89 W. Va. 84 | W. Va. | 1921
Defendant was indicted in the circuit court of Roane county upon the charge that he did unlawfully sell, give, offer, expose, keep and store for sale and gift, liquors. A demurrer to the indictment was overruled, and the questions arising thereon certified to this court.
The indictment is in the form prescribed by section three of chapter 108 of the Acts of 1919. The ground of the demurrér is that the indictment does not necessarily charge an offense, for the reason that the word “liquors” which the defendant is charged with having dealt in, is too uncertain to make him guilty of any crime under the law;- and, second, that the indictment is bad for duplicity, in that several separate offenses are charged therein.
It is quite true that the word liquors used in this indictment in its broad sense may include other substances than those referred to in the statute, but this form of indictment is prescribed by the law itself. The word liquors used in the prohibition statutes has a well defined significance. Section
The suggestion that the indictment is bad for duplicity is without merit. It is true that if the defendant did sell, give, offer, expose, keep and store for sale and gift, liquors, he may be guilty of separate and distinct offenses, but it is well established in this jurisdiction that the joinder of two or more offenses of the same general nature in an indictment is not ground of demurrer. State v. Calhoun, 67 W. Va. 666; State v. Jarrell, 76 W. Va. 263.
It follows that the demurrer' to the indictment was properly overruled, and we answer the questions certified accordingly.
Affirmed.