Bohanon v. State

1955 OK CR 120, 289 P.2d 400, 1955 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 268
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 26, 1955
DocketA-12200
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1955 OK CR 120 (Bohanon 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
Bohanon v. State, 1955 OK CR 120, 289 P.2d 400, 1955 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 268 (Okla. Ct. App. 1955).

Opinion

POWELL, Judge.

The plaintiff in error, Robert Lee Bo-Hanon, hereinafter-referred to as defendant, was charged jointly with one -James W. Walker with the crime of rape in the first degree, alleged to have been committed by Walker, through connivance with and active aid of Bohanon, on Bohanon’s wife. -Bohanpn was tried first and the jury found him guilty of rape in the second degree, and fixed his. punishment at the maximum of fifteen years confinement in- the . State Penitenitary. . ,,

Co-defendant Walker, who testified for the State, was1 permitted to sign his own bond without' co-signers, and it -is stated in -brief of the- defendant that' some six jury dockets for trial-of criminal cases have been set in Oklahoma County since'his release on ' bail, without Walker being brought tó 'trial.

The charge was based on the provisions of Tit. 21 O.S.1951 -§ 1111, reading:

"Rape Defined. Rape is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a female, not the wife of the. perpetrator, under either of the. following, circumstances :
* * ‡ . * * -*
“5th. Where she is preyented from resistance by threats- of immediate and great bodily harm, accompanied by apparent power.;of execution.
1 “8th. -⅜ :* *' And in.-all cases of collusion.between-the.accused and the -husband of the female, to accomplish such act, both the husband and the accused shall be deemed, guilty of rape.”.

As pointed tmt by counsel for-the defendant, the above- statutory provisions- .'have been-considered at length in the early case of Myers v. State, 19 Okl.Cr. 129, 197 P. *402 884, 18 A.L.R. 1057. Also see for further treatment the case of Duggins v. State, 76 Okl.Cr. 168, 135 P.2d 347.

But one proposition for reversal is advanced, and being that “The .evidence is insufficient to warrant a conviction.”

We have had the benefit of oral argument in this case, and the public defender, Homer Thompson, has filed an excellent brief on behalf of the defendant. His admirable representation of the defendant is to be commended.

The picture disclosed by a careful study of the-record is not a pretty one. We deplore the necessity of recitation. Defendant and his wife, according to some five photographs in the record, lived in a slum district of Oklahoma City. There were but two squalid houses nearby. Defendant Bohanon and his wife Myrtle had been married in July, 1945 and had three children, ages 7 and 4 years, and the youngest 20 .months of age. They did not have a bath, .room, the toilet was out side, and at the time the crime charged was alleged to have been committed, the lighting of the house was by candle. In order to pay her rent, the wife.took the.three children, when the eldest was not in school, to a dump yard some two blocks away each day where she did housework for the owner, who lived in motor bus bodies that were fixed up for a home. ’ ■

On the morning of the day of the crime in question, defendant left home to pick up a check for work performed for some construction company. His wife did not see him any more until about 8 p. m. that same day. Her husband had knocked on the door and had become impatient when she did not speedily open it, as she was trying to light a candle first. The husband had a sack full of beer and a bottle of gin, and had another man with him, who told her his name was Jimmie Walker. Walker was a young man, 26 years of age. Bo-hanon was 34 years old and Mrs. Bo-hanon was 38 years of age.

Mrs. Bohanon testified that 'she saw that her husband had been drinking and asked him why he did not have his party ■ down town, that she was tired and ill, had worked all day and needed rest. She said that her husband used a profane word and said he did not want to have his party down town, and sat down in the -living room, opened a bottle of beer and told her to drink it, and threatened her if she did not. That she was afraid that he was going to strike her, and she took the bottle out of his hand and pretended to drink from it. She said that her three' children were in an adjoining room, asleep. That the youngest, then 18 months old, was still on the breast as she did not have food half the time.

Witness further testified that after sitting in the living room a while, her husband motioned for her to come into the kitchen, and he told her that she must have sexual relations with Walker. Said she: “I pleaded with him, feat he said I was going to have to go through with it or he would cut my G- D- head off, and the G- D- kids’ heads off and pile them up in the floor together.”

Witness further testified:

“A. He [her husband] forced me back in the bedroom and started pulling my clothes off. He said, T told you to get those God damn clothes off, and I mean get them off.’
“Q. How were you' dressed at the time, Mrs. Bohanon?- A. I had on a sweater and blue jeans.
“Q. You say he jerked your clothes off? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Then what did he do? A. He threw me on the bed.
“Q. And what happened then ? A. Well, I looked up and saw Walker standing there in the door and he told Walker to go ahead and have sexual relationships with ¡me.
“Q. Now, the béd you are speaking of now, which room was it in ? A. Well, it was in the back bedroom;
* * ‡ ⅝ ⅜ ⅜
“Q. Now, what happened after the defendant Bohanon invited the defendant Walker to have sex relations with you? A. Walker got on the bed with me, crawled on me, and I begged him
*403 not to go through with it. I told him I was being forced hut he didn’t pay any attention. He went ahead anyway.
“Q. Did he say anything' to you when you asked him not to go- through with it? A. No, sir; he didn’t.
“Q. Where was your husband at that time ? A. I think he was standing right there in the room. I was so confused and scared I couldn’t say actually ' where he was.
“Q. Did Walker have sex relations with you ? A. He did.
“Q.

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Bluebook (online)
1955 OK CR 120, 289 P.2d 400, 1955 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 268, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bohanon-v-state-oklacrimapp-1955.