Williams v. State

Citations

• 125 Miss. 347
• 87 So. 672

Syllabus

<p>1. CRIMINAL Law. Evidence insufficient to show conviction of prior offenses under statute.</p> <p>Where a person is indicted for the unlawful sale of intoxicating liquors under section 1 (c), chapter 214, Laws 1912 (section 2086, Hemingway’s Code), which provides that on conviction the punishment shall be “by imprisonment in the state penitentiary not less than one year nor more than five years, if the conviction is for an offense under this Act committed after the person convicted has been convicted and punished for two former offenses thereunder,’’ and the testimony as to the two former convictions and punishments showed that the defendant had pleaded guilty in a justice of the peace court and prosecuted an appeal to i the circuit court, in which court the cases were docketed, and the minutes of the circuit court fail to show any disposition of the cases in that court, they are still pending cases in the circuit court. Consequently there is no proof of two former convictions and punishments under this act.</p> <p>2. Criminal Law. Punishment as for first conviction only held warranted.</p> <p>Under this testimony the defendant can only be punished as for a first conviction under section 1 (a) of this act.</p> <p>3. Criminal Law. .Minutes of circuit court cannot be contradicted by parol; supreme court orders and judgments shown tty minutes.</p> <p>The circuit court speaks through its minutes. These court minutes import absolute verity and cannot be contradicted by parol, The orders and judgment of this court are shown on its minutes.</p>