People v. Wood

HART, J.

The defendant was charged by information filed in the superior court of Humboldt County with the crime of wilfully, unlawfully, and feloniously having in his possession and under his control, on or about the day of October, 1927, in said county,

“a

still, designed, used and intended for use in the manufacture of intoxicating liquor for beverage purposes.” Upon his arraignment upon said charge, the defendant entered a plea of guilty thereto, waived the statutory time for the pronouncement of and was thereupon 'sentenced by the court to pay a fine of one thousand dollars and to be imprisoned in the state prison.

Notwithstanding the foregoing proceedings or the fact that judgment was passed upon him upon his plea of guilty to the information, the defendant has taken this appeal from said judgment. Counsel for the defendant, however, in their brief introduce their argument in support of the appeal

[623]

by

the statement that the defendant employed them to prosecute this appeal for the reason that he and others, including counsel, entertain serious doubt as to the constitutionality of the act under which the defendant was proceeded against.

The act upon the provisions of which the information filed against the defendant is based was passed by the legislature of 1927 (Stats. 1927, p. 497), and went into effect on July 29th of that year. The first section of said act reads as follows:

“Any person whether acting in his own behalf or as the agent, servant, officer or employee of any person, firm, association or corporation, who shall be the owner of or have any interest in or who shall operate or cause to be operated or knowingly have in his possession or control, any still, still worm, still cap, still condenser or stilling device of any kind, designed, used or intended for use in the manufacture or production of intoxicating liquor for beverage purposes, shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), and by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than one year nor more than five years.”