Opinion
December 31, 1949.
Appeal from the Justice's Court of the Town of Gallatin, Columbia County, HARRISON, J.
Morris Zweig for appellant.
Thomas P. Kennedy, District Attorney, for respondent.
The defendant, not being represented by counsel at the time, pleaded guilty to a violation of paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of section 106 Alco. Bev. Cont. of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, the information charging that he did sell or give away a bottle of beer at 12:45 on a Sunday morning. The defendant was not a licensee and the information did not allege that he was a licensee.
No person other than a licensee can be guilty of violating section 106 Alco. Bev. Cont. of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, since the Legislature apparently intended that the licensee and he alone should be responsible for the conduct of the premises. As was stated in People v. Flanagan ( 152 Misc. 916, 917): "There is nothing in the law * * * making any of the provisions of section 106 applicable to a person other than the licensee."
A criminal statute must be strictly construed. ( People v. Schmidt, 221 A.D. 77.) A person who pleads guilty to an information that charges no crime should and must have his conviction reversed.
The judgment of conviction herein is a nullity. Judgment appealed from reversed.