Dunn v. State

1936 OK CR 104, 63 P.2d 772, 60 Okla. Crim. 201, 1936 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 115
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 10, 1936
DocketNo. A-9038.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 1936 OK CR 104 (Dunn 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
Dunn v. State, 1936 OK CR 104, 63 P.2d 772, 60 Okla. Crim. 201, 1936 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 115 (Okla. Ct. App. 1936).

Opinion

DAVENPORT, J.

The plaintiff in error, hereinafter referred to' as the defendant, was convicted in the district court of Carter county of the crime of the larceny of an automobile, and sentenced to serve a term of ten years in the penitentiary. Motion for new trial was filed, considered, overruled, and exceptions saved, and defendant appeals.

The testimony on behalf of the state in substance is, on the 3d day of September, 1934, Alimón Forbes drove his Ford two-door coach to the side of the hotel; about 8 o’clock Forbes missed his car and reported to the police his car was gone. Later on he was notified the car had been located in a Ford garage, at Seminole, in Seminole county, Okla. The witness further stated he went to Seminole and identified the car by some peculiar dents that had been caused by a wreck while his wife was driving the car; there was also' further identification, as the wife had received a cut on the hand and left bloodstains on the top of the car. He positively identified the car by the secret number under the hood. The car was taken without his knowledge or consent. He had bought the car in Ohio, and had a bill of sale for it.

Raymond Shoemaker, testifying for the state, stated: “I live in Ardmore. I am a plain clothes peace officer. When I received notice of the loss of Forbes’ car, we in *203 stituted a search, and with the assistance of Mr. Scruggs, highway patrolman, the car was located in Seminole, in the possession of a Mr. Anderson.” Witness further stated the motor number had been changed but the secret number had not. They brought the car in to the Ford Motor Company, in Seminole.

M. D. Lane, testifying for the state, stated: “I bought this car from the defendant. The defendant gave me his name as J. D. Hart. I traded the defendant a Willys-Knight car and gave him $75.” The canceled check was introduced in evidence. Witness Lane positively identified Happy Dunn as the person who sold the car under the name of J. D. Hart.

There was also introduced a title receipt from the state of Texas. The defendant or some one for him made application to the state of Oklahoma for a certificate of title. No testimony was introduced by the defendant.

The defendant alleges 14 errors which he insists are sufficient to warrant this court in reversing his case. When the state rested, the defendant filed an oral demurrer and a motion asking for an instructed verdict, both motions were heard, considered, overruled, and exceptions duly saved. The defendant then announced he rested.

The defendant first argues his fourth assignment, which is as follows: “Because of error of the court in refusing to sustain the motion of the defendant to dismiss this case for the reason that the court did not have jurisdiction to try the same.”

In order to properly consider this assignment, it will be necessary to briefly refer to the record heretofore made in this case. On the 26th day of January, 1935, this case *204 was assigned by the court to be tried on the 11th day of February, 1935; on the 28th day of January, 1935, said case was passed for arraignment until February 5, 1935. February 5, 193'5, defendant appeared in open court and waived arraignment and ashed for time in which to plead and was given twenty-four hours. February 6, 1935, defendant entered his plea of not guilty of the crime charged against him. February 11, 1935, a jury was waived and the case passed subject to call. This case then stood on call until the 3d day of April, 1935, when the defendant filed a motion for continuance, which motion was granted, and the case passed until the 16th day of April, 1935, and was then reset for the 20th day of June, 1935, and then by order of the court set for trial on the 27th day of June, 1935.

Before the case was called for trial, the defendant came in, notwithstanding heretofore a jury had been waived, and demanded a jury. A jury was duly impaneled and sworn, and the case proceeded to trial and resulted in a verdict of guilty, leaving the punishment to the court, and the court sentenced the defendant on the verdict returned by the jury to serve a term of ten years in the penitentiary at McAlester, for the crime for which he was tried and convicted.

It is urged by the defendant that the court had no jurisdiction to try the defendant for the reason: “There had never been a transcript filed in this case in the district court conferring upon the court any jurisdiction at all.”

Evidence was taken, and it was conclusively shown by the district clerk, the county attorney, and the justice of the peace who heard the case that, when the case was called before the justice of the peace for preliminary ex- *205 animation, the defendant appeared and waived preliminary examination, and was held to the district court, and that ball was fixed by the justice of the peace at $8,000; that the order of the court showing defendant waived examination was filed in the district court and bail fixed at $3,000, was written on the back of the original complaint which charged the defendant with the commission of the crime, and the clerk’s record shows the complaint wasi received from the justice of the peace and filed in his office. When the court was hearing the testimony, the original complaint could not be found. However, without setting out the testimony in full, the court made a finding that the testimony was sufficient to show the complaint made before the justice o-f the peace, holding the defendant to the district court, and fixing bail at $3,000, was filed in the clerk’s office. Its absence could not be accounted for.

The record further shows that prior to the time of filing this motion the defendant appeared in open court and waived arraignment and took time to- plead, and entered a plea of not guilty, and a jury was waived and the case assigned for hearing, and then passed from time to time, and finally, when the case was called for trial, the defendant appeared and demanded a jury trial, notwithstanding the jury had previously been waived.

The authorities cited by the defendant to sustain his contention that his motion to dismiss for want of jurisdiction of the court should have been sustained contained good law if the facts in the record sustained the defendant’s contention. This court is not inclined to disturb the findings of the trial court when the finding is based upon sufficient facts to sustain the same. The evidence shows without doubt that the complaint against the defendant filed in the justice court was filed in the district clerk’s office in Carter county, and the proof by the *206 justice of the peace and county attorney shows the order of the justice of the peace holding the defendant to the district court and fixing his hail at $8,000 was written on the hack of the complaint. What became of the complaint and order, or how it got out of the files of the clerk’s office, this court will not undertake to say, but it will say that, notwithstanding the original complaint and order holding, the defendant to the district court have been extracted from the files, and no one seems to knowi where they are, the testimony showing what took place at the preliminary hearing, and the complaint was received by the district clerk and filed in the clerk’s office.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1936 OK CR 104, 63 P.2d 772, 60 Okla. Crim. 201, 1936 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dunn-v-state-oklacrimapp-1936.