Adams v. State

1930 OK CR 419, 292 P. 385, 49 Okla. Crim. 94, 1930 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 175
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 11, 1930
DocketNo. A-7559.
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 1930 OK CR 419 (Adams v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams v. State, 1930 OK CR 419, 292 P. 385, 49 Okla. Crim. 94, 1930 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 175 (Okla. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

CHAPPELL, J.

Plaintiff in error, hereinafter called defendant, was convicted in the district court of Tulsa county of the crime of manslaughter in the first degree, and sentenced to serve 99 years in the state penitentiary.

The defendant in his brief says:

“This was an unusual case. There was not a single fact or circumstance connected with the homicide in dispute excepting the defendant’s mental responsibility.”

The killing being admitted, the cause must be affirmed, unless the errors of law complained of by the defendant are sufficient to require a reversal. Section 2719, O. O. S. 1921, provides:

“Upon a trial for murder, the commission of the homicide by the defendant being proven, the burden of proving circumstances of mitigation, or that justify or excuse it, devolves upon him, unless the proof on the part of the prosecution tends to show that the crime committed only amounts to manslaughter, or that the defendant was justifiable or excusable.”

The defendant claims that he was insane at the time the homicide was committed, and offered evidence in support of such claim.

*96 The first contention of defendant’s counsel is that the evidence in the case fairly established that the defendant at the time of the commission of the crime was so insane as not to know the difference between right and wrong, and to be incapable of committing the offense. There is a sharp conflict in the evidence. The evidence of the state, the physical facts, and the circumstances of the case are that the defendant was sane at the time of the commission of the homicide. The evidence of the defendant and his witnesses was that he was insane at that time. This was the single question of fact to be determined by the jury.

This court has repeatedly held that the jury are the exclusive judges of the weight of the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses; and that if there is a clear conflict in the evidence or it is such that different inferences can properly be drawn from it, its determination will not be interfered with unless it is clearly against the weight of the evidence or appears to have been influenced by passion or prejudice. Choate v. State, 37 Okla. Cr. 314, 258 Pac. 360; Mayse v. State, 38 Okla. Cr. 144, 259 Pac. 277; Halsey v. State, 42 Okla. Cr. 221, 275 Pac. 405; Burrows v. State, 42 Okla. Cr. 256, 277 Pac. 685.

Defendant contends that the court erred in admitting incompetent evidence on the part of the state and in rejecting competent evidence offered by the defendant, and that such error was of such a flagrant nature as to require a reversal of the case.

The rule is that a- conviction will not be reversed on account of improper admission or exclusion of evidence, unless it appears from an examination of the whole record that there has probably been a miscarriage of justice, or that there is a substantial violation of some constitutional or statutory rights of the accused. Section 2822, *97 C. O. S. 1921; Brixey v. State, 42 Okla. Cr. 213, 275 Pac 655.

Defendant complains that he was not permitted to ask Dr. Adams, testifying for the state, as to what it was Avhich had cured the defendant between the time he had been adjudged insane in California and the time of the homicide. Medical science having no known specific for any disease, the question was impossible of answer. There was no evidence before the court that the defendant had been cured, that not being the issue in the case.

Defendant further contends that the court erred in refusing to permit Dr. Adams to answer the question of whether or not he was appearing to testify for the state for a fee. An examination of the record discloses the following :

“Q. But you agreed, didn’t you, doctor, with the county attorney for a fee, money consideration, to come down here and testify to this boy’s sanity? A. I did not.”

It thus appears that this contention is without merit.

An examination of the whole record discloses that the trial judge was attempting to speed up the trial and was trying to keep the examination and cross-examination of witnesses reasonably within that which was material in the case. There is nothing in the record to indicate any prejudice upon the part of the judge, and the admission and rejection of evidence complained of by the defendant was not such as to require a reversal of the case.

Defendant further contends that the court erred in refusing to permit him to introduce a photograph of himself taken when he was a boy, years ago, for comparison in showing a change in the defendant’s physical appear- *98 anee. Just how this would be of any probative value in establishing the fact of insanity years afterward and at the time of the trial, we are unable to see. Defendant contends that it was admissible for the purpose of identification. Defendant’s witnesses Mr. Peek, Mr. Roth, and Mr. Chandler had sworn that the defendant was the same person who had lived with them years before, and had fully established the fact of identity, so that the photograph for that purpose could only have been cumulative evidence. In many cases it is proper to permit the introduction of photographs, and the introduction might have been permitted in the case at bar, but the rejection of this, together with the other evidence complained of, does not constitute reversible error.

Defendant introduced in evidence a certified copy of the proceedings of the superior court of Inco county, state of California, showing that the defendant had been adjudged to be insane and had been committed to the Nor-walk State Hospital, at Norwalk, Cal., and introduced evidence to show that the defendant was the same Tommy Adams who had been committed to this asylum as insane.

Defendant contends that the court erred in giving instruction No. 12, which reads as follows:

“You are instructed that the court has permitted an authenticated copy of a record from a superior court in the state of California of an adjudication in said court adjudging one Tommy Adams insane and his confinement in a lunatic asylum. In considering this evidence it will be your first duty to ascertain and determine whether the Tommy Adams mentioned in said authenticated copy is the Tommy Adams here on trial, and if you should decide that he is the same Tommy Adams here on trial, said evidence will not be considered by you as conclusive up'On the question of his sanity at this time and. in this case, but said record may be considered by you, along with the *99 otter evidence in tbe case on tbe question of bis sanity, and given by you sucb weight as you deem it entitled to receive.”

Defendant contends that tbe court erred first in that part of tbe instruction which reads:

“In considering this evidence it will be your first duty to ascertain and determine whether the Tommy Adams mentioned in said authenticated copy is the Tommy Adams here on trial.”

Certainly it was incumbent upon the defendant to prove that he was the same Tommy Adams who had been adjudged to be insane by the superior court of California.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1930 OK CR 419, 292 P. 385, 49 Okla. Crim. 94, 1930 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-v-state-oklacrimapp-1930.