Bird v. State

1947 OK CR 150, 188 P.2d 242, 85 Okla. Crim. 313, 1947 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 310
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 17, 1947
DocketNo. A-10843.
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 1947 OK CR 150 (Bird 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
Bird v. State, 1947 OK CR 150, 188 P.2d 242, 85 Okla. Crim. 313, 1947 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 310 (Okla. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

BABEFOOT, P. J.

The defendant, Jess Bird, was charged with the crime of burglary in the second degree, second offense, in the district court of Osage county; was tried, found guilty, and his punishment assessed at eleven years in the State Penitentiary at McAlester, and he has appealed.

Defendant’s first proposition for a reversal of this case is:

“The verdict in this case is contrary to the law and the evidence in that the testimony of the accomplices for the State in this case was not corroborated in the sense of the law sufficient to connect the defendant Avith the crime charged.”

Defendant was charged jointly with Charles Cordrey, LeRoy Kirk, and Jack Eldridge with breaking into a certain brick building in the town of Hominy, Osage county, occupied and used by A. M. Millsaps as a grocery store and market, and taking therefrom 800 pounds of sugar and some cash. It is further alleged in the information that defendant had on May 6, 1940, entered a plea of guilty to the crime of burglary in Osage county, and had been sentenced to serve a term of two years in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.

At the trial of defendant, his codefendants LeRoy Kirk and Jack Eldridge both testified for the state. Both of these codefendants testified that defendant participated with them and Charles Cordrey in burglarizing the Millsaps store, and taking the sugar therefrom, as alleged.

*316 Defendant’s first contention is based on 22 O. S. 1941 § 742, which provides:

“A conviction cannot be had upon the testimony of an accomplice unless he be corroborated by such other evidence as tends to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense, and the corroboration is not sufficient if it merely show the commission of the offense or the circumstances thereof.”

The construction of this statute has been before this court upon many occasions. It would unduly lengthen this opinion to attempt to discuss the cases, and we merely cite a few, which fully announce the law as applied to this statute : Cole v. State, 61 Okla. Cr. 57, 65 P. 2d 547; Hufford v. State, 61 Okla. Cr. 141, 66 P. 2d 529; Howerton v. State, 65 Okla. Cr. 457, 88 P. 2d 904; Spivey v. State, 69 Okla. Cr. 397, 104 P. 2d 263; Scott v. State, 72 Okla. Cr. 305, 115 P. 2d 763; Blumhoff v. State, 72 Okla. Cr. 339, 116 P. 2d 212; Richardson v. State, 76 Okla. Cr. 101, 134 P. 2d 375; Plaxico v. State, 78 Okla. Cr. 353, 148 P. 2d 201; Anderson v. State, 79 Okla. Cr. 194, 153 P. 2d 245, and the cases cited therein.

As we said in the case of Bichardson v. State, supra, [76 Okla. Cr. 101, 134 P. 2d 376], “each case stands upon the facts of that case, and subject to the legal principles announced in the many cases.”

The witnesses LeBoy Kirk and Jack Eldridge both testified to burglarizing the premises described and taking the sugar. They testified that all four of the defendants drove in an automobile to the home of one John Hendricks and the defendant got out of the car and attempted to sell some of the sugar to him. This was in the nighttime, and immediately after the burglary.

*317 John Hendricks testified that he had known defendant for 15 years, and that he lived next door to the defendant in Hominy. That defendant came to his door about 9 or 10 o’clock and knocked, waking him, and asked if he wanted to buy some sugar. He did not buy the sugar. The next morning he heard about the store being burglarized.

Willard Hull testified that some one whom he did not know came to his room ten miles east and one mile north of Hominy about 1:30 in the morning and tried to sell him some sugar, which he did not buy. He offered it for $40 per 100 pounds, and told witness he had about 400 pounds. This witness also testified that the party had a flashlight, which the evidence shows the parties had at the time of the commission of the burglary. He testified that the party told him he was out of gas, and that the car turned around and went toward Melvin Duncan’s house.

Both accomplices testified to going to the Hendricks and Hull homes, and that defendant in person went to each of these houses. They then went to Melvin Duncan’s home to get some gasoline. Melvin Duncan was a brother-in-law of the eodefendant Charles Cordrey, and he let them have five gallons of gas.

Vassey Tyler testified that the defendant came to his home on Tuesday night following the Millsaps burglary, and wanted to sell him some sugar, and that he did not buy it. He told defendant Irving Miller might want to buy some. Irving Miller testified to some one coming to his home after he had gone to bed on Tuesday night following the Millsaps burglary and offering to sell him some sugar. He did not know who it was, but he understood the party to say his name was “Bed Bird.” The accomplices testified to accompanying the defendant to these places.

*318 Charles Cass, the sheriff of Osage county, testified to finding 330 pounds of sugar in 10 pound bags, in a pasture. It was found where the two acomplices had stated it had been left, and the sheriff further testified that defendant had admitted to him that he was at the residences of John Hendricks and Willard Hull on the morning or night of August 26 1946, and tried to sell them sugar. He also admitted being at the home of Melvin Duncan. In this conversation, defendant told the sheriff he was trying to sell some sugar for some boys out of Tulsa. He did not state their names, and did not give a description of them. He also admitted to the sheriff that he had attempted to sell sugar to Vassey Tyler and Irving Miller on Tuesday night, after the burglary of the Millsaps store.

There were other facts and circumstances proven which tended to corroborate the testimony of the accomplices, but we do not consider it necessary to go further into the same. The above is amply sufficient to corroborate their statements, and to comply with the rule that the testimony of an accomplice must be corroborated, as announced in the many cases that have been before this court, some of which are cited above.

The second contention of the defendant is:

“The evidence to sustain the conviction in this case for second offense is insufficient and therefore contrary to law.”

To substantiate the allegation of the information as to defendant’s prior conviction of a felony, the state offered the court clerk of Osage county who identified the files of the prior case, and identified the judgment and sentence entered by the court, and the same was introduced in evidence. The sheriff of Osage county testified that de *319 iendant was the identical person named in said judgment and sentence.

We think the case of John Bassett v. State, 42 Okla. Cr. 126, 274 P. 893, has properly decided the question here involved. It is there stated:

“Where a prior conviction is alleged to enlarge the grade or degree of the crime or the punishment under section 6991, Comp. Stat. 1921 [37 O. S. 1941 § 12], it is not necessary that the entire record be introduced in evidence in order to prove the prior conviction.

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Related

McWilliams v. State
1987 OK CR 203 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1987)
Honeycutt v. State
1967 OK CR 154 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1967)
Woods v. State
1958 OK CR 69 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1958)
Jordon v. State
1958 OK CR 68 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1958)
Tice v. State
1955 OK CR 59 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1955)
Clore v. State
1955 OK CR 40 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1955)
Johnson v. State
1953 OK CR 15 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1947 OK CR 150, 188 P.2d 242, 85 Okla. Crim. 313, 1947 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bird-v-state-oklacrimapp-1947.