Camron v. State

1992 OK CR 17, 829 P.2d 47, 63 O.B.A.J. 966, 1992 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 27, 1992 WL 63080
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 23, 1992
DocketF-88-971
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 1992 OK CR 17 (Camron 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
Camron v. State, 1992 OK CR 17, 829 P.2d 47, 63 O.B.A.J. 966, 1992 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 27, 1992 WL 63080 (Okla. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinions

OPINION

LUMPKIN, Vice Presiding Judge:

Appellant Howard Lee Camron was tried by jury and convicted of First Degree Manslaughter (21 O.S.1981, § 71⅜) and Possession of a Sawed Off Shotgun (21 O.S.1981, § 1289.18) in Case Nos. CRF-87-80 and CRF 87-142, respectively, in the District Court of Delaware County. The jury recommended a punishment of thirty (30) years imprisonment and two (2) years imprisonment, respectively. The trial court sentenced accordingly and it is from this judgment and sentence that Appellant appeals.

Appellant was convicted of the beating death of his wife, Karen Sue Camron. Appellant and the deceased were separated at the time. During the early morning hours of May 4, 1987, the deceased arrived at Appellant’s residence outside Jay, Oklahoma. There she found Appellant in bed with Florence Chandler. The evidence was disputed as to whether the deceased retrieved a shotgun from Appellant’s shop next to his home and fired a shot through a window into the headboard of Appellant’s bed or whether the Appellant later put the gunshots in the headboard himself. Testifying for the State, Ms. Chandler stated that she only heard one shot which came from outside the house prior to the time the victim entered the bedroom. In his defense, Appellant testified that he heard two (2) shots which broke the window and struck the headboard and pillow in the bed where he and Ms. Chandler slept.

In any event, after the victim entered the bedroom, a struggle ensued between Appellant and the deceased. Appellant testified that the struggle ceased long enough for him to phone his cousin, Steve Rhine, to come and take the deceased to the hospital. Rhine arrived to find the deceased severely beaten and proceeded to take her to the local emergency room. Unconscious by the time she arrived at the hospital, the deceased was shortly thereafter transported to a Tulsa hospital where she died within a day.

[51]*51In his first assignment of error, Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence. Appellant argues that he was charged in the felony information with committing the homicide in both of the two statutorily proscribed means, that is in a cruel and unusual manner and by means of a dangerous weapon. He contends that the State subsequently failed to present sufficient evidence of either manner to sustain a verdict of guilty.

The felony information filed against Appellant reads in pertinent part as follows:

That said defendant, ... did unlawfully, wilfully and feloniously without a premeditated design to effect death, did effect the death of one Karen Sue Camron in a cruel and unusual manner and while the said defendant was in the heat of passion, in manner and form as follows, to wit: striking Karen Sue Camron about the head, arms, hands and shoulder with a blunt instrument being a sawed off .410 gauge shotgun approximately 16 inches in length and made of metal and wood, and said defendant did then and there and thereby inflict certain mortal wounds in and upon the body of the said Karen Sue Camron, from which mortal wounds the said Karen Sue Camron did then and there languish and die ... (O.R. 1)

In Moody v. State, 38 Okl.Cr. 23, 259 P. 159 (Okl.Cr.1927), reaffirmed in Smith v. State, 652 P.2d 303, 304 (Okl.Cr.1982), (ioverruled on other grounds), this Court held that 21 O.S.1981, § 711, sets forth two ways in which the offense of first degree manslaughter may be committed: 1) when perpetrated without a design to effect death and in a heat of passion but in a cruel and unusual manner or 2) when perpetrated without a design to effect death by means of a dangerous weapon.

The information in the present case alleges that Appellant committed the offense of first degree manslaughter in a cruel and unusual manner by beating the deceased to death with a shotgun. The information does not allege the commission of the offense by means of a dangerous weapon. While a shotgun may be described as a dangerous weapon, here the focus of the criminal charge was Appellant’s use of a blunt instrument to beat the deceased so as to cause her death. Merely because the blunt instrument used was a shotgun does not transform the information into alleging both manners of death.

Our review of the evidence shows that sufficient evidence was presented to prove that the homicide occurred in a cruel and unusual manner. Medical experts testified that the deceased died of a subdural hematoma due to a blunt injury to the head. The deceased also suffered from numerous bruises, lacerations and abrasions, from head to legs. Fifteen (15) to twenty (20) different points of impact were found on the body, with at least seven (7) different points of impact found exclusively on the face and head. Both the external and internal injuries were consistent with those received from a beating.

The blood covered shotgun was recovered from the Appellant’s home. Blood splatters covered the gun from barrel to butt. Analysis of the blood revealed that it was human blood, but the experts were unable to type the blood. Additionally, hair was found on the gun, but further analysis was not possible. Blood was found throughout Appellant’s home, specifically in the front room and hallway. In the bathroom blood was found on the shower curtain and underneath the vanity.

Steve Rhine testified that when he responded to Appellant’s call, Appellant was angry and “kind of swung” at the deceased. Standing between the two, Rhine received a blow to the shoulder. Rhine could not remember if Appellant had a weapon in his hands. Rhine described the deceased as “beaten up” with “quite a bit” of blood on her. Blood from her head soaked her blouse and dripped to the ground around her. Unable to walk unassisted, Rhine had to help the deceased to his pickup. The evidence further shows that the deceased did not die instantly but suffered for several hours before losing consciousness.

We find this sufficient, competent evidence from which the jury could reasonably [52]*52conclude that the Appellant committed the offense of first degree manslaughter in a cruel and unusual manner by beating the deceased to death with the shotgun. See Phillips v. State, 641 P.2d 556, 560 (Okl.Cr.1982); Dandridge v. State, 519 P.2d 529, 536 (Okl.Cr.1974).

“Where there is evidence, although circumstantial, from which the jury may reasonably and logically find the defendant guilty, the weight and credibility and probative effect of such evidence is for the jury, and the Court of Criminal Appeals will not disturb the verdict for insufficiency of the evidence.” Hunter v. State, 478 P.2d 1001, 1002 (Okl.Cr.1970), quoting Stumblingbear v. State, 364 P.2d 1115, 1117 (Okl.Cr.1961).

Further, Appellant argues that the State failed to prove that the death of the deceased did not occur under such circumstances as constitute justifiable homicide. Justifiable homicide in self-defense occurs when one person, not at fault in bringing on the struggle, kills another under apparent necessity to save himself from death or great bodily harm. Perez v. State, 51 Okl.Cr. 180, 300 P. 428 (1931). The apprehension of danger and the belief of the necessity which would justify killing in self-defense is not to be tested by the defendant’s honesty or good faith but by whether the defendant had reasonable grounds to believe the killing necessary. West v. State, 617 P.2d 1362, 1365 (Okl.Cr.1980).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1992 OK CR 17, 829 P.2d 47, 63 O.B.A.J. 966, 1992 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 27, 1992 WL 63080, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/camron-v-state-oklacrimapp-1992.