Brown v. State

1963 OK CR 67, 384 P.2d 54, 1963 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 168
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 17, 1963
DocketA-13209
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 1963 OK CR 67 (Brown 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
Brown v. State, 1963 OK CR 67, 384 P.2d 54, 1963 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 168 (Okla. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal by Jerry Milo Brown from a conviction and sentence rendered against him in the district court of Carter [56]*56County, Oklahoma, for murder committed while engaged in the commission of a Burglary of the Sooner Foods, Inc., located in Ardmore, Oklahoma. The crime was allegedly committed on December 22, 1960, by this defendant and three accomplices. This defendant obtained a severance and was tried by a jury and convicted. The jury fixed the sentence of defendant Brown at life in the penitentiary. Judgment and sentence was entered accordingly, from which this appeal has been perfected.

The facts are hereinafter briefly set forth. The record discloses that defendant Brown and three other Texans came to Ardmore, Oklahoma for the purpose of burglarizing the Sooner Foods, Inc. In addition to this defendant Brown, the conspirators were Burt Horace Mullins, Melvin Thomas Renfro, and Arnold E. Jernigan, the latter of whom was killed in the fatal burglary.

The victim for whose death this defendant was separately tried was Ardmore policeman Bobby Rudisill, also killed when the burglars were apprehended in the food store.

The defendant Brown, an allegedly self-admitted pick-up man, was in a cafe in Davis, Oklahoma, north of Ardmore, when the burglary and incidental killings occurred. Later he was picked up while in a Pontiac car on a road between Chickasaw Lake and Highway 70, east of Ardmore.

It further appears from the record that the defendant Brown was taken to the Carter County Sheriff’s office, where the defendant stated he knew nothing about the case. About 8 a. m. after the incident, three Texas Rangers appeared at the Carter County Sheriff’s office. Sheriff Theo Cobb turned his prisoner, Brown, over to these out-of-state officers. The sheriff also abdicated his complete authority in favor of the Texas Rangers, and then absented himself. One of the Texans stood outside the door, while the other two took this defendant inside the office and closed the door. The uncontested evidence discloses that they then removed their coats, and the following undisputed things took place (Direct examination of Jerry Milo Brown):

“Q You testify what they said there, if you recall it. A Well, Burke turned around to me and told me, said, ‘You son-of-a-bitch, you better tell us what happened now, we want to know about it, and we’re going to find out. We’re going to know one way or another. Want you to tell this sheriff what happened.’
“Q All right. Then what happened? A I didn’t answer him, and then the other Ranger came over, the one I didn’t name, grabbed me by the hair of my head and pulled it down almost between my knees, pulling just as heard as he could at it. And I knowed it came out, now, I didnt know at the time it was coming out, but he was pulling awfully hard.
“Q All right. Then what heppened? A Well, Burke was hitting me on the the ears - with both hands, with his palms, slapping me as hard as he could, and hollering, ‘you sorry son-of-a-bitch, I’m going to break your eardrums.’ And he beat me up and down the back as I was bent over by the other ranger holding my hair I was bent over in a bending position, and he beat up and down my back with his hands.
“Q Did you see what he had in his hands? A No, sir, I couldn’t.
“Q All right. What happened ? Was that in the kidney region? A It was all up and down the back, from my neck on down.
“Q All right. Then what happened? A The one that had me by the hair finally pulled me out of the chair, by my hair. I was laying on the floor on my stomach. Burke grabbed one leg and started twisting it, had my foot, I believe it was my left one, and twisting as hard as he could, telling me he was going to break my leg. using foul language, I don’t remember what all he said.- My mind was in pretty bad shape at this time. I do remember [57]*57what happened, but I can’t state it just exactly the way it was. I know I took a terrible beating at this time.
"Q All right, did — was there anyone else in there? As I understand it, there were no Carter County officers in there, is that correct? A That is right.
“Q And, can you remember anything •else that was said to you concerning making a statement, or admission, or oonfession, or whatever you call it? A Yes, sir. They continued to beat me, as I was saying, and he kicked me in the back several times, kicked me with his boots, and one of them stood ■on my neck. I don’t know which one it was, they just stood on the back of my neck, holding my head down.
“Q Stood with his feet on the back of your neck? A Yes, sir. Don’t know who it—
“Q All right. A And they finally let me up, and they knew I couldn’t talk in this position, and they let me back into the chair. They told me, said, ‘Now, are you going to tell us just •exactly the way it happened?’ I told them the way it happened in my own words and they weren’t satisfied with this, started whipping me again. And just beat me there in the chair, never ■did pull me out of the chair again, kicked me on my shins, pulled my hair, .and beat me around there—
“Q Kicked you on the shins? With what? A I believe it was a boot, I’m not sure. I know it was, when I was on the floor, I couldn’t see what Tiit me.
“Q All right. Now, what was said to you in regard to a statement ? A They told me, before they left I was going to tell that sheriff exactly what they wanted me to say. They were not satisfied with what I told them and that—
■“Q Well, what did you tell them? A I told them that I didn’t have any knowledge of the burglary. I had no knowledge of it whatsoever, until I had been brought to jail, and then I knew that one had been committed.
“Q All right. Was there any tension and excitement there that night among the officers ? A The night I was brought in?
“Q Yes. A They were very excited. They was mad and telling me that a police officer had been killed and someone was going to pay for it.
“Q Well, what did — did they make any — after the — directing your attention to this Ranger who talked to you, what happened after that ? A A—
“Q Did you ever say anything to them or did they tell you what to say ? A I told them some things, but like I said, they — they just kept on beating on me and they told me what to say when the sheriff came in. They told me I’d better say it.
“Q All right. What did they say you’d better say? A They told me that — that—I’d been telling them all along when they were beating on me, that I couldn’t possibly have committed the burglary because I was in Davis. And they wouldn’t accept my word for this at all, and they continued to beat me.
“Q All right. A I think, possibly, they did finally accept this in their own minds, because they told me, tell the Sheriff that I was driving the get-away car, and that I had dropped these people off at a designated place, that I was supposed to have done that.
“Q All right. A They told me that if I did not tell this to the sheriff that I had only had a sample of what they’d do and that they would be back later to check up on me and make sure of what I had said.

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Bluebook (online)
1963 OK CR 67, 384 P.2d 54, 1963 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 168, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-state-oklacrimapp-1963.