Fields v. State

1943 OK CR 64, 138 P.2d 124, 77 Okla. Crim. 1, 1943 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 7
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 19, 1943
DocketNo. A-10279.
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 1943 OK CR 64 (Fields 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
Fields v. State, 1943 OK CR 64, 138 P.2d 124, 77 Okla. Crim. 1, 1943 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 7 (Okla. Ct. App. 1943).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This appeal is from a judgment rendered on the verdict of a jury finding “the defendant, Donald Eugene Fields, guilty of the crime of grand larceny, as charged in the information, and leaving his punishment to be fixed by the court.”

The information, omitting formal parts, charged that on the 21 day of July, 1941, in Oklahoma county, the said defendant “then and there being, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously commit the crime of Larceny from the Person in the manner and form as follows, to wit: That is to say the said defendant while acting conjointly and together with Floyd Martin and Earl J. Johnson, Jr., both of whom are juveniles, in the county and state aforesaid, and on the day and year aforesaid, then and there did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously take, steal and carry away from the person and immediate possession of Mrs. L. M. Richardson, a dark brown imitation leather woman’s purse, with zipper and handles, containing miscellaneous articles such as eye-glass case, house keys, an Eversharp pencil and 3(F good and lawful money of the United States of America, and all of the total value of |2.50 good and lawful money of the United States of America, the said taking, stealing and carrying away of said money and articles on the part of the said defendant was by stealth and fraud and without the knowledge and consent, of the owner, and with the felonious intent to appropriate the same to his own use and benefit and to permanently deprive the said rightful owner thereof,” contrary to etc.

*4 Motion for new trial was duly filed and overruled; thereupon the court sentenced the defendant, Donald Eugene Fields, to imprisonment in the State Reformatory at Granite for the term of nine months.

The record shows following application to suspend sentence:

“That because of the age of defendant and because of the circumstances of this case, as the same are well and fully known to the court, the sentence heretofore imposed herein should be suspended in the exercise of sound discretion.
“Wherefore, the defendant prays that this sentence be suspended conformable to the laws of the State of Oklahoma.”

Which being presented, the court entered the following order:

“The foregoing application being presented to the court and it appearing; right and proper so> to do, the court, at this time, refuses to suspend sentence imposed herein but reserves jurisdiction so to do if that course later appears advisable.”

The record further shows that upon the defendant’s application the court on January 16, 1942, entered an order directing:

“That the court reporter be and he is hereby directed to prepare and furnish the defendant a case-made herein for his said appeal, and that the county pay therefor.”

The petition in error with case-made was filed in this court May 2'5, 1942.

The grounds of the motion for new trial and assigned as error in the petition are substantially as follows:

That the verdict of the jury was contrary to both the law and the evidence; that the court erred in admitting *5 incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial evidence over the objections of the defendant; that the court erred in refusing to give instructions requested by the defendant; that the court erred in giving instructions duly excepted to; “and that the errors herein complained of are prejudicial to the rights of the defendant, and all of them prevented him from having a fair and impartial trial”, but no briefs have been filed and no appearance made when the case was called for final submission on March 24, 1943; thereupon the case was submitted on the record.

This court has repeatedly laid down the rule that where no briefs are filed, ■ and no counsel appears the court will not diligently search the record to discover errors, but will look to the jurisdiction of the court as shown by the record proper and the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction. Dillard v. State, 68 Okla. Cr. 432, 99 P. 2d 530.

The testimony in the case was substantially as follows:

Mrs. L. M. Richardson testified:

“I live 100 S.E. 38 St., Oklahoma City; on July 21, 1941, I was waiting on the south east corner of 12th and Pennsylvania streets for a street car, between 10 and 10:30 that evening. A large filling station on the corner was lighted up, a coupe going east stopped at the stop line, three boys were in the car, the boy on the driver’s seat next to me got out of the car, I just thought the other two boys had brought him there to wait for the street car, and they were talking, I noticed though they hesitated a little longer than was necessary for just stopping at a stop line, their car rolled down towards where the street car turned south, and they backed the car even up with me, they did that two or three times, and I thought they were waiting for the street car there, so I just stood there, and in a few minutes they took my purse.”

*6 She further testified as follows:

“Q. When you say They’ what do you mean? A. Well, of course, I just assumed it was the one that was out of the car, because I had my back turned at the time that he grabbed my purse. Q. He was a boy, was he? A. I would say they were all three young boys. Q. Would you observe this young man sitting here? A. This boy was about the size of this boy. One thing I noticed particularly was that his hair was sort of tousled, not slicked down like a lot of boys are. Q. Was your purse taken? A. Yes, sir. Q. What was in your purse? A. Well, not anything of any value to anyone but me. There was 30 cents in cash, my glass case, and some little individual effects, that people carry, and my house keys, and there were handkerchiefs. Q. You did not give it to whoever took it or give him any permission to' take it? A. No, sir. It was just- jerked out of my hand. Q. What happened after the bag was jerked out of your hand? A. The car turned the corner and went down the street. Q. Did you notify the police? A. I just called to the fellows at the filling station, but they didn’t understand what I was saying. A short time after that a scout car pulled up, to the stop line, and I told him, and gave him the best description I could of the car and the boys. Q. The things about which you testify happened in Oklahoma county, Oklahoma? A. Yes. By Mr. White: We move to exclude the testimony of the witness as not pertaining to the charge as alleged in the information. By the Court: Overruled. Exception.”
“Cross-examination:
“Q. And you don’t know whether this boy was among them or not for certain? A. Well, I just know that the boy that was out of the car was a boy the size of this boy. Q. Just answer me, please. You don’t know whether or not this boy was among the crowd of boys? A. I couldn’t say that positively.”

Wayne Harbolt, police officer, testified:

*7 “I am attached to the division, of robberies, Vincent Moncrief was my working partner at the time, I did some work on this case.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1943 OK CR 64, 138 P.2d 124, 77 Okla. Crim. 1, 1943 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fields-v-state-oklacrimapp-1943.