Clark v. State

1938 OK CR 88, 82 P.2d 844, 65 Okla. Crim. 56, 1938 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 71
Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma·Decided September 9, 1938·No. No. A-9459.·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

DOYLE, J.

“That one D. J. Clark late of the county aforesaid on or about the 29th day of December, 1937, in the county of Beckham and state of Oklahoma, did then and there unlawfully, knowingly and wilfully sell one pint of spirituous, vinous, fermented malt and intoxicating liquor to one Leland Essary, contrary to,” etc.

A demurrer to the information was duly interposed on the following grounds: That the facts stated do not constitute a public offense; that the same is duplicitous in that more than one offense, if any, is charged in the information; and that it does not impart sufficient information to enable the defendant to properly prepare his defense. Which was overruled, exception reserved.

*58 Upon his trial the jury returned their verdict finding: “the defendant guilty as charged in the information and fix his punishment therefor at a fine of $50 and 30 days in the county jail.”

Motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment were duly filed, and on January 29, 1938, overruled.

To reverse the judgment rendered on the verdict he appeals, and assigns as error the overruling of the demurrer to the information, and questions the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict.

The state relied for this conviction upon the testimony of two witnesses.

Leland Essary testified that he had lived in Clinton the past 25 years, was in the dairy business, on December 29th had occasion to be in Elk City, and that evening about 10 o’clock stopped at the Tower Tavern on the northeast side of the city, had lunch served by a man and woman, and then asked them if they had anything to drink there; they said no, a fellow there said, “I might rustle you a drink.” He talked to him, and the fellow left, that he went out and got in his car, and backed it up to the filling station in the same building, went in to get some cigarettes; the man there said he would have to go and get them, came back to his car and talked to Mr. Rice, who was in the electric appliances business at Clinton. Some fellow brought the cigarettes out there, and charged him 20 cents. Then the other fellow who had talked to him came and delivered a pint of liquor and he paid him for it. That he did not know the man who delivered the liquor, but it was not the man who delivered the cigarettes; that he opened the bottle of liquor and passed it to his friend, and a fellow reached in and grabbed it. That the man he talked to, or the man who delivered the bottle, was not the defendant.

*59 M. Y. Baker testified that he was a constable; knew the defendant, Clark, and knew Leland Essary; that he saw the defendant and Mr. Essary at the Tower Tavern that night about 9 o’clock; that Mr. Essary came out of the cafe, went to his car and drove around in front of the filling station, went in, came out and went back to his car. A man came from another car to Mr. Essary’s car and talked to him; a party brought some cigarettes to Mr. Essary; that he saw the defendant come out of the filling station, go south about 100 yards, and then came back with a pint bottle sticking out of his left pocket, and went to Mr. Essary’s car, and handed the bottle to him. Mr. Essary paid him, and the defendant walked into the filling station and sat down; that Orlin Jones, chief of police, and Mr. Shope drove up and were sitting in their car, and he got out of his car and walked to their car and said, “I want to make an arrest here,” then he walked over to Mr. Essary’s car, he had taken the top off the bottle, and told Mr. Essary he was under arrest, then he took the bottle and pulled the switch keys from the car, then went into the station and told the defendant he was under arrest.

On cross-examination he stated that he took Mr. Essary to the city jail, then took a cash $22.50 appearance bond for drinking in a public place, and let him go home; that he never appeared in court; that when a man does not appear they plead him guilty and take his cash deposit to pay the fine and costs; that he did not know that it was liquor until he took the bottle from Mr. Essary; that he had Mr. Green with him in his car.

On the part of the defense, Leland Essary testified that the door of his car was open, when the fellow slid the bottle in on the floor of the car; that he was a little fellow, much smaller than the defendant, Clark; that he was positive the defendant Clark was not the man that delivered the whisky, and was not the man who had agreed to deliver the whisky to him.

*60 Orlin Jones testified that he was chief of police of Elk City, and deputy sheriff; that with Bill Shope, he drove out to the Tower Tavern, and was there when Constable Baker arrested Mr. Essary; that he parked his car facing north and there was a coupe parked at their right, facing east, and Constable Baker was in a coupe west, and the defendant, Clark, was sitting on a bench in the filling station; that two men came and got in the car on the east side, and they sat there about 15 minutes when Constable Baker came up and asked them to go with him to shake the coupe down, and he asked him what for; Baker said, that some one delivered some whisky to that car, and he said he didn’t know anything about it, and refused to go. That he knows the defendant, D. J. Clark, and did not see him approach that coupe while they were sitting there.

On cross-examination he stated that he was there about 25 minutes before Baker approached him and asked him to go with him to shake the coupe down.

Walter A. Green testified that he is a farmer, living seven miles northeast of Sayre; that he went with M. Y. Baker to the Tower Tavern that night; that while they were sitting in the car in front of the filling station the defendant came out and went to the white house in the next block, went in, then came back to the filling station; that a car honked and he came out to the car, then went back in and came back with a package of cigarettes; that he was sitting with Mr. Baker at the time, and that was all he saw.

On cross-examination he was asked:

“Q. Did you see this Ford coupe parked over a little east of you there? A. The third car. Q. Did you see Clark go up to that car? A. Saw him bring a package of cigarettes up there? Q. You didn’t see anything else?”

The record shows at this time the county attorney asked leave of court to have a conference with this wit *61 ness. Leave granted. The county attorney and witness leave the courtroom.

The objections interposed on the part of the defendant were:

“Overruled for the reason there were no objections at the time the court granted the request until the time the county attorney was returning from the conference with the witness.”

The record shows that after the conference there were no further questions asked by the county attorney.

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Clark v. State, 1938 OK CR 88, 82 P.2d 844, 65 Okla. Crim. 56, 1938 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 71 (Okla. Ct. App. 1938).

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