GAOL FOR LIFE.
Sold Two Pints Of Liquor In
America.
AMAZING SENTENCE.
NEW YORK, January 18.
Unless her appeal succeeds, Etta Mae Miller, mother of ten children, must spend the rest of her life in the Michigan State prison as an habitual criminal for a violation of the State prohibition law.
Mrs. Miller was found guilty in the Lansing Circuit Court on December 12 by a jury of ten men and two women, her offence being the sale of two pint bottles of bootleg liquor.
The case sets a precedent for "dry" law penalties, the life sentence being mandatory under the habitual criminal provision of the State law.
It is noteworthy that the entire case hinged on the 15-second identification of the woman by two police sleuths, who were the only ones who testified that they saw Mrs. Miller pass the liquor.
The defence was that Mrs. Miller, whose husband is in gaol, had had a desperate struggle to feed and clothe her ten children.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 19, 23 January 1929, Page 7
Word Count
165GAOL FOR LIFE. Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 19, 23 January 1929, Page 7
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