Beasley v. State
This text of 1981 OK CR 127 (Beasley 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.
Opinion
OPINION
On appeal from the judgment and sentence rendered against him in Oklahoma County District Court, Case No. CRF-80-617, assessing a term of ten (10) years’ imprisonment for the crime of Burglary in the Second Degree, After Former Conviction of a Felony, the appellant, Gary Ray Beasley, hereinafter referred to as the defendant, raises two assignments of error.
He asserts that the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction for the offense of Burglary in the Second Degree, After Former Conviction of a Felony, in that the State failed to establish a breaking and entering. The record reflects the following:
1. Mr. Whitehead, the shop foreman, testified he secured the premises located at 1661 Exchange, in Oklahoma City, prior to his leaving in the afternoon of February 8, 1980, and that he activated the burglar alarm system, which was connected to all the exterior doors and windows;
2. At approximately 11:10 p. m. on February 8, 1980, Officer George arrived at the premises at 1661 Exchange, in response to a communication that the burglar alarm system had been activated. While examining the exterior of the building, he observed the defendant attempting to flee. He arrested the defendant and found a manila envelope in his pants pocket, bearing the inscription “coffee money”, and containing $1.75 in small change. The envelope and its contents were identified by Mr. Core, the office manager, as being the coffee money and envelope which he had placed in his desk, which he had locked prior to leaving work on February 8, 1980;
3. An examination of the exterior and interior of the building revealed the following: a padlock on the wooden door on the east side of the building had been pried open; the interior of the building was in disarray; the desk which had contained the coffee money had been pried open; the safe had been moved, and a chisel found next to it; a corduroy coat was found four (4) or five (5) feet from the safe; and a screwdriver was found near a broken window;
4. The padlock, which had secured the exterior of the wooden door on the east side of the building, had been locked on the afternoon of February 8, 1980, but subsequent to 11:10 p. m. that day, the lock, which had been pried open, would no longer close.
Although the evidence of breaking and entering was totally circumstantial, it was ample to support the verdict of the jury and we will not interfere with the verdict of the jury. See Smith v. State, 599 P.2d 413 (Okl.Cr.1979).
As his final assignment of error the defendant contends that the court erred in failing to grant a mistrial, when on defense counsel’s motion, he stated that the following colloquy occurred:
“Right after we recessed at the noon hour, myself and a bondsman got in the elevator along with Mrs. Floyd who’s a juror in this case. And the officer, as the door was about to close, came in and blurted out the following statement: ‘Al, couldn’t you get him to take anything this time?’ And I retorted and said: ‘He’s innocent.’ He said, ‘I’ll bet,’ and started laughing. He apologized later, [629]*629not knowing that this was a juror in there. I think that highly prejudices my cause and I’d ask for a mistrial.”
Thereafter, the trial court carefully examined the juror1 and concluded that the inadvertent remarks of Officer George did not prejudice the juror. The record amply supports the judge’s ruling. See Hayes v. State, 397 P.2d 524 (Okl.Cr.1964).
Accordingly the judgment and sentence is AFFIRMED.
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack
1981 OK CR 127, 635 P.2d 627, 1981 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 305, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beasley-v-state-oklacrimapp-1981.