Hayes v. State

1976 OK CR 113, 550 P.2d 1344
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 20, 1976
DocketF-75-704
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 1976 OK CR 113 (Hayes 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
Hayes v. State, 1976 OK CR 113, 550 P.2d 1344 (Okla. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinions

OPINION

BLISS, Judge:

Appellant, Charles Glen Hayes, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged, tried before a jury and convicted of the crime of Obtaining Controlled Drug by Forged Prescription in violation of 63 O.S. § 2-407, After Former Conviction of a Felony in the District Court of Tulsa County in Case No. CRF-75-190. Punishment was assessed at a term of thirty (30) years under the direction and control of the Department of Corrections in the State of Oklahoma. From the judgment and sentence of the trial court the defendant has perfected his timely appeal.

Briefly stated, the evidence adduced at trial is as follows: Burt George, an agent for the Oklahoma Board of Pharmacy, testified that on the 22nd day of January, 1975, he was called to Scottie’s Discount [1346]*1346Drug in Tulsa to investigate a problem with a prescription. The prescription was introduced into evidence as State’s Exhibit No. 1. He further testified that he had known Dr. Robert Bissel for approximately four and one-half years and that the signature on Exhibit No. 1 was definitely not Dr. Bissel’s.

Dr. Robert Bissel testified that he was a general practioner in Pryor, Oklahoma, and identified the defendant as a patient who had been in his office on two occasions. On the 17th day of January, a Friday, the defendant was seen and given a prescription for thirty tablets of Preludin. He further testified that none of the writing on Exhibit No. 1 was his and stated that it was not signed by him or any of his employees. On the 19th day of January, Dr. Bissel received a call from Mrs. Heatly who described the signature affixed to a prescription. He told her that the prescription was not his since she was able to read his name clearly. On cross-examination he testified that he had numerous examination rooms in his office and each room contained prescription pads.

John R. Kagle then testified that in January of 1975, he was employed at Scottie’s as the front-end manager. The registered pharmacist at the time was Pat Heatly. On January 19th, at 12:00 p.m. he opened up the store and the defendant was waiting to get in. He further stated that a controversy arose between the defendant and the pharmacist concerning a prescription. The pharmacist called the doctor named on the prescription and the defendant seemed to be nervous. The pharmacist then showed Kagle a prescription which she questioned, State’s Exhibit No. 1. On cross-examination he admitted that he was not a pharmacist and could not unequivocally state that Exhibit No. 1 was the prescription he had seen on the 19th.

Mrs. Pat Heatly testified that she was a licensed pharmacist and was employed at Scottie’s Discount Drug on the 18th of January. She identified State’s Exhibit No. 1 as a prescription for Preludin, a controlled Class II drug. She then identified the defendant as the person who presented Exhibit No. 1 to her on the 18th. On the 19th, right after the store opened, the defendant presented another prescription for sixty Preludin tablets which was purportedly signed by Dr. Bissel. Since she realized that the defendant had been there the day before with a similar prescription and since she felt the signature on the second prescription was not genuine, she called the doctor who told her that both prescriptions were forged. The prescription was not filled and the defendant left.

The State then introduced State’s Exhibit No. 3 which was a certified copy of the judgment and sentence in case no. CRF-72-1133 in the District Court of Tulsa County, wherein the defendant was convicted of robbery with firearms. The judgment and sentence was introduced into evidence pursuant to the stipulation of the defendant.

The defendant then called Forrest Jones who testified that he had numerous felony convictions and had used narcotics for over twenty-six years. He testified that he accompanied the defendant to Dr. Bissel’s office and took a prescription blank while there. He further stated that he wrote State’s Exhibit No. 1, thought he used the name of the defendant, and was the one that handed Exhibit No. 1 to the pharmacist at Scottie’s and received the filled prescription.

The defendant then testified in his own behalf that he was twenty-seven years of age, used drugs and had been convicted for armed robbery, knowingly receiving stolen property and that he had a drug conviction. He further stated that in mid-January he was contacted by a girl named “Grace” who needed to get help for a friend named Forrest Jones. The defendant took Jones to Pryor to get a prescription. The defendant stayed in the pickup while Jones went in to see Dr. Bissel. Jones got a prescription for Preludin and they went back to Tulsa to Scottie’s where the prescription was filled. The defendant [1347]*1347stated that he accompanied Jones into Scottie’s and purchased some vitamins. He then returned to the pharmacy on the next day, January 19th, to fill a valid prescription. The pharmacist was the same lady who filled the Jones prescription on the day before. She refused to fill the valid prescription and returned it to him. On cross-examination the defendant admitted that he had gotten drugs by forged instruments in the past and that he obtained a valid prescription from Dr. Bissel on the 18th hut waited until Sunday to “cash it”. He further stated that he and Jones did not look alike but they both had mustaches. The defense then rested.

The defendant’s first assignment of error contends that the trial court erred in instructing the jury concerning enhancement of punishment. The record indicates that the trial court instructed the jury as follows, to-wit:

“Any person convicted of a felony crime of Obtaining Controlled Drug by Forged Prescription is punishable by imprisonment for not more than ten years. And, in this connection, the State has further alleged that the defendant has been convicted of a previous felony, to-wit: The crime of Robbery with Firearms, as recited in the information.
“Should you find beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty of Obtaining Controlled Drug by Forged Prescription and in addition there to if you find that he was previously convicted of a felony then and in that event the Court would inform you that the punishment for Obtaining Controlled Drug by Forged Prescription After Former Conviction of a Felony is punishable by a term of imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for any period of years not less than ten.”

This instruction conforms to the general statute on enhancement of punishment, 21 O.S.1971, § 51 which reads in relevant portion as follows, to-wit: .

“Every person who, having been convicted of any offense punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, commits any crime after such conviction is punishable therefor as follows:
“1. If the offense of which such person is subsequently convicted is such that upon a first conviction an offender would be punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary for any term exceeding five (5) years, such person is punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term not less than ten (10) years.”

The defendant urges that the trial court should have instructed in conformance with 63 O.S.1971, § 2-407 which reads in relevant portion as follows, to-wit:

“No person shall obtain or attempt to obtain a controlled dangerous substance or procure or attempt to procure the administration of a controlled dangerous substance:

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Smith v. City of Tulsa
1983 OK CR 68 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1983)
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Lewis v. State
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Kopecek v. State
1977 OK CR 27 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1977)
Hayes v. State
1976 OK CR 113 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1976 OK CR 113, 550 P.2d 1344, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hayes-v-state-oklacrimapp-1976.