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36 Cal. App. 292

171 P 1091

People v. Pera

California Court of Appeal

Decided February 18, 1918

California Court of Appeal · decided 1918-02-18

<p>Intoxicating Liquors—Sale Within No-license Territory—Location of Place—Evidence—Testimony of County Clerk.—In a prosecution for the crime of keeping a place of public resort in no-license territory for the purpose of sale therein of alcoholic liquor, testimony of the county clerk that the town in which the defendant kept such resort was outside of the boundaries of any incorporated city or town, and within a certain supervisorial district which had voted no-lieense, is sufficient to show that such place was within no-license territory.</p> <p>Id.—Application fob Federal Liquor License.—In such a prosecution, the admission in evidence of a purported written application of the defendant for a federal liquor license without proof that the same was signed by him was erroneous, but without prejudice, where the other evidence sufficiently supported the verdict.</p> <p>Id.—Other Sales.—In a prosecution for the crime of keeping a place of public resort in no-license territory for the purpose of sale in such territory of alcoholic liquor, testimony as to a sale of liquor made by defendant fourteen days prior to the commission of the date charged is admissible to show the character of the place and the purpose of the defendant.</p> <p>Id.—Intent to Commit Act—Existence Immaterial.—In a prosecution for the crime of keeping a place of public resort in no-lieense territory for the purpose of sale in such territory of alcoholic liquor, it is not necessary to the consummation of the crime that an intent to commit the act be shown, since the mere commission of such act is sufficient to constitute the crime.</p> <p>Ib.—Possession of Federal Liquor License—Effect of—Instruction.—An instruction that the possession by defendant of a federal liquor license could not legally operate as a shield to any person shown to have committed the crime of keeping a public resort for the sale of alcoholic liquors in no-lieense territory, against the penal consequences thereof, is abstractly correct in the statement of the principle declared therein.</p> <p>Id.—Punishment for Offense—Sentence of Fine and Imprisonment—^Invalidity as to Imprisonment.—Under section 19 of the local option law, limiting imprisonment upon conviction of any of the provisions of the law to seven months, a sentence to imprisonment for one month and to a fine of six hundred dollars, and in default of payment, imprisonment not exceeding one day for each two dollars thereof, is void as to imprisonment for nonpayment of fine.</p> <p>Appeal — Modification of Judgments — Jurisdiction of District Court of Appeal.—The district court of appeal, before its judgments become final or before the causes in which such judgments are rendered are transferred to the supreme court upon petition, has the right or jurisdiction to modify its judgments, or set them aside if for good reasons such a course is required.</p>

Relies on Ex parte Rosenheim · People v. Brown · 15 Cal. App. 273 - People v. Kerr

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1918-02-18

How this case has been cited

Cited by 30 later decisions — most recently July 1984 · most notably People v. Ralph (1944), 29 Cal. 2d 525 - In Re Marley (1946)

30 state decisions

10019181920193019401950196019701980decided

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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HART, J.

¶1 The attorney-general, in a petition for a rehearing of this case, has called our attention to two cases, People v. Brown, 113 Cal. 35, [45 Pac. 181], and People v. Kerr, 15 Cal. App. 273, [114 Pac. 584], not cited in the original briefs, which bear upon the question whether the court in this case exceeded its jurisdiction in adjudging that the defendant, upon defaulting in the payment of the fine imposed, should be imprisoned for .one day for every two dollars of said fine until the same is satisfied. It will be observed that, in the original opinion, we construed the broad language used in the case of Ex parte Rosenheim, 83 Cal. 388, [23 Pac. 372], as declaring or implying that section 1205 of the Penal Code had no application whatever to a case where a term of imprisonment and also a fine were imposed. The eases above mentioned do not appear to give that, construction to said section. They seem to hold that the Rosen *307 heim case merely meant to hold that in a case where both a fine and an imprisonment are authorized to be imposed and a sentence of imprisonment is adjudged, the court, while having authority also to impose a fine, is without legal power or authority, in case the fine be not paid by the defendant, to impose the alternative of imprisonment at the rate of one day for every two dollars of such fine until the same is so satisfied. We say that this appears to be the construction the Brown and Kerr cases, sv/pra, put upon the language and the decision in the Rosenheim case. We have, upon careful reconsideration of the Rosenheim ease, concluded that its language is reasonably susceptible of that construction, and that, as so construed, it gives the true meaning of section 1205 of the Penal Code. At any rate, it is very clear that the Brown and Kerr cases, which were decided after the Rosenheim case, hold that, in eases in which the law authorizes the imposition of both a fine and an imprisonment the defendant may be subjected to both a fine and an imprisonment, but that in such ease the court has no authority to impose the alternative of imprisonment to satisfy the fine if the defendant defaults in the payment thereof. That part of the judgment imposing the fine nevertheless, however, constitutes a lien upon the defendant’s realty in like manner as a judgment for money rendered in a civil action, and its payment may be enforced by due proceedings. (Pen. Code, sec. 1206; People v. Brown, 113 Cal. 35, [45 Pac. 181].)

¶2 It follows that the judgment in this case imposing an imprisonment of thirty days in the county jail and also a fine of six hundred dollars, except that part thereof providing that in default of the payment of the fine the defendant shall be imprisoned until the same be satisfied, is perfectly valid.

¶3 The point herein discussed constitutes the sole and only ground upon which a rehearing is asked by the attorney-general. In view of that fact and of the further fact that we are now firmly convinced that our former judgment in the respect herein considered is erroneous, and, inasmuch as the result sought to be obtained by the application for a rehearing may as well be brought about by a modification of the judgment heretofore rendered by this court herein, we can perceive no good reason for reopening the case for the further consideration of said point, and so defer the final *308 disposition of the case. Of course, it will not be questioned that this court, before its judgments become final or before the causes in which such judgments are rendered are transferred to the supreme court upon petition, still has the right or jurisdiction to modify its judgments or, indeed, set them aside, if for good reasons such a course is required.

¶4 Accordingly, the petition for a rehearing is denied; but the former judgment rendered herein by this court is hereby modified so as to read as follows: “That portion of the judgment appealed from by the defendant providing that the defendant, in default of the payment of the fine imposed, shall be ‘imprisoned in the Merced County jail for a term not exceeding one day for each two dollars of such fine so remaining unpaid,’ being void, is reversed. The remaining portion of the judgment appealed from and the order denying the defendant a new trial are affirmed. There is no appeal from an order denying a motion in arrest of judgment, and the pretended appeal from said order is, therefore, dismissed. ’ ’

¶5 Chipman, P. J., and Burnett, J., concurred.

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