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21 Ala. App. 410

109 So 114

Elmore v. State

Alabama Court of Appeals

Decided May 11, 1926

Alabama Court of Appeals · decided 1926-05-11

Relies on 20 Ala. App. 49 - Biddle v. State · 19 Ala. App. 563 - Biddle v. State · 19 Ala. App. 560 - Farmer v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1926-05-11

How this case has been cited

Cited by 15 later decisions — most recently December 1982

14 state decisions

601926193019401950196019701980decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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SAMFORD, J.

¶1 We have held in many eases that the mere presence of a person at a still was not sufficient to overcome the presumption of innocence which attends a defendant charged with, and who is on trial for, a criminal offense. Biddle v. State, 19 Ala. App. 563, 99 So. 59; Biddle v. State, 20 Ala. App. 49, 100 So. 572. This general statement, while still adhered to, cannot be so extended as to invade the province of the jury in passing upon the guilt or innocence of a defendant, whose acts or conduct raises other presumptions tending to connect him with the manufacture of whisky or the possession of a still. Wherever a defendant is shown to be present at a still, any fact or circumstance, however slight, tending to show participation either as a principal or as aider or abettor may authorize the jury to find a verdict of guilt which will not be disturbed on appeal. In this case there was evidence from which the jury could conclude that the defendant was a principal, and the general charge was properly refused.

¶2 There was evidence justifying a conviction under either count of the indictment, and hence the general charge as to either count was properly refused.

¶3 The comment of the solicitor was an answer to an argument of defendant, and hence was free from error.

¶4 We find no error in the record, and the judgment is affirmed.

¶5 Affirmed:

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