Flowers v. State

1951 OK CR 159, 238 P.2d 841, 95 Okla. Crim. 27, 1951 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 189
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 5, 1951
DocketNo. A-11513
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1951 OK CR 159 (Flowers 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
Flowers v. State, 1951 OK CR 159, 238 P.2d 841, 95 Okla. Crim. 27, 1951 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 189 (Okla. Ct. App. 1951).

Opinion

POWELL, J.

The plaintiff in error, Donald M. Flowers, who will hereinafter be referred to as defendant, was charged by information filed in the district court of Kay county, Oklahoma, with the crime of kidnapping. By provision of Tit. 21 O. S. 1941 § 745, the penalty on conviction might be fixed at death, or imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than ten years. Defendant was tried before a jury, convicted and his punishment assessed at imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for a period of 20 years.

A further history of this case seems required. The charge for which defendant was convicted was originally commenced on the 20th day of January, 1948, by the filing of a complaint or preliminary information in the county court of Kay county, wherein the judge was sitting as an examining magistrate. The record reflects that the matter came on for hearing on January 20, 1948, and that the defendant was fully advised of his right to be advised by counsel and of his right to have a preliminary examination, but that he specifically waived such examination and was bound over to the district court for trial. On January 30, 1948, the defendant entered a plea of guilty to the charge of kidnapping, and was sentenced by the court to serve a term of twenty years in the State Penitentiary.

The defendant thereafter appealed this case to this court and also sought release by application for a writ of habeas corpus. The cases were consolidated under No. A-11110, Flowers v. State, and Ex parte Flowers, 90 Okla. Cr. 390, 214 P. 2d 728. The defendant by various affidavits claimed that he entered his plea of guilty under duress of a deputy sheriff by the name of Mead, whom he claimed had beaten, threatened, and severely injured him. Complaint was made particularly to an order of the trial court refusing to permit defendant to withdraw his plea of guilty and to enter a plea of not guilty, and to be permitted a trial by jury.

[29]*29By reason of the defendant not being represented by counsel, and on account of the mixup and conflict in the records of the medical department at the State Penitentiary, and for other reasons fully set out in the opinion above, though defendant was not without experience in court matters, having previously served in the penitentiary, In re Flowers, 71 Okla. Cr. 330, 111 P. 2d 509, this court reversed the conviction and ordered that defendant be granted a new trial, not only on the kidnapping charge, but also on the charge of burglary to which he had also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve a five-year sentence concurrently with the twenty-year sentence. The order provided that the judgment and sentence in criminal cases No. 3489 and No. 3490, and all proceedings in said cases subsequent to the filing of the information against the accused be vacated and set aside.

Following the opinion of this court above referred to, the defendant was returned to Kay county and the district judge appointed attorneys John H. Hill and Chester Armstrong, Jr., at state expense, to defend him. From the subsequent conviction, above stated, defendant has lodged the present appeal.

On trial the defendant did not testify or offer any evidence.

The evidence on behalf of the state developed that prior to January 13, 1948, defendant was held in the county jail of Kay county awaiting trial on a burglary charge. During the night of January 12-13, 1948, defendant succeeded in escaping from the said jail and took with him a .41 calibre Colt pistol from the safe at the jail office, as well as a pocket book belonging to Bob Pond, a jailer there. Pond’s automobile also disappeared at the same time, but whs subsequently found a few miles away, stuck in a ditch.

Donald Dorf, a farmer who lived a mile north and three miles west of New-kirk with his wife and infant son, was awakened around 1:30 the morning of January 13, 1948, by a man outside the house who said he was out of gas, and wanted to know if witness could let him have some. Dorf and wife decided to furnish this man some gas to help him out of his difficulty, and Dorf commenced to dress, but in the meantime the stranger asked if he could come in and warm, as it was cold outside. When the door was opened defendant was the man who came in. Dorf and defendant soon went outside to the gas barrel, and Dorf commenced pouring gas in a can, but defendant insisted that he had poured enough before witness had poured any appreciable amount. Defendant asked Dorf to drive him to where his car was stalled, and Dorf agreed to do so, and so advised his wife. He got his 1934 model ear and began to drive but after they proceeded only a short distance, defendant brandished a gun, later shown to be the .41 Colt stolen from the sheriff’s office, and told Dorf it was a “holdup”. Dorf was very frightened and defendant cautioned him: “Just control yourself, I’m not going to hurt you”, and told him: “We’re just going for a ride.” Dorf did not understand the significance of that remark and was frightened more than ever, and asked defendant if he was going to hurt him, and defendant told him: “Oh, if you break and run or holler I might take a shot at you.”

Dorf testified that by reason of the display of the gun and the commands of defendant and fearing injury or death if he did not comply, he drove defendant across country roads to Blackwell, where Dorf was directed to stop at a house and to go to the door for the purpose of purchasing a pint of whiskey with a ten-dollar bill handed him by the defendant, and also that he was directed by defendant to ask for one Andy Rothrock. The man who answered the door refused to sell any whiskey and stated that Rothrock was at the Blackwell Rooms. Defendant remained in the car but was close enough to hear and did hear the conversation at the door of the house.

Defendant then directed Dorf to drive him to Tonkawa, but after getting there he decided that he wanted to go to Perry, so Dorf proceeded to drive him there. [30]*30On arrival at the outskirts of town, defendant said to Dorf: “If I would just step out would you turn around and go- home and not say anything?” Dorf answered: “Blister, that would tickle me to death.” He had previously tried to turn his car over to defendant if defendant would just put him out on the highway. Defendant got out at some tourist courts and gave Dorf $1 to purchase some gasoline to enable him to drive on. Dorf then drove through Tonkawa, through Blackwell, and back on highway 11, and soon the Ponca City police stopped him. They asked him where he left his passenger, Dorf’s wife having previously reported her husband’s disappearance with the stranger, and he told them at Perry, and they then directed Dorf to drive to the court house at Newkirk, and they ’phoned his wife that he was safe.

Oscar Dozier, chief of police of Perry, testified that he went to á tourist court at Perry around 6:30 a.m., January 13, 1948, that Officer Hunt knocked on the door and told defendant to come out with his hands up, which he eventually did. Witness stated that they then searched the cabin and that: “There was a pistol under the pillow on the bed, and we found a couple of little boxes that had some pills.” He then identified State’s exhibit “1” as the gun found.

Fred Boyse of the Perry motor patrol testified substantially as Chief Dozier, and also identified the gun, but stated that it was a .41 calibre rather than a .38.

Harry Bain, chief of police at Newkirk, testified that on the morning of January 13, 1948, he, Deputy Sheriff Mead and Officers Hays and Yanetten went in Mead’s car toward Perry to ■ look for defendant, Mr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Johnson v. State
1976 OK CR 200 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1976)
Williams v. State
1957 OK CR 114 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1957)
Flowers v. State
1952 OK CR 161 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1952)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1951 OK CR 159, 238 P.2d 841, 95 Okla. Crim. 27, 1951 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/flowers-v-state-oklacrimapp-1951.