Bryant v. State

1937 OK CR 188, 74 P.2d 624, 63 Okla. Crim. 270, 1937 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 177
Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma·Decided December 17, 1937·No. No. A-9312.·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

BAREFOOT, J.

The defendant Avas tried and convicted in the district- court of Oklahoma county for the crime of robbery with firearms, and sentenced to serve a term of 25 years in the penitentiary, and has appealed.

It is the contention of defendant that the evidence was not sufficient to warrant a conviction, that the county attorney was permitted to ask leading- and suggestive questions, and that the defendant did not have a fair and impartial trial. All of these objections may be considered together.

The information and evidence on behalf of the state reveals that the defendant was charged jointly with two other parties with the crime of robbery with firearms, in Oklahoma City, Okla., on the 11th day of October, 1936.

A witness Avhose name was Leon McDonald testified that he Avas employed as a driver by the Oklahoma City Cab Company; that about 12:30 a. m., Sunday, October 11th, while driving north on Western avenue in Oklahoma •City, he Avas stopped by three parties, one of them got into *272 his cab and had his hand in his pocket, and ordered him to wait until the other two returned. The other two parties went east toward 1008 West Sixth street, which was the scene of the robbery. In a very short time they returned, each one carrying in his hand a brown sack, wrapped in paper. One of these parties got in the back seat of his car, and the other in the front seat with him. The defendant was positively identified as being the party who got in the front seat, and he had a gpn in his hand, and he told the witness to drive on or “he would shoot his head off.” He afterwards directed the witness to go to 1006 West California street, and before getting there commanded him to drive down to Shartel, then south, then to Reno, and east to Lee, and down Lee to Noble, and east on Noble. The three parties got out of the car on Noble just west of Harvey. The gun carried by defendant was a six-shooter, .41 or .45 caliber. Defendant remarked “that he should have shot some fellow,” and once, when witness stopped at a stop line, defendant held the gun on him, and said, “Drive on, or I will shoot your damned head off.” The defendant had with him a sack which the witness identified as bottles. The. witness also described the clothes worn by defendant, and they compared favorably with the description given by other witnesses. The witness could identify defendant by having his lights on him as he came across the street and also by the lights from his car.

Lydia Hickman testified that she and her husband, A. P. Hickman, were living at 1008 West Sixth street, Apartment 4; the apartment house being rented by them and the apartments therein being subrented by other-tenants. At the time of the robbery, which occurred between 12:30 and 1 a. m., the witness, her husband, Mrs. Leo Smith, and Mrs. Woody, were in the apartment when *273 defendant and another man entered the apartment, and with the aid of a gun held by defendant and a knife in the hands of the other man, held up and robbed the occupants of the apartment, taking from A. P. Hickman about $70 in money and checks, and also carried away some bottles of whiskey which were wrapped in paper like that exhibited by the state, and a string like that offered in evidence by the state. The robbers were in the apartment about 15 minutes. They wore m> masks. Witness further identified a picture of Foster, one of the parties named in the information with the defendant, as that of the second of the robbers.

The witness A. P. Hickman testified to the same effect. He positively identified the defendant. He described the gun as an old model gun being a .41 or .45 caliber Colt’s, which description corresponds to the testimony given by the witness McDonald. He also testified that when the parties- first entered the apartment and announced that “it was a stick-up” that he resisted and attempted to grab the gun from one of the parties, and that the other stabbed him in the back with a knife.

The witnesses Mrs. Leo Smith and Mrs. Woody testified to the same material facts, and positively identified the defendant as one of the robbers. Mrs. Woody testified that she was cut on the hand by one of the robbers while they were lining them up against the wall.

D. F. Brown, a police officer, made an investigation of the robbery. He went down to 1006 West California, the address given by McDonald as that to which the defendant had first directed him to drive; he watched the house. A man came out and the officers followed him. He broke a bottle of White Castle whisky. A part of the whisky taken from the apartment was White Castle. Wit *274 ness- then went to 220 West Noble and to a room which had been occupied by Jack Foster, this being the same Foster charged with the defendant, and a picture of him had been identified as that of one of the robbers. Witness reached this room about 11 o’clock the morning after the robbery and found the defendant sleeping in the room. The officer was shown the paper previously exhibited to the witness Lydia Hickman and identified the same as paper he found lying in the room where defendant was apprehended. He also identified the string previously exhibited to Lydia Hickman as that which he found on the floor near the foot of the bed occupied by defendant. On cross-examination the witness testified that when he went to 1006 West California he was looking for Jack Foster and another man known as Jack (the name used by defendant). The witness learned Jack Foster’s address of 220 West Noble from the man wlm broke the bottle of whisky.

Two other police officers testified to seeing' the defendant, Jack Foster, and Chet Stone together about 9 or 10’clock on the evening preceding the robbery. The officers followed them into an alley, and on the approach of the officers one of them threw down and broke a bottle of whisky.

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Bryant v. State, 1937 OK CR 188, 74 P.2d 624, 63 Okla. Crim. 270, 1937 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 177 (Okla. Ct. App. 1937).

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