Brazeale v. StateBrazeale v. State
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an appeal from a conviction fоr having intoxicating liquor in possession. When arrested, the appellant was in the act of taking a drink of whisky from a bottle. According to his version of the matter, the liquor Avas the property of another, Avhо had just handed it to him, so that he might take a drink thereof.
The court charged the jury, at the request of the state, to find the defendant guilty if they believed from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that he — “did Avillfully and unlawfully take into his hands and thereby have in his possession a bottle containing intoxicating liquor, commonly called ‘white lightning whisky,’ for the purрose of taking a drink thereof.”
The question raised by this instruction, in the last аnalysis, is simply this: Is it a crime to take a drink of intoxicating liquor? The statute dоes not so providе, as could have bеen very easily donе, had the'legislature sо desired; its language being:
“It shall be unlawful for any рerson ... to have, control or possess” intoxicating liquor. Section -2, chapter 189, Laws 1918.
The possession contemplated by thе statute is of more substаntial character than that which is for the рurpose of and to the extent only that is necessary for taking a
Reversed and remanded.