## Facts

- Cephus Martin was intoxicated at his home in Houston County, Alabama.
- Police officers arrested Martin at his home and took him onto a public highway.
- On the highway, Martin allegedly manifested drunkenness by using loud and profane language in the presence of others.
- Martin was prosecuted under Alabama Code 1940, Title 14, § 120, which criminalized appearing in a public place while intoxicated and manifesting drunkenness by boisterous/indecent conduct or loud and profane discourse.
- The trial court convicted Martin of public drunkenness.

## Issues

1. Whether the statutory element that an intoxicated person “appears in any public place” is satisfied when the defendant is involuntarily and forcibly brought to the public place by police.
2. Whether arguments about unlawful arrest, compulsion, or duress were necessary to sustain or defeat the conviction.

## Decision

- On rehearing, the Alabama Court of Appeals reversed and rendered the conviction, ordering Martin discharged.
- The court held that § 120, by its terms, presupposed a voluntary appearance in a public place.
- Because Martin’s presence on the highway resulted from police taking him there from his home, the State failed to prove the required “appearance” element.

## Legal Principles

- When a statute criminalizes “appearing” in a public place while intoxicated, the element of appearance requires voluntariness.
- A public-drunkenness conviction cannot rest on proof that police involuntarily and forcibly carried an intoxicated person to the public place identified in the charge.
- If the evidence negates a required statutory element as a matter of law, the appellate court may reverse and render judgment discharging the defendant.

## Conclusion

The court set aside the public-drunkenness conviction because the statute required that the defendant voluntarily appear in a public place, and the undisputed evidence showed police transported him from his home to the highway, defeating that element and requiring discharge.


Martin v. State, 31 Ala. App. 334, 17 So. 2d 427 (Ala. Ct. App. 1944)