87 P. 183 | Kan. | 1906
The opinion of the court was delivered by
J. L. Bursaw was convicted of unlawfully selling intoxicating liquors. The information contained five counts, and upon a trial he was found
He insists on this appeal that the evidence does not sustain the conviction; that it does not in any event show more than one unlawful sale. The state elected to rely on sales of whisky to four young men on each of the three counts. According to their testimony they obtained three bottles of whisky from defendant and drank it in his presence. While the liquor was all procured by these parties and drank within a brief space of time, the sales appear to have been three separate transactions. The young men state that the defendant furnished them with a bottle of whisky and that they “chipped in” and paid him for it, and when that was drunk they bought another bottle and again “chipped in” for its payment, and in the same way a third bottle was purchased and paid for. It thus appears that each bottle was a separate sale, and each sale was, therefore, a distinct offense. There is no lack of evidence to sustain the verdict.
The complaint that leading questions were asked by the state and allowed is without merit. Only a few questions which might be regarded as leading and to which objection was made were asked, and it is manifest that the defendant suffered no injury from the form of the questions. The court has a wide discretion in allowing leading questions, and only an abuse of such discretion affords ground for reversal.
Objection is made that three of the witnesses to whom liquor was sold were permitted to testify in respect to their ages. It appears that they ranged from eighteen to twenty-one years of age, a fact that was patent to all, and while.the evidence was not material it was certainly not prejudicial.
In instructing the jury the court called special attention to the testimony of the defendant, saying: “He testifies as an interested witness, and from an inter
Attention is called to remarks made by the county attorney in his argument to the jury, but those mentioned in the brief are not of a serious nature; and, besides, they were not brought to the attention of the court when made, and exceptions to them are not preserved in the record. The judgment is affirmed.