Carpenter v. State

1934 OK CR 45, 33 P.2d 637, 56 Okla. Crim. 76, 1934 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 20
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 14, 1934
DocketNo. A-8623.
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 1934 OK CR 45 (Carpenter 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
Carpenter v. State, 1934 OK CR 45, 33 P.2d 637, 56 Okla. Crim. 76, 1934 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 20 (Okla. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

DAVENPORT, J.

The plaintiff in error, for convenience hereinafter referred to as the defendant, was convicted of the larceny of an automobile and sentenced to serve a term of five years- in the state penitentiary, and appeals.

An abstract of the testimony shows N. J. Fuqua, of Duncan, .Stephens county, Okla., owned a Chevrolet sedan, and on the night of August 7, 1932, he and his wife *77 attended a show at the Palace Theatre in Duncan, leaving their car parked on Main street; when they came out about 10 o’clock the car was gone; when he left the car, he left the windows and ignition locked; the next time he saw what he identified as his car was in Purcell, Okla., in a garage; the car he examined in the garage had the same kind of casings he had on his car; the figure 2 on the motor number had been changed, or mutilated and looked like an 0; the witness identified an aluminum plate on the dashboard under the hood of the car which showed a job No. 32559, and a body No. K1272, these being the same numbers on his bill of sale; the original number of his car was 3271568, and when he examined the car in the garage at Purcell, the number 2 had been changed to O.

Orin Johnson, the sheriff of McClain county, stated he knew the defendant, Bussell Carpenter; that on the 15th day of September, 1932, he and a Mr. Wilson were driving on the highway near where the defendant lived and saw the defendant driving the Chevrolet car alleged to have been stolen; while they were driving near the defendant’s home, the defendant passed them one or more times driving the Chevrolet car the state claims was owned by Mr. Fuqua, and Mr. Fuqua testified it was stolen or taken without his knowledge or consent; two or three days after the defendant was seen driving the car near his home, a number of officers went to Mr. McCurdy’s home, where they found the defendant; the reason they went to the McCurdy home was the car was parked in front of the McCurdy house; the defendant was not there at the time the officers arrived, which was about midnight.; the defendant showed up at the McCurdy home about daylight; the witness had not seen him come, but he was arrested, and they took possession of the car on reports that it had been stolen. The defendant stated he bought the car from *78 a man named Wilder, whom he had met in Oklahoma City. Witness further stated defendant did not give very satisfactory statements as to how he came into possession of the car; defendant stated he traded a model A Ford in on the deal and had given a difference of $342, securing the amount by a note and mortgage, but defendant did not remember the provisions of the mortgage and could not tell when or where the payments were to be made, but stated they were to be made when he got the money.

Purman Wilson, county attorney of McClain county, stated he had known Russell Carpenter practically all his life; on the 19th of September, 1932, when the car was taken from the defendant, he went with Sheriff Johnston to the Carpenter home, and on to the McCurdy place where they found the car, and defendant was arrested; the defendant stated he had never seen the man J. W. Wilder before and had never seen him since he made the trade; that he had traded an old car and paid $342 and given a mortgage to secure this amount, but did not know if it had been recorded. Witness further stated when he took the car he checked the motor number, and it was 3071568.

Witness N. J. Fuqua was recalled, and on further cross-examination by the defendant stated he had seen the job number and body number only on the bill of sale; that he did not have the bill of sale with him at the trial and had never examined his car to look for any number on it.

Miss Erline Webster, called as a witness on behalf of the defendant, testified she was working, in the agent’s office, at Norman August 9,1932, and. they issued a license tag and certificate of title to J. W. Wilder on his application, the certificate being 3071568; that on the 10th of August, 1932, Wilder, accompanied by the defendant, Rus *79 sell Carpenter, and a lady came to her office at Norman; the man who accompanied the defendant was the same man who had given his name as J. W. Wilder on the 9th, when she had issued him a license tag. Witness: further stated when the man gave her his name as Wilder he stated he was a car salesman from Missouri, and asked how he could sell a car in Oklahoma. Witness could not identify the defendant’s wife as the lady with the defendant and Wilder when they came to her office at Norman on August 10th.

Mrs. E. B. Carpenter, wife of the defendant, testified the man gave his name as Wilder who* sold the car to her husband; that he came back about a month after the sale Avas made to collect a payment on the car, and her husband paid him the balance of $275; that was the last time she saw the man. The wife of the defendant testified she and her husband spent the entire evening at the home of Mr. McCurdy’s near their place, and attended an ice cream supper the night of August 7th, the night it is alleged the car was stolen. Several witnesses were called to establish an alibi for the defendant, and all stated positively that the defendant was at the home of McCurdy from about dark the evening of August 7, 1932, up until 10:30 or 11 o’clock, some stating an hour later.

The defendant did not testify. The foregoing is, in substance, the testimony of both the state and the defendant.

It is not disputed by the defense that the car found in the possession of the defendant is the car that was taken from the witness Fuqua, but it is insisted by the defense that the defendant had nothing, to do with taking the car and kneAV nothing about it being a stolen car; that the defendant purchased the car from a man who repre *80 sen ted himself to be J. W. Wilder, from Missouri; the statement the state claims to have been made by the defendant tO' the sheriff and county attorney of McClain county indicates that defendant had traded an old model •A Ford to a man by the name of Wilder and promised to pay $342 in money, making a note and mortgage to secure the payment, but he did not know when the note was to be paid, and did not know whether the note and mortgage had been recorded. The wife of the defendant, in her testimony, says that some time after they bought the car Wilder came to their home and her husband paid him the balance due on the car.

Seven errors have been assigned by the defendant as grounds for reversal. These errors will be considered as presented by the defendant in his argument.

The defendant in his argument urges that the court erred in giving its sixth instruction, which instruction is as follows:

“You are instructed, gentlemen, that when the fact of the theft has been shown, and the question is whether or not the defendant committed it, his possession, if you find beyond a reasonable doubt, he had possession thereof, of the stolen property at a time not too long after the stealing is circumstance for the jury to consider and weigh in connection with all the other facts in the case.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Holt v. State
1960 OK CR 31 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1960)
Samples v. State
1959 OK CR 6 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1959)
Wass v. State
1954 OK CR 103 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1954)
Dickey v. State
1954 OK CR 8 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1954)
Wilkerson v. State
1954 OK CR 5 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1954)
Taylor v. State
1951 OK CR 126 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1951)
Tripp v. State
1951 OK CR 75 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1951)
Lane v. State
1950 OK CR 39 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1950)
Fields v. State
1947 OK CR 126 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1947)
Chapman v. State
1947 OK CR 29 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1947)
Drew v. State
1941 OK CR 51 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1941)
Pulliam v. State
1937 OK CR 37 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1937)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1934 OK CR 45, 33 P.2d 637, 56 Okla. Crim. 76, 1934 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 20, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carpenter-v-state-oklacrimapp-1934.