Opinion
7 Div. 764.
June 23, 1931. Rehearing Denied August 4, 1931.
Appeal from Circuit Court, Etowah County; Woodson J. Martin, Judge.
Hoyt St. John was convicted of unlawfully possessing prohibited liquor, and he appeals.
Affirmed.
Certiorari denied by Supreme Court in St. John v. State, 223 Ala. 448, 137 So. 43.
The complaint filed in the circuit court reads: "The State of Alabama, by its solicitor, complains of Hoyt St. John, that, within twelve months before the commencement of this prosecution, he did receive, have in his possession, or did possess prohibited liquors or beverage, a part of which was alcohol, contrary to law, against the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama."
The demurrers object: "(1) That the complaint charges no offense; (2) that it is not averred therein that said liquors were beverages; and (3) it is too involved with reference to the charge of possession and sale."
E. O. McCord Son, of Gadsden, for appellant.
The complaint is fatally defective in failing to fix the venue and in failing to show what kind of liquors were charged to have been possessed.
Thos. E. Knight, Jr., Atty. Gen., and Jas. L. Screws, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
An indictment or complaint need not set out where the offense was committed; same being a matter of proof. Code 1923, § 4525; Leonard v. State, 18 Ala. App. 427, 93 So. 56; Hammonds v. Tuscaloosa, 21 Ala. App. 286, 107 So. 786. An indictment or complaint substantially in Code form is sufficient. Code 1923, § 4527; Corrunker v. State, 19 Ala. App. 500, 98 So. 363; Kirk v. State, 14 Ala. App. 44, 70 So.2d 990; Turner v. State, 14 Ala. App. 29, 70 So. 971; 16 Ala. So. Dig. 65 (Ind. Inf.) 110 (31).
Conviction for violating prohibition laws (Code 1923, § 4615 et seq. as amended), by having whisky in possession.
It was unnecessary for the complaint to state where the offense was committed. Code 1923, § 4535.
The evidence showed it to have been committed within the "jurisdiction of the county in which the (indictment) complaint was (is) preferred." Id.
The "complaint" complained of, in brief filed here on behalf of appellant, met every requirement of the law. Code 1923, § 4556 (form 101); Id. § 4527.
But the prosecution having been begun in the county court of Etowah county, by affidavit, etc., it was unnecessary to file any complaint in the circuit court, when the case reached there, on appeal, anyway. Code 1923, § 4646.
The judgment of conviction is affirmed.
Affirmed.