Acosta

The defendant was convicted by a jury of the crime of possession of a still, a felony, and was sentenced to imprisonment at Folsom. He appeals from the judgment and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

It appears from the evidence that on January 7, 1931, certain officers raided a house in San Bernardino, California, and found therein a still and coil which were still warm, a hydrometer (an instrument usually used to measure the content of alcohol in liquor), a quantity of intoxicating liquor and several barrels of mash. The barrels of mash were sitting in an excavation below the floor, and were covered by the floor-board, which had been loosened. When the officers entered the house, between 7 and 8 o’clock in the evening, they found Mr. and Mrs. Moreno in bed in one of the bedrooms and a Mr. Bejarano in bed in another bedroom. All of these parties denied having anything to do with the still. Moreno testified that he had been promised work at picking oranges by a man named Rivera, and that Rivera told him he could live in his house, rent free. He had been living there some two weeks before the raid. Bejarano testified that he had come to San Bernardino to look for…