Allen v. State

1987 OK CR 45, 734 P.2d 1304, 1987 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 326
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 12, 1987
DocketF-84-347
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 1987 OK CR 45 (Allen 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
Allen v. State, 1987 OK CR 45, 734 P.2d 1304, 1987 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 326 (Okla. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

BRETT, Presiding Judge:

Appellant, Robert Joe Allen, was tried by a jury for the crime of Indecent Proposal to a Child Under the Age Fourteen, After Former Conviction of Two or More Felonies, in violation of 21 O.S.1981, § 1123 and 21 O.S.1981, § 51(B), in McClain County District Court Case No. CRF-83-128. The appellant was represented by counsel. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and set punishment at 60 years’ imprisonment. The trial court sentenced appellant in accordance with the jury’s verdict. From this judgment and sentence appellant has appealed to this Court.

During the summer of 1983, appellant, a fifty-one-year-old man who was the manager for the Oak Creek Apartments in Purcell, Oklahoma, employed a twelve-year-old girl, M.W., who was also a resident of the *1306 apartments to help him with the apartment upkeep. While she was helping appellant, he asked M.W. to pose nude for certain photographs. This request frightened M.W. so she left the apartment they were working in. M.W. told her parents about the incident and they instructed her to stay away from appellant.

Later, on July 28, 1983, while M.W. was at a friend’s house she and the friend decided to telephone appellant to request his granddaughter to come over and play with them. Appellant answered the telephone. After he informed M.W. that the granddaughter was sleeping, he again attempted to persuade her to pose in the nude. Appellant informed M.W. that she would be paid three dollars per photograph and that there were a thousand pictures on the roll of film. M.W. again declined and hung up the telephone. She then called the Purcell police. As a result of the telephone call, M.W. was requested to come to the police station. The police arranged for M.W. to be wired with a tape recorder and she again called appellant, but he would not talk to her at that time. Later the appellant set up a meeting with M.W. for August 1, 1983, at noon in the parking lot of the apartment complex. M.W. was equipped with a microphone for recording and the police maintained surveillance of her. M.W. met appellant as arranged. The conversation as transcribed was played for the benefit of the jury.

In his first assignment of error, appellant attempts to challenge the sufficiency of the information and the instruction given to the jury.

In first part of this assignment appellant contends that the information did not sufficiently state the crime of indecent proposal to a child. As we review the information it was sufficient to inform the defendant of the crime with which he was charged. However, this issue is not properly before this Court. The record fails to disclose a prior attack by appellant on the sufficiency of the information used at trial. Appellant should have filed a demurrer or motion to quash the information. McCann v. State, 82 Okl.Cr. 303, 169 P.2d 222 (1946). An objection to the sufficiency of the information cannot be raised for the first time on appeal unless some foundation was laid for the objection before the final judgment was rendered. Willis v. State, 64 Okl.Cr. 213, 78 P.2d 840 (1938). Failure to object constitutes a waiver of the right to attack the sufficiency of an information on appeal. This Court has firmly established that a defendant waives his right to attack the sufficiency of an information on appeal if he pleads to the information and goes to trial. Short v. State, 634 P.2d 755 (Okl.Cr.1981). The true test of the sufficiency of an information is not whether it could have been made more certain but whether it contains the elements of the offense charged and correctly apprises the defendant of what he must be prepared to meet. Id.

And secondly, whether a conviction under the information would expose the defendant to the possibility of subsequently being put in jeopardy the second time for the same offense. Nealy v. State, 636 P.2d 378 (Okl.Cr.1981). After the reviewing of the information and the allegation made in this part of the assignment of error, this Court finds that appellant’s contention is without merit. 21 O.S.1981 § 1123.

In the second portion of this first assignment of error, appellant complains that the trial court erred in its jury instructions on indecent proposal to a child. We first observe that appellant did not object to this instruction, nor did he offer a proposed written instruction. Appellant has failed to preserve this issue for review because failure to object, offer, or request such instruction constitutes waiver. Koonce v. State, 696 P.2d 501 (Okl.Cr.1985); Johnson v. State, 674 P.2d 579 (Okl.Cr.1984). The instructions given to the jury is a matter within the discretion of the trial court, provided that the instructions are given fairly and correctly state the applicable law. Allison v. State, 675 P.2d 142 (Okl.Cr.1983). After reviewing the in *1307 structions, this Court finds that they sufficiently instructed the jury and therefore this contention is without merit.

In the second assignment of error, appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to prove the crime for which he was charged. In Spuehler v. State, 709 P.2d 202, 203 (Okl.Cr.1985), this Court recited,

In Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), the United States Supreme Court held that due process requires a reviewing court to determine “whether after reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt.”

It has long been held that it is the exclusive province of the jury to weigh the evidence, to resolve conflicts, and to reconcile the testimony considering the motives of the witnesses, and therefore this Court should not interfere with the verdict which was reached. Coleman v. State, 600 P.2d 351 (Okl.Cr.1979).

Portions of the taped conversation support the jury’s conclusion that the appellant was persuading the child to go to a secluded place, that is, an empty apartment, for the purpose of taking nude photographs. Appellant asserts that there is no showing of his intent to lewdly or lasciviously look upon M.W. while he was taking the photographs. The evidence reveals, however, that there would be a series of posing sessions in order to expedite the taking of the photographs and the saving of film. Consequently, it was not illogical for the jury to reach the conclusion that appellant intended to lewdly and lasciviously look upon M.W.

In Rich v. State, 266 P.2d 476, 480 (Okl. Cr.1954), this Court stated,

The statute is violated by any adult person touching or feeling the body of the child in a lewd or lascivious manner.

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Bluebook (online)
1987 OK CR 45, 734 P.2d 1304, 1987 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 326, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allen-v-state-oklacrimapp-1987.