable and probable cause to believe that the felony defined by the statute above cited was being committed, and therefore...
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