Witt v. State
| Decision Date | 29 June 1901 |
| Citation | 30 So. 473,130 Ala. 129 |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
| Parties | WITT v. STATE. |
Appeal from circuit court, Sumter county; S. H. Sprott, Judge.
Bob Witt was convicted on a prosecution commenced by affidavit for selling liquors without a license, and appeals. Affirmed.
Upon the introduction of all the evidence defendant asked the court to give to the jury the following written charges, and separately excepted to the court's refusal to give each of them as asked: (1) "The court charges the jury that if you believe all the evidence in this case, you must acquit the defendant." (2) "The court charges the jury that, if you believe all of the evidence in this case, you cannot find the defendant guilty in this case on the complaint filed in this cause, and you must acquit the defendant." (3) "The court charges the jury that the defendant cannot be convicted upon the complaint filed in this cause, and you must acquit the defendant."
Chas G. Brown, Atty. Gen., for the State.
This prosecution was commenced in the county court by affidavit charging defendant with violating the local liquor prohibition law in Sumter county, found in Acts 1890-91, p 312. On his demand for a jury the cause was transferred to the circuit court, where he was, on verdict, adjudged guilty under the third section of the act, and fined as for a second offense. Certain exceptions were reserved to rulings on evidence and other actions of the court, but they are each without merit. Seemingly the charges requested by and refused to defendant, and likewise his motion for a new trial, were intended to raise the question as to whether he could be legally tried in the circuit court without an indictment. The amended act regulating trials of misdemeanors in the Sumter county court (see Acts 1898-99, p. 376) provides "That any person charged with a misdemeanor, excepting violation of the revenue law, either by complaint or indictment, shall be entitled to a trial by jury, but should he waive the same, the court shall make an entry thereof on the record, and shall proceed to hear and determine the case; but if a jury is demanded, and in no other case, the court shall make an entry of record in said cause, that the defendant demanded a jury, and upon said entry of a demand for a jury, the clerk of the county court shall transfer the indictment and complaint, as the case may be, to the circuit court, together with a certified copy...
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Kennedy v. State
...without an indictment, nor of such a trial ab initio in the circuit court. See Thomas v. State, 107 Ala. 61, 17 So. 941; Witt v. State, 130 Ala. 129, 30 So. 473; Collins v. State, 218 Ala. 250, 118 So. 265 (Brown, J., dissenting); Ex parte Flowers, 218 Ala. 257, 118 So. 462 (Brown, J., diss......
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Collins v. State
...of the Constitution of 1875. The latter provision of organic law was defined as to the use of the word "misdemeanor" in Witt v. State (1900) 130 Ala. 129, 30 So. 473, which rested upon the decision of Thomas v. State, 107 Ala. 61, 17 So. 941, showing the change from the Constitution of 1861......
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Alford v. State
...been held by this court to be unconstitutional and not to deprive the defendant of his constitutional right to a jury trial. Witt's Case, 130 Ala. 129, 30 So. 473; Thomas's Case, 107 Ala. 61, 17 So. 941; Frost State, 124 Ala. 85, 27 So. 251. But none of these statutes so upheld by this cour......
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Roseberry v. State
...is no constitutional restriction upon the legislative power to dispense with indictments in cases of misdemeanors." And in Witt v. State, 130 Ala. 129, 30 So. 473, the holds that the Constitution (article 1, § 9, Constitution of 1875) excepts misdemeanors from its prohibition against procee......