State v. . Kirkman

SoheNCK, J. Tbe defendant, appellant, assigns as error tbe refusal of bis motion to dismiss tbe action or for a judgment of nonsuit duly lodged when tbe State bad produced its evidence and rested its case. G. S., 15-173. Tbe defendant offered' no evidence. We are constrained to bold that tbe refusal of tbe defendant’s motion was error. *779 Taking the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, it tends to show only that there was found in the yard surrounding the house in which the defendant lived with only his adoptive mother, a Ford automobile, in the rear compartment of which was 42 gallons (seven cases) of liquor, upon which no tax, Federal or State, had been paid; that in the court below the defendant testified that the automobile was not his, and that a man, a stranger to him, was driving the automobile, which got out of order, and he, defendant, helped to push the automobile onto the premises where he lived, and that the automobile was left there for several days, during which time the defendant left and was in Norfolk; that the automobile was subsequently driven away by some unknown person. The defendant’s adoptive mother testified, as a witness for the State, that she did not own the automobile or know who did own it, and that she did not have any interest in or ownership of the liquor. Evidence sufficient to take the case to the jury in a criminal action must tend to prove the fact in issue or reasonably conduce to its conclusion as a fair, logical and legitimate deduction, and not merely such as raises a suspicion or conjecture of guilt. S. v. Johnson, 199 N. C., 429, 154 S. E., 730. The evidence, at most, does no more than raise a suspicion of the defendant’s guilt, and therefore the motion to dismiss and for judgment of nonsuit will be allowed. S. v. Johnson, supra; S. v. Battle, 198 N. C., 379, 151 S. E., 927; S. v. Montague, 195 N. C., 20, 141 S. E., 285. The judgment of the Superior Court is Beversed.