122 Neb. 49 | Neb. | 1931
In this case Hattie Stumpff, plaintiff in error, was convicted of unlawful and felonious possession of intoxicating liquors “on or about the 3d day of January, 1931.” In this error proceeding she presents to this court six questions, all of which, in view of the evidence before us, we answer in the affirmative.
We are convinced that the verdict of guilty returned by the jury in the instant case, in view of this record, may not be adversely affected by a verdict in a distinct and separate trial finding plaintiff in error’s husband, Alfred William Stumpff, guilty of illegal possession of the “same intoxicating liquors,” though such verdict be wholly based “on the identical evidence” on which Mrs. Stumpff was found guilty in the instant case. Nor can we admit the contention on behalf of Mrs. Stumpff that the fact that the premises on which the liquors were found at the time of the commission of the offense were the homestead of herself and her husband, Alfred William Stumpff, and in which both were then residing, requires the acquittal of Mrs. Stumpff of the charge of which she was convicted.
To the contrary, it is admitted that the legal title to the real estate comprising this homestead was, at all times, in Mrs. Stumpff. It is undenied that on the 3d day of January, 1931, the date of the alleged offense, just prior to the service of the search warrant embracing this home in its description, two persons had been served with intoxicating liquor in this house, and had paid for the same. Mrs. Stumpff, plaintiff in error, was present at this transaction. True, the persons thus served with liquor “do not remember” whether they were served this time by the husband or the wife. It is unquestioned in the record, however, that they laid 35 cents on the table for some one. for what.
Even if we accept plaintiff in error’s contention that the intoxicating liquors, which were discovered by the sheriff and his posse situated in her house on the 3d day of January, 1931, were wholly the property of her husband, still we are confronted by the fact that the inference is fully sustained by the record that on the day in question she was not only present and had full knowledge of the situation, but was actively aiding and abetting her husband in maintaining and concealing said illegal possession, especially from the officers who made the search of the' premises. If this be true, then it would seem that she was
We have also carefully examined the objections of plaintiff in error to the competency of the district judge who presided at the trial and find them wholly devoid of merit. The trial, verdict and sentence being in conformity with law, the conviction is in all things
Affirmed.