Opinion
June 19, 1958.
July 17, 1958.
Criminal law — Unlawful possession of untaxed liquor — Evidence — Liquor in defendant's apartment — Actual physical possession in other person — The Liquor Code.
On appeal by defendant following convictions on indictments charging him with unlawful possession of untaxed liquor, in violation of § 491 of The Liquor Code of April 12, 1951, P.L. 90, in which it appeared that defendant and another admitted that they lived in the premises in which the liquor in each case was found; and that in the one instance arresting officers found the liquor in jugs in the one bedroom in the apartment, and in the other instance observed the other named defendant pouring the contents of a coffee pot into another pot which was in the kitchen sink, the contents of which latter pot were later identified as whiskey; it was Held that the evidence warranted findings that (a) defendant had ownership of the liquor and unlawful possession of it was imputable to him as master of the premises, and (b) the fact that the other defendant had physical possession of the pot from which he was pouring the liquor did not preclude defendant's having constructive, and, therefore, unlawful possession within the meaning of The Liquor Code, and that (c) the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions.
Before RHODES, P.J., GUNTHER, WRIGHT, WOODSIDE, ERVIN, and WATKINS, JJ. (HIRT, J., absent).
Appeals, Nos. 289 and 290, Oct. T., 1958, from judgments of Court of Quarter Sessions of Philadelphia County, Jan. T., 1957, No. 1528, and Nov. T., 1957, No. 1122, in case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Caesar Smith. Judgments affirmed.
Same case in court below: 13 Pa. D. C. 2d 114.
Indictments charging defendant with possession of untaxed liquor. Before SHOYER, J., specially sitting, without a jury.
Findings of guilty and judgments of sentence entered thereon. Defendant appealed.
Curtis C. Carson, Jr., for appellant.
Martin M. Krimsky, Assistant District Attorney, with him Juanita Kidd Stout, Assistant District Attorney, James N. Lafferty, First Assistant District Attorney, and Victor H. Blanc, District Attorney, for appellee.
Argued June 19, 1958.
The judgments of sentence of the court below are affirmed on the opinion of Judge SHOYER, specially sitting in the Court of Quarter Sessions of Philadelphia County, as reported in 13 Pa. D. C.2d 114.