Dutton v. State

1942 OK CR 165, 131 P.2d 777, 75 Okla. Crim. 375, 1942 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 62
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 2, 1942
DocketNo. A-10052.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1942 OK CR 165 (Dutton 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
Dutton v. State, 1942 OK CR 165, 131 P.2d 777, 75 Okla. Crim. 375, 1942 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 62 (Okla. Ct. App. 1942).

Opinion

JONES, J.

Edward Dutton was charged in the district court of Seminole county with the crime of murder, was tried, convicted of the crime of manslaughter in the first degree with the punishment left to the court. The court, after overruling the motion for a new trial, sentenced the defendant to serve a term of seven years in the State Penitentiary, from which an appeal was taken.

The defendant appealed by transcript and did not file in this court a case-made of the evidence taken at the trial.

It is first contended that the court erred in overruling the defendant’s motion for a continuance.

Neither the motion for continuance nor the affidavit of defendant thereto attached complies with the settled law of this state, requiring diligence upon the part of defendant to obtain the attendance of the absent witness, and does not show any probability of securing the witness at the next term of court.

In Lane v. State, 65 Okla. Cr. R. 192, 84 P. 2d 807, 808, it is held:

*377 “A motion for continuance on the grounds of the absence of witnesses should show reasonable diligence, the probability of securing the witness within a reasonable time, and the proper location of the witness. The overruling of a motion for continuance is in the sound discretion of the trial court, and where this discretion has not been abused it will not be set aside.”

See, also, Bayouth v. State, 39 Okla. Cr. R. 8, 262 P. 702; Sledge v. State, 40 Okla. Cr. R. 421, 269 P. 385; Wininger v. State, 55 Okla. Cr. R. 78, 24 P. 2d 664.

In addition to the fact that the motion for continuance was insufficient on its face to require the court to grant a continuance as a matter of law, the record shows, in a note set forth by the reporter, that the testimony of the two- witnesses referred to in the motion for continuance and given on a former trial was, by agreement of the parties, read to the jury as their evidence on behalf of the defendant.

Under all of these circumstances it appears that the court did not abuse his discretion in overruling the motion for a continuance.

It is next contended that the court erred in keeping the jury together after they had reported that they were deadlocked nine to three.

The record discloses that the case was finally submitted to' the jury about 5 p.m., October 15th, and that the verdict of guilty was finally returned into court on October 16th at 4:30 p.m. The record further shows that the jury reported twice into open court during their deliberation. The first report was at 10:30 p.m., October 15th, at which time the foreman of the jury advised the court that the jury stood three to nine, at which time the court directed them to go to bed. The next morning at 10:30 a.m. the jury again reported into open court, at which time, in response to the query of the court as *378 to whether' they had agreed upon a verdict, the foreman stated, “I don’t think it is possible for us to get together;” to which the court stated, “Well, I want you to go back and deliberate.”

In the early case of Kent v. State, 8 Okla. Cr. 188, 126 P. 1040, 1045, it is held:

“Section 6867 [Comp. Laws 1909, 22 O. S. 1941 § 896], Procedure Criminal, provides: ‘Except as provided in the last section, the jury cannot be discharged after the cause is submitted to them until they have agreed upon their verdict, and rendered it in open court, unless by the consent of both parties entered upon the minutes, or unless at the expiration of such time as the court deems proper, it satisfactorily appear that there is no reasonable probability that the jury can agree.’

“Under the statute, the length of time the jury should be required to deliberate, and the probability of an agreement must be determined by the court from the facts and circumstances of the particular case and the court’s discretion will be conclusive, unless it has abused its discretion in that regard.”

Trial courts must necessarily be vested with a wide discretion in the determination as to the time which a jury should be kept together. This was a capital case even though the verdict returned by the jury was for the lesser offense of manslaughter. Since there is no record of the evidence introduced at the trial, we are not advised as to how long the trial proceedings had lasted, and certainly, under these circumstances, it would be an unwise rule of law to' sa.y that the court abused his discretion in keeping; the jury together for a period of less than 24 hours after the case was finally submitted. Here the court made no comment which might be construed as tending to coerce the jury, and, SO' far as the record discloses, he was only doing his duty in requiring the jury to continue the deliberation.

*379 Lastly, it is contended that the jury was guilty of misconduct after the case was finally submitted to them. This assignment is based upon two acts of the jury. The record discloses that the jury was placed in the charge of two sworn bailiffs. That when they retired for bed ten of the jurors and one bailiff slept on one floor of a hotel and two jurors and the other bailiff slept in a room together on another floor of the hotel. In Lemke v. State, 56 Okla. Cr. 1, 32 P. 2d 331, 334 it is stated:

“The division of a jury by placing them in different sleeping quarters is not a separation. A mere temporary separation for a purpose as the use of a toilet or the use of a telephone or kindred reasons is not within the meaning of the law forbidding a separation of the jury. Elkins v. State, 29 Okla. Cr. 175, 233 P. 491; Forester v. State, 36 Okla. Cr. 111, 252 P. 861.”

The most serious contention of the defendant is based upon the action of the bailiffs in allowing one of the jurors, in company with one of the bailiffs, to go to a barbershop and get a shave early in the morning of October 16th.

The record on this action is based upon the evidence taken upon the motion for new trial and includes the testimony of the two' barbers who were present in the barbershop at the time the juror was brought there by the bailiff, the juror himself and the bailiff. These four witnesses were substantially in accord in their testimony as to what occurred in the barbershop. The juror Wright never said a word all of the time he was in the barbershop and nothing was said to him by any one. The barbers did not know that he was on the jury which was deliberating’ the Dutton Case. As shown by the testimony of the witnesses, the substance of the entire conversation while the bailiff and juror were in the barbership is as follows: By the Bailiff: “Gentlemen, here is a man who *380 wants a shave.” Later an inquiry of one of the barbers directed to the bailiff: “Are you through with the Dutton case?” The bailiff replied: “No, the jury is still out,” followed by the inquiry, “How do they stand?” and the ansiver by the bailiff, “Nine and three.” One of the barbers stated that he asked the bailiff if he knew Avhich way the jury stood and the bailiff replied, “Well, they are not allowed to tell that.”

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Related

Ford v. State
1958 OK CR 82 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1958)
Green v. State
1957 OK CR 116 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1957)
McKendree v. State
1944 OK CR 33 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1944)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1942 OK CR 165, 131 P.2d 777, 75 Okla. Crim. 375, 1942 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 62, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dutton-v-state-oklacrimapp-1942.