Barnett v. State

1942 OK CR 159, 131 P.2d 496, 75 Okla. Crim. 340, 1942 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 55
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 25, 1942
DocketNo. A-9943.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1942 OK CR 159 (Barnett 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
Barnett v. State, 1942 OK CR 159, 131 P.2d 496, 75 Okla. Crim. 340, 1942 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 55 (Okla. Ct. App. 1942).

Opinion

JONES, J.

The defendant, W. J. Barnett, was charged by indictment, duly presented and filed in the district court of Oklahoma county, with the crime of corruption in office, was tried, convicted and sentenced to serve five years in the State Penitentiary, and has appealed.

It is first contended that the trial court erred in overruling the demurrer to the indictment.

At the time the defendant was arraigned he filed what was styled “Motion to Quash and Expunge Instru *343 ment Entitled ‘Indictment’ from the Record and to Exonerate Defendant’s Bail.” The motion was sustained by the district court of Oklahoma county. Upon appeal by the state upon a reserved question of law this court reversed the action of the district court and remanded the case for trial. State v. Barnett, 60 Okla. Cr. 355, 69 P. 2d 77.

Defendant petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States for a writ of certiorari, which petition was denied. Thereafter, a petition was filed in the district court of Oklahoma county for a writ of habeas corpus, which was denied. On March 2, 1937, and before trial date, a petition for writ of habeas corpus was. filed in the Supreme Court of Oklahoma, and on June 1, 1937, an opinion was handed down denying the writ. 180 Okla. 208, 69 P. 2d 643. From this ruling the defendant appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, and on December 13, 1937, the appeal was dismissed, Barnett v. Rogers, 302 U. S. 655, 58 S. Ct. 363, 82 L. Ed. 507.

Subsequently, the defendant, through his counsel, interposed a demurrer to- said indictment in which was set forth four grounds upon which it was prayed that the action be dismissed. The county attorney filed a motion to- strike the demurrer from the files for the reason that all of the matters and facts therein stated had •been fully and finally presented in the motion to quash, and that said matters had been presented to- the highest courts of the State of Oklahoma and to the Supreme Court of the United States and that in each and every instance the indictment had been sustained. The court took the demurrer and motion under advisement from April 19, 1938, to- February 26, 1940, at which time the motion to strike was overruled and the demurrer, likewise, was overruled.

*344 Several pages of the briefs of both the state and defendant are devoted to the proposition of law as to whether the decision in State v. Barnett, supra, is conclusive as to all questions raised by defendant in his demurrer.

While the two pleadings filed by the defendant are differently styled, they both are directed to the proposition that the statute under which the prosecution is instituted is so vague and indefinite that it may not be sustained; and, secondly, that said indictment wholly fails to state a public offense.

While we shall not hold that the former opinion of this court concluded the defendant from raising the propositions urged in his demurrer, we are of the opinion that Judge Doyle, in writing the former opinion in State v. Barnett, supra, gave full consideration to the proposition now urged, and even though some of the language in that opinion was dicta so far as the motion to quash then under consideration was concerned, that his reasoning was good and founded upon legal authority and applicable to the contentions raised by the defendant in his demurrer. For that reason, without further discussion of the demurrer but by reference to the former opinion of this court in State v. Barnett, supra, we are of the opinion that the district court correctly overruled the demurrer of the defendant filed to the indictment.

It is next contended that the evidence is insufficient to convict the defendant of any public offense, and particularly of the offense named in either section 9146, O. S. 1931, 6 O. S. 1941, § 18, or 9163, O S. 1931, 6 O. S. 1941 § 22, and that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury to return a verdict of not guilty at the close of all of the evidence.

The record herein covers approximately 1,300 pages. The prosecution depended entirely upon circumstantial *345 evidence to convict tlie defendant. We shall not undertake to1 give a review of the evidence nor comment upon the weight which should be given to the testimony of any witness for the reason that because of error, which will be hereinafter discussed, this case must be reversed and remanded and for that reason this court refrains from a discussion of the evidence, as the same might be used to prejudice the state or the defendant in future proceedings. It is enough to state that the evidence of the state was sufficient to make a prima facie case against the defendant and that even though many of the circumstances relied upon by the state for conviction were plausibly explained by evidence on behalf of the defendant, still the question of whom to believe remained one for the jury to determine under proper instructions.

It is further urged that the defendant was denied a fair and impartial trial because of the prejudicial misconduct of the trial judge.

In connection with this assignment of error, the defendant devotes the major portion of a 250-page brief. This assignment is directed chiefly at the action of the trial court interrogating two witnesses of the defendant at great length in the presence of the jury. Counsel for defendant contend that the trial judge, in propounding the questions, did so “with color in his face and by his demeanor showed feeling and resentment and by his tone of voice and his appearance clearly indicated to the jury that he did not believe the testimony which the witness had given.”

The state’s case centered around the testimony of one M. C. Trimble who had formerly been an assistant to the State Bank Commissioner. Much of the evidence of the defendant was directed at the testimony of Trimble and was for the purpose of showing a feeling of antagonism *346 between Trimble and the defendant and to1 further show that Trimble had purposely misplaced or destroyed records which had come into his possession as an officer of the State Banking Department, which records would have been valuable to the defense.

Trimble had taken a written statement from one H. H. Fisher, an employee of the Home Building & Loan Association at Shawnee, in which Fisher had stated certain facts relative to' the transfer of some shares of stock which were the basis for the indictment upon which defendant was being tried. Fisher was placed upon the witness stand by the state, but when the written statement was presented he testified that the statement conveyed the wrong impression and that there were certain inaccuracies in the statement which were called to Trimble’s attention before he signed it, but that Trimble threatened to' place his loan company in receivership if he did not sign the statement as prepared. Before signing the statement it is undisputed by the testimony of both Trimble and Fisher that Charles E. Wells, a reputable attorney of Shawnee, was called by Fisher and the statement was discussed before Fisher would place his signature thereon. Wells testified that Trimble threatened to place the building and loan company in receivership if Fisher did not sign the statement.

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Related

Rice v. State
1950 OK CR 150 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1950)
Curtis v. State
1948 OK CR 40 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1948)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1942 OK CR 159, 131 P.2d 496, 75 Okla. Crim. 340, 1942 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 55, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barnett-v-state-oklacrimapp-1942.