Garrison v. State

1920 OK CR 169, 197 P. 517, 19 Okla. Crim. 3, 1920 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 3
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 14, 1920
DocketNo. A-3416.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 1920 OK CR 169 (Garrison 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
Garrison v. State, 1920 OK CR 169, 197 P. 517, 19 Okla. Crim. 3, 1920 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 3 (Okla. Ct. App. 1920).

Opinion

DOYLE, P. J.

The information in this case charges that in Washita county, on or about the 12th day of November, 1917, George Garrison did shoot one Henry Frost with a shotgun, with intent of him, the said Garrison, to kill the said Frost. On his trial the verdict of the jury found him guilty of shooting another with intent to kill, as charged in the information, and that they were unable to agree upon the punishment. On the 9th day of February, 1918, the court rendered judgment, and sentenced the defendant to be confined in the State Reformatory at Granite for a period of 18 months. From the judgment he appeals.

The principal contention is that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict in that there was no testimony tending to establish an intent to kill. The defendant, George Garrison, and Henry Frost were neighbors. About 30 days prior to the date of the offense charged they had a dispute in the town of Sentinel over the price to be paid by Frost to Garrison for hauling a load of hogs. Frost gave Garrison a cheek for $3 and he claimed 50 cents more, which was paid by Frost. At that time Frost threatened to strike Garrison with a wagon rod. Tom Jerrell, who was living at the home of Frost, purchased about 11 acres of kaffir corn from Garrison, and gave him his check for $300, the purchase price. On the date alleged *5 Tom Jerrell, with Henry Frost, drove two wagons into Garrison’s field by laying down the fence. Garrison left his house, and went to where the parties were, and stated to Frost that he did not want him on his premises, and for him to get off. Frost told him that he would have to put him off. Thereupon Garrison started back to his house and called Jerrell to come with him. They talked 15 or 20 minutes about why Frost was on the premises and Garrison told Jerrell that he did not want any trouble with Frost and for him to go back to Frost and tell him to leave. Frost was gathering kaffir ■corn, and the defendant took a shotgun, both barrels of which were loaded, and went out to where Jerrell and Frost were, and again told Frost that he must leave. Thereupon Frost .got into his wagon and the defendant shot him.

Henry Frost testified:

“Mr. Jerrell came back and told me that Garrison still wanted me to leave. I told him I didn’t think it was any use of leaving, it was our feed; and in just a few minutes I saw the defendant coming back with a shotgun. He walked up to about thirty steps of the wagon and said, ‘By God, I told you to leave here.’ As he threw up the gun, I turned my face to keep him from shooting me in the face. He fired, the •shot struck me, and I drove on.”

Dr. Baker testified:

“I am a practicing physician in this county, and was -called to see Henry Frost professionally. I found him suffering from the effects of a gunshot wound; the highest shot was in his cheek, one in his neck, and quite a few in his arm, and several in the abdomen and down his leg to about the knee. Most of the shot entered from just under the arm to the point of the hip on the right side. I found the lung and liver punctured; also the stomach. My examination was about six hours after he was shot. He was suffering from a very severe shock when I first saw him. We found some blood in the abdominal cavity. His condition was very serious. ’ ’

*6 As a witness in Ms own behalf defendant testified:

“I had some maize that I sold to Tom Jerrell, who was working for Mr. Frost at the time. I did not know that Mr. Frost was purchasing any interest in it until the morning they came over to gather it. They drove into the field with two-wagons, Jerrell in front and Frost behind him. I went over,, and discovered it was Mr. Frost, and asked him to get off my place; and he said he would not do it, that he had a right there. I told him he did not, and he gave me the lie. I started back to the house, and he said: ‘Hit a six-cylinder gait and get your old gun; you won’t shoot.’ I called Mr. Jerrell to the house, and talked to him 15 or 20 minutes. I said: ‘What does this mean? You know I don’t want any dealings with Mr. Frost.’ And he said he was his partner. I told him to go out there and get him to leave, and Mr. Jerrell went out, and never made much of a stop with Mr. Frost, that I could detect; so I went in the house and got my gun, and before I got very close to him Mr. Frost jumped into his wagon. I walked on a little further, and I said: ‘Ain’t you going to Leave here?’ He said: ‘No, and you can’t make me.’ When E shot him, he asked me not to shoot any more, and I stopped with another load in the barrel, and he drove out of the field. E didn’t aim to hit him. I didn’t really know that I .'had shot him.”

He was then asked:

“Q. Just tell the jury in your own way why you shot and how came you to shoot at the time you did. A. Well, I had tried to get him to leave, and he would not do it, and said that I couldn’t make him; and when I went out there with my gun, and he got into his wagon, I expected he was going in for some kind of arms, from the trouble we had in Sentinel. I just aimed by the side of him — didn’t aim to hit him.”

The general rule is that a man shall be presumed to intend that which he does, or which is the natural and necessary consequence of his act, and in this class of cases an intent to kill may be presumed from the character of the weapon used and the wounds inflicted. Obviously the question of the defendant’s intent on the undisputed facts in this case, as. *7 against the defendant’s statement that be did not aim to hit him was for the determination of the jury. Carefully considering the whole testimony in the ease, we are satisfied with the conclusion arrived at by the jury in its judgment of the force of the evidence.

Error is assigned in the giving and refusing of instructions. It is urged that “the instructions given do not in plain and unambiguous language tell the jury that they should acquit the defendant of the crime charged in the information in the event that there was a failure of the evidence on the question of intent,” and for this reason the court erred in refusing to give a requested instruction. The instructions given properly define the crime of assault by shooting another with intent to kill, and the included offense of shooting another with intent to injure, although without intent to kill.

Among other instructions given by the court are the following :

“To the information and the offense charged therein the defendant has entered his plea of not guilty, and you are instructed that by his plea of not guilty this defendant, as every defendant in a criminal case, is presumed by law to be innocent of the offense charged against him and of every ingredient thereof, and that this presumption abides with him throughout the whole case, until it is overcome by competent evidence to your satisfaction, beyond a reasonable doubt, after consideration of all the evidence and the instructions of the court, and the burden is upon the state to prove the same beyond a reasonable doubt. And, if you have a reasonable doubt, after consideration of all the evidence and the instructions of the court, as to the defendant’s guilt, it is your duty to resolve that doubt in his favor and acquit him.

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Related

Turpen v. State
1949 OK CR 32 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1949)
Hovis v. State
1947 OK CR 5 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1947)
Grindstaff v. State
1946 OK CR 12 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1946)
Jones v. State
1936 OK CR 37 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1936)
Seabolt v. State
1936 OK CR 22 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1936)
Dyer v. State
1936 OK CR 8 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1936)
Schmitt v. State
1935 OK CR 46 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1935)
Powell v. State
1932 OK CR 117 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1932)
Jackson v. State
1930 OK CR 452 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1930)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1920 OK CR 169, 197 P. 517, 19 Okla. Crim. 3, 1920 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garrison-v-state-oklacrimapp-1920.