Anthamatten v. State

1973 OK CR 23, 506 P.2d 959, 1973 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 705
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 17, 1973
DocketA-17529
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 1973 OK CR 23 (Anthamatten 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
Anthamatten v. State, 1973 OK CR 23, 506 P.2d 959, 1973 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 705 (Okla. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

OPINION

BUSSEY, Judge:

Appellant, James Edward Anthamatten, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged, tried, and convicted in the District Court of Tulsa County, Oklahoma, for the offense of Assault and Battery With a Dangerous Weapon, After Former Conviction of a Felony; his punishment was fixed at a term of not less than five (5) nor more than ten (10) years imprisonment, and from said judgment and sentence, a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.

*960 At the trial, Thomas Bunch testified that on January 28, 1971, he was employed at Froug’s Department Store in the Southland Shopping Center in Tulsa. At approximately 6:30 p. m., while he was waiting on a customer, he observed a woman putting a pair of slacks in her purse. A man, who he identified in Court as defendant was next to her holding up a pair of slacks, which partially blocked his vision. He had a conversation with Mr. Kennedy, the manager, and continued to observe the two persons. He followed them into another section of the store and when he was about ten feet from them, the woman said, “for one lousy pair of pants you got us caught.” The defendant said, “do you want to get out of here.” (Tr. 16) They both started toward the door and Bunch followed them. He got approximately five feet behind them and stated, “if you would wait just a minute, the manager would like to speak to you.” (Tr. 20) The defendant and his companion opened the door and ran down the sidewalk. He and Mr. Kennedy ran after them. Kennedy caught them in the parking lot and attempted to grab the purse from the woman. The defendant hit Kennedy with his fist and knocked him down. The defendant and the woman got into the car and Bunch tried to pull her out. The woman struggled and hollered “get the gun, get the gun.” Mr. Kennedy joined in the struggle attempting to remove the woman from the car. The defendant flipped opened a knife and took a swipe at his arm. Mr. Bunch jumped back, and the defendant made two slashes with the knife at Kennedy. They then “floored the car and just went screaming out of the parking lot.”

On cross-examination, he testified that he did not identify defendant at a line-up held in May, stating that he was “extremely nervous and was looking for a different colored hair.” He further testified that he received a telephone call from an unknown female who gave him descriptions of the two persons and provided him two names, one of which was the defendant’s name. He and Kennedy went to the police station on the night after the altercation and “asked to see a file.” ' He testified that “they brought out the file and that was who it was, and there was no doubt as to who it was.” (Tr. 42)

Howard Kennedy testified that he was a manager of the department store on the evening in question. His testimony did not differ substantially from the testimony of witness Bunch. He identified the defendant as the person who slashed his hand four times with the knife. On cross-examination, he testified that he had been shown pictures of the defendant at the police station and approximately two months later identified him at a line-up. He testified that he did not identify defendant from the mug shot and line-up but rather “identified him from the man that attacked me.” (Tr. 73)

Detective, Larry Johnson testified that February 19, 1971, he arrested the defendant on a warrant for Assault With a Dangerous Weapon. The defendant was “half in and half out of the bathroom window, attempting to go through the window” when he was arrested. He advised the defendant of his Miranda rights and the defendant stated that he had knowledge that the warrant was outstanding and “he wasn’t particularly concerned about that particular charge because he did not hurt that old son-of-a-bitch anyway.” (Tr. 80)

For the defense, Carolyn Sue Graham testified that she was with her husband, Russell Leroy Graham, at the department store on the evening in question. They took some pants from the store and two men started chasing them, and that her husband, R. L. “must have cut him down.” She testified that she had entered a plea of guilty to this charge for Petit Larceny and received a Fifty Dollar ($50.00) fine. She further testified that her husband made her call the police station and tell the police that the defendant had been the man with her. She later called the police station and told them that the defendant had not been the man with her. On cross-examination, she admitted a prior conviction *961 for Burglary of a Parking Meter, wherein the defendant’s wife was her co-defendant.

The first proposition asserts that the trial court erred in allowing the admission into evidence of the “tainted identifications made by witnesses Bunch and Kennedy.” The record does not reflect that the defendant objected to the identification of defendant by the witnesses, nor does the record reflect that the defendant at any time prior to or during the course of trial, requested an evidentiary hearing. In Bridgeman v. State, Okl.Cr., 496 P.2d 431, we stated:

“The Sole proposition asserts that the trial court erred in admitting the courtroom identification of the defendant in that the lineup was not conducted within the procedures set forth in Thompson v. State, Okl.Cr., 438 P.2d 287. We need only to observe that the defendant did not object to the identification of the defendant by the witness Parsons until the conclusion of his cross-examination. The defendant did not at any time prior to or during the course of the trial request an evidentiary hearing. In Davis v. State, Okl.Cr., 467 P.2d 521, we stated:
‘ * * * We further observe that in the event the defendant raises a timely objection to the courtroom identification of the defendant for the reason that it is based on a pre-trial identification by photograph or line-up * * * the trial court should conduct a hearing outside the presence of the jury and determine if the pre-trial identification procedure was conducted in accordance with the rule enunciated in United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149. * * * ’ (Emphasis added.)
“In the instant case the defendant did not timely reguest an evidentiary hearing whereupon the trial court could ascertain if the in-court identification was based on an independent source sufficiently distinguishable to be purged of the primary taint of the illegal pre-trial identification. Absent his timely request in the trial court for an evidentiary hearing, we are of the opinion that this proposition is improperly before this Court.”

See also Gonzales v. State, Okl.Cr., 480 P.2d 930.

Although this proposition is improperly before this Court, we observe that the identifications were not so tainted as to render them inadmissible and that the identifications were made in fact from an independent origin. The State’s evidence adduced that after receiving a telephone call, Bunch and Kennedy went to the police station and asked to see a file which contained pictures of the defendant. Bunch testified that he did not identify the defendant at the line-up because he was extremely nervous and the defendant’s hair color had changed. His identification of the defendant at the trial did not waver despite intensive cross-examination.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1973 OK CR 23, 506 P.2d 959, 1973 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anthamatten-v-state-oklacrimapp-1973.