Da Roza v. United States

The defendant below pleaded guilty to an ■indictment charging the manufacture of intoxicating liquor in violation of the National Prohibition Act. The indictment charged that the defendant at a certain time and place mentioned “knowingly and wilfully committed a prohibited and unlawful act by the manufacture of certain intoxicating liquor fit for use for beverage purposes, to-wit: 117 gallons of whiskey.” Upon his plea, he was adjudged guilty as charged and sentenced to be imprisoned for the period of nine months in the county jail of San Francisco county, Cal. Thereafter defendant filed his petition for appeal to this court, which was duly allowed.

The only errors assigned are as follows:

The defendant neither demurred to the indictment nor filed a motion in arrest of judgment. He insists here for the first time that the indictment was so defective as to affect his substantial rights, and that in eonse^ quence the judgment is void.

The sole question presented to this court is whether the indictment charges an offense against the United .States. It is contended that the indictment is fatally defective,’ in that it fails to allege that the intoxicating liquor, which the…