Gregg v. State

1940 OK CR 39, 101 P.2d 289, 69 Okla. Crim. 103, 1940 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 23
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 14, 1940
DocketNo. A-9691.
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 1940 OK CR 39 (Gregg 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
Gregg v. State, 1940 OK CR 39, 101 P.2d 289, 69 Okla. Crim. 103, 1940 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 23 (Okla. Ct. App. 1940).

Opinion

JONES, J.

The defendant was charged in the district court of Stephens county with the offense of rape in the second degree, was tried, convicted and sentenced to serve a term of one year’s imprisonment in the state penitentiary, and has appealed to this court.

The defendant has filed a voluminous brief, covering 150 pages and making 41 different assignments of error. The assignments may be grouped under the following headings:

1. The evidence is insufficient to support the conviction.

2. Error in the admission of evidence over the objection of the defendant.

3. Improper and prejudicial argument of the prosecuting attorneys.

4. Misconduct of the trial court.

5. Error in denying the defendant’s request for a medical examination of the prosecutrix.

6. Error of the court in excusing certain jurors for cause.

7. Error in exclusion of evidence offered in support of the defendant’s theory.

8. The failure of the court to give an instruction on alibi.

Before considering, these various assignments, it is well to present a condensed summary of the evidence pre *106 sented in this case. The prosecuting witness, Helen Mag-nusen, testified that she was 17 years of age; that her mother died in 1934; that her father lived in Sterling, Okla.; that after her mother’s death, she lived with her grandparents in Marlow; that in 1935 she attended school in Siloam Springs, Ark., where she had taken a course in typing and shorthand; that in January of 1936 she lived with her uncle in Wewoka, where she went to school during the remainder of that school term; that she returned to Marlow in June of 1936, and at the request of her grandmother the defendant gave her some part-time work at typing; that she was working for experience, hut that the defendant gave her some money from time to time; that shortly after she started to work for the defendant, she joined the Baptist Church, of which Gregg was the pastor; that the defendant first embraced her at the time she joined the church; that she went to school at Marlow during the year 1936 and 1937, working, after school for the pastor at his study doing whatever secretarial work he needed to- have done; that sometime after she had joined the church they became intimate; that she did not remember the exact date of the first time that he had kissed her, but that he kept kissing her and embracing her, and started exhibiting his sexual organs to her with the excuse that she should know about such things for her own protection; that he later told her about sexual intercourse and said he wanted her to know all about what it was; that the first act of sexual intercourse between them occurred in September, 1936, and that these acts of sexual intercourse continued on an average of once a week until she went to California on June 26, 1938; that these acts generally occurred in the pastor’s study, and on one occasion he had sexual intercourse with her three times in one day; that there was a large unabridged dictionary on the typewriter *107 desk, upon which she sat with one foot on a straight legged chair and the other foot on a rocker; that he would stand in front of her and consummate the act in that position; that this position was taken at the request of the defendant for the reason that it would present a better appearance if someone should suddenly come to the pastor’s study. That the defendant discussed the question of her menstrual periods with her, and on one occasion had her take a douche. That on June 24, 1938, when her grandparents had gone to see a doctor in Duncan, the defendant came to their house; that she did not know the exact time, but thought that it must have been between 11 a. m. and 1 p. m.; that they went into the back bedroom and accomplished another act of sexual intercourse on the bed; that the defendant remained at the house about 15 or 20 minutes; that she fixed the day by the fact that she left Marlow to go to California on Sunday, June 26, 1938, and that this act occurred on the preceding Friday; that she left Marlow because her grandparents were sending her, as she had graduated from the Marlow High School that spring. That she was born on March 29, 1921, and had never had any love affair or sexual intercourse with any other man than the defendant, and that no boy friend ever visited her. A poem, “The Yoice of Love,” was dictated to her by Gregg and is included in the record, a reading of which corroborates the statement of the prosecutrix as to defendant’s attitude towards her. That she received from the defendant a large number of letters while she was in California, which letters were introduced in evidence. These letters show that the defendant wrote her almost daily, and sometimes twice a day, from the time the prosecutrix left Marlow until the defendant left Mar-low for his summer vacation; that the defendant gave her two pictures of himself, and just before she left for Cali *108 fornia he gave her $6 with the understanding that she was not to tell her grandmother about it; that they had an understanding as to how he was to send her money to use in returning to Marlow; that the defendant and his wife came to where she was living in California, but that her aunt refused to allow them to see her; that she discovered that she was pregnant after she went to California; that on August 11th she attempted to commit suicide by taking ant poison; that on August 29th she confessed to' her aunt about her illicit relationship with the defendant, which was the first time that she had ever told anybody; that on August 31st, she had a miscarriage or abortion; that she wrote her father, and her father came to California and furnished the money to have her sent back to Marlow, where she filed the complaint against the defendant.

The prosecutrix related in detail about several occurrences and conversations had with the defendant concerning their promiscuous misconduct, the details of which would serve no useful purpose in this opinion and will not be set forth herein, other than to remark that they showed that the prosecutrix had become infatuated because of the attentions paid her by the defendant, and that the defendant likewise had more than a fatherly interest in the prosecutrix.

The girl’s grandparents testified that she had worked for Gregg from June 23,1936, to June 24, 1938; that there was an increasing familiarity between the prosecutrix and defendant during this period that was very noticeable and caused the grandparents to send the prosecutrix to California to get her away from the defendant; that the grandfather talked to the defendant in July of 1938, after he had learned that the defendant was going to Fresno, Cal., where the prosecutrix was living with her aunt, and requested Gregg not to bring the prosecutrix back to Mar- *109 low. They further testified that in all the time Helen lived in Marlow with them, she did not keep company nor show any interest in any man or boy other than the defendant.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1940 OK CR 39, 101 P.2d 289, 69 Okla. Crim. 103, 1940 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 23, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gregg-v-state-oklacrimapp-1940.