Kearns v. State

Abe Kearns was found guilty in the county court of Blaine county of the sale of intoxicating liquor, with his punishment fixed by the jury at a fine of $150 and imprisonment for 60 days. The evidence against the plaintiff in error was obtained and given by a paid informer in the employ of the sheriff.

Where one employed by a sheriff to entrap violators of the prohibitory law admits that he was hired to “catch bootleggers,” the defendant on trial has a right, on cross-examination, to interrogate him about the details of such employment — whether he was supplied with and kept liquor for that…