55 Miss. 528 | Miss. | 1878
delivered the opinion of the court.
The plaintiff in error was indicted for unlawfully selling liquor to J. T. Middlebrook. Upon the trial the proof established the fact that he had sold the liquor to A. T. Middle-brook, and thereupon the district attorney amended the indictment, by leave of court, against the objection of the accused, by changing the name in the indictment. If we could regard this as a mere mistake in the name, and the correction as conforming the indictment to the person intended by the grand jury, the amendment would be proper, under section 2799 of the Code of 1871, as expounded in Miller v. The State, 53 Miss. 403. In other words, if the grand jury indicted the plaintiff in error for selling liquor to the person whose real name was A. T. Middlebrook, but whom they erroneously supposed to be named J. T. Middlebrook, then the power of so amending as to conform to the truth existed; but the proof seems to show that this was not the case. There were in the county both a J. T. and an A. T. Middle-brook.
It was J. T. who appeared before the grand jury; it was to