People v. Miller

The appellant was convicted of the unlawful possession of intoxicating liquor. He was also charged with the prior conviction of a similar offense, to which he entered a plea of guilty.

It is now contended that the evidence fails to support the verdict, chiefly because it does not affirmatively appear that the liquor was not kept by the defendant for domestic use in a private dwelling-house. The appellant also complains of certain instructions and oral remarks made by the trial judge.

August 24, 1928, two officers visited the residence of the defendant at Knights Landing. One went to the front door and the other approached the rear door. -The officer Litsch testified: “I ran to the back door. ... As I came up on the porch, .. . . Mr. Miller ran to the sink with two bottles and threw them down into the sink and broke them. I went in, . . . and the liquor was in the sink running down. . -. . It was brown, . . .• about • the color of ordinary jackass (brandy); . . . there was the odor of jackass and gin. It smelled very strong of - gin and very- strong of jackass brandy. ... As I came in the door, .-. . Mr. -Miller stepped back from the sink and said ‘I beat you to it that time,’…