State Court Rules Miller Genuine Draft Is Actually Beer
POSTED: 2:41 pm EDT August 2, 2006
READING, Pa. -- A judge who dismissed charges against a man accused of buying a case of beer for a 17-year-old, saying prosecutors failed to prove Miller Genuine Draft was an alcoholic beverage, was mistaken, state Superior Court ruled.
"This finding was incorrect,'' said the Superior Court ruling in the case against Gregg R. Hartman, 44, of Kutztown.
State police had charged Hartman with furnishing liquor to minors. Shawn Putnam, 17, had testified that Hartman bought him a case of Miller Genuine Draft on Jan 7, 2004, at Duffer's Beer Distributor in Kutztown, and Putnam drank five beers within 15 minutes in the car while Hartman was driving around.
Berks County Judge Jeffrey K. Sprecher dismissed the charge, saying the prosecution failed to provide the state Liquor Control Board's list of beers to prove the beverage was beer. "It's equally plausible that the defendant purchased a nonalcoholic beverage with a flavor similar to beer,'' he had ruled.
But the Superior Court judges wrote, "Putnam's testimony was more than enough to establish that the beverage he was drinking was a malt or brewed beverage.''
Assistant District Attorney Douglas J. Waltman Jr. said the case would be listed for trial
