Opinion
8 Div. 191.
March 3, 1936.
Appeal from Morgan County Court; Seybourn H. Lynne, Judge.
Edgar Webb was convicted of violating the prohibition law, and he appeals.
Reversed and remanded.
S. A. Lynne, of Decatur, for appellant.
In a criminal case, a scintilla of evidence is not sufficient to submit the issues to the jury. There must be substantial evidence tending to prove all the elements of the charge. Ex parte Grimmett, 228 Ala. 1, 152 So. 263; Ervin v. State, ante, p. 4, 164 So. 828.
A. A. Carmichael, Atty. Gen., for the State.
Brief did not reach the Reporter.
The evidence adduced upon the trial of this case as to the alleged guilt of this appellant barely afforded a scintilla, and fell far short of the required rule. The trial court erred, therefore, in adjudging the defendant guilty as shown by the judgment of conviction from which this appeal was taken. The so-called scintilla rule has no application in a criminal prosecution, for in such cases the defendant enters upon his trial attended by the presumption of innocence, which under the uniform holdings of the appellate courts of this state is a matter of evidence, and such presumption continues throughout the trial, or until sufficient legal evidence has been adduced to overcome it by proving the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty. As stated, the evidence in this case failed in this respect. It follows that the judgment of conviction from which this appeal was taken must be reversed and the cause remanded. Webb v. State, post, p. 107, 166 So. 438.
Reversed and remanded.