Elix v. State

1987 OK CR 204, 743 P.2d 669, 1987 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 479
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 21, 1987
DocketF-85-573
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 1987 OK CR 204 (Elix 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
Elix v. State, 1987 OK CR 204, 743 P.2d 669, 1987 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 479 (Okla. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

BUSSEY, Judge:

The appellant, Jimmy Elix, was tried and convicted in the District Court of Comanche County, for the crime of Rape in the First Degree, After Former Conviction of Two Felonies, pursuant to 21 O.S.1981, § 1114 and 21 O.S.1981,.§ 51(B), and Burglary in the First Degree, After Former Conviction of Two Felonies, pursuant to 21 O.S.1981, § 1431 and 21 O.S.1981, § 51(B), in Case No. CRF-84-601 and received terms of imprisonment of fifty (50) years and thirty (30) years, respectively, the sentences to run consecutively.

On December 26, 1984, at approximately 11:00 p.m., the prosecutrix, B.B., and her five children were in bed at their home in Lawton, Oklahoma. Her husband was at work, a fact known to his friends. At this time, she heard a knock at the front door and went to answer it. She asked the person at the door to identify himself, and a man responded that it was her brother-in-law, V.B. When she requested him to step to a window to confirm this, the man began violently kicking in the front door of the house. Although the residence was not equipped with a telephone, a fact which a past visitor to the house would be aware of, B.B. screamed that she was calling the police. The man, however, continued kicking at the door, eventually gaining entry to the house. B.B. ran down a hallway into *671 the kitchen in search of a knife to use to defend herself and her family. The intruder followed her, tripping over a dresser which was partially blocking the kitchen doorway. At that moment, he partially lifted off the mask he was wearing in order to see, allowing the prosecutrix to see in the light of a kitchen light bulb that the man was Jimmy Elix, a friend of her husband and a past visitor to her house.

Appellant then picked up a knife from the sink, unscrewed the light bulb in the kitchen, seized B.B., and dragged her down the hallway into the living room. B.B. was struggling with the appellant, and he threatened to kill her. Then the prosecu-trix heard her children in the next room and fearing for their safety, ceased struggling. Shortly thereafter, appellant achieved penetration. After he had completed the sexual act, appellant demanded money. To show him that she had no money, the prosecutrix went into another room to get her purse, but when she returned, the appellant had left. B.B. then went next door and telephoned the police.

When the police arrived they found the prosecutrix hysterical. They were able, however, to ascertain from her statements that her assailant was a friend of her husband named “Jimmy,” and she gave a general description. When her husband returned home from work, he told officers that the description matched that of the appellant, Jimmy Elix. B.B. was transported to the hospital where she underwent a rape examination and forensic samples were taken. While at the hospital, she was shown a set of five “mug shots”, and identified the photograph of the appellant as being that of her assailant. The appellant was arrested shortly afterwards at a nearby bar.

Appellant’s first assignment of error is that the instruction given by the trial judge regarding appellant’s alibi defense unfairly prejudiced appellant’s case resulting in fundamental error. Appellant claims that the instruction fails to state that the burden of proof is upon the State when a defendant puts forward an alibi defense.

Initially, we must note that by his failure to object to this instruction at trial, appellant has waived consideration of this issue on any ground other than fundamental error. Glass v. State, 701 P.2d 765 (Okl.Cr.1985); Stevenson v. State, 637 P.2d 878 (Okl.Cr.1981); and Kelsey v. State, 569 P.2d 1028 (Okl.Cr.1977).

The instructions as a whole in this case relate the applicable law placing the burden of proof squarely upon the State. Any ambiguity in the particular complained of instruction was cured by the clear language of the instructions in their entirety. Tate v. State, 664 P.2d 1036 (Okl.Cr.1983); Garcia v. State, 639 P.2d 88 (Okl.Cr.1981); and Holloway v. State, 550 P.2d 1352 (OKl.Cr.1976). This assignment of error is consequently without merit.

Appellant next contends that the trial judge erred in not providing the jury with the proper verdict forms and punishment instructions. Although he did not object at trial, appellant now objects to the fact that the verdict forms provided for the jury by the trial judge all included the notation “After the Former Conviction of Two Felonies.”

The determination of whether a convicted defendant merits sentencing under the “Habitual Criminal Act,” 21 O.S.1981, § 51, is normally a jury question; however, this Court has held that when a defendant admits in testimony that he has former felony convictions, the issue of former conviction ceases to be a question of fact for jury determination. Wilson v. State, 637 P.2d 900 (Okl.Cr.1981); Reed v. State, 580 P.2d 159 (Okl.Cr.1978); and Jones v. State, 527 P.2d 169 (Okl.Cr.1974).

Because appellant did testify on the witness stand that he did have two former felony convictions, the use of the verdict forms and punishment instructions employed at appellant’s trial does not constitute error. This assignment of error is without merit.

Appellant’s third assignment of error is that the trial court committed fundamental error in admitting testimony of a police officer concerning the prosecutrix’s identi *672 fication of appellant at the hospital from the set of photographs. The prosecutrix later identified at trial the appellant as her assailant. The appellant did not object to the police officer’s testimony at trial, thereby waiving all review except on the grounds of fundamental error.

When a defendant fails to object to testimony from a police officer about a victim’s extra judicial identification of that defendant, this Court has held that the admission of such testimony does not constitute reversible error. Christian v. State, 708 P.2d 1133 (Okl.Cr.1985): and Towning v. State, 521 P.2d 415 (Okl.Cr.1974).

Because the appellant did fail to object to this testimony at trial, this assignment of error is without merit.

In his fourth assignment of error the appellant contends that fundamental error occurred when the State questioned appellant’s alibi witnesses about why they had not come forward with their evidence before trial. Appellant claims that these questions constitute a violation of his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Appellant has waived his claim to anything but fundamental error by his failure to contemporaneously object to the complained of questions at trial.

In Robison v. State, 677 P.2d 1080 (Okl.Cr.1984), cert. den. 467 U.S. 1246, 104 S.Ct. 3524, 82 L.Ed.2d 831 (1984), this Court held that when a defendant fails to object to a prosecutor’s comments about defendant’s failure to testify, negatively affecting defendant’s Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, no fundamental error occurs. Similarly, in Thomas v. State, 675 P.2d 1016 (Okl.Cr.1984), cert. den. 466 U.S. 942, 104 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
1987 OK CR 204, 743 P.2d 669, 1987 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 479, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/elix-v-state-oklacrimapp-1987.