Hicks v. State

1978 OK CR 90, 583 P.2d 1117, 1978 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 244
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedAugust 23, 1978
DocketF-77-792
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1978 OK CR 90 (Hicks 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
Hicks v. State, 1978 OK CR 90, 583 P.2d 1117, 1978 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 244 (Okla. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

OPINION

BUSSEY, Presiding Judge:

Appellant, Charles Edward Hicks, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged, tried and convicted in the District Court, Custer County, Case No. CRF-77-13, of the offense of Rape in the First Degree, in violation of 21 O.S.1971, § 1114. His punishment was fixed at five (5) years’ imprisonment, and from said judgment and sentence a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.

At the trial, Officer Jim Free testified that on the morning of February 3,1977, he was dispatched to the University Apartments in Weatherford, Oklahoma. He had a conversation with T. K. and subsequently accompanied her and her husband to the hospital. He identified State’s Exhibit No. 1 as an iron which he obtained from T. K.’s apartment on the day in question.

Linda Barker testified that she lived in the apartment one floor up from the prose-cutrix. On the morning of February 3, 1977, she heard loud noises coming from T. K.’s apartment. Approximately ten minutes later, she heard screaming and the sound of objects being knocked over in T. K.’s apartment.

Dr. Eugene Hale testified that he examined the prosecutrix at the Weatherford Hospital on the morning of February 3, 1977. She had a contusion-laceration of her lip. He performed a pelvic examination and obtained a sample of a cloudy fluid from the vagina. This fluid was placed into a vial which was given to Mrs. Day, Director of Nursing Services at the hospital, who gave the vial immediately to Deputy Sheriff Roy Ezzell.

Deputy Sheriff Roy Ezzell testified that on February 3, 1977, he received certain materials from Mrs. Day, including a vial containing a liquid. He placed the materials into a sealed envelope and transported them to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Laboratory.

Officer Charles Day of the Clinton Police Department testified that on February 3, 1977, he was specially assigned to assist in an investigation in Weatherford. He interviewed the prosecutrix and took photographs of the inside of her apartment.

Paula Day testified that she was employed as the Director of Nursing Services at the Weatherford Hospital. She received a vial containing a fluid obtained from vaginal washings of the prosecutrix. The vial was labeled, sealed and turned over to Deputy Sheriff Roy Ezzell.

Janice M. Davis testified that she was employed as a forensic chemist with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. She identified State’s Exhibit No. 4 as an evidence envelope which she received on February 3, 1977, from Deputy Ezzell. She conducted an examination of the fluid contained in the vial and determined that it contained intact sperm.

The prosecutrix testified that on February 3, 1977, she and her husband lived at 105 West University in Weatherford; She attended a class and returned home at approximately 9:00 a. m. She made some hot chocolate and began typing an assignment. The doorbell rang and she looked out through the peephole in the door. She saw a tall black man whom she thought was a *1119 neighbor, so she opened the door. When she opened the door she discovered that the man was not her neighbor. The man asked her if she knew where “Jimmy” lived, and she replied that she did not know. The man then barged into the apartment, and she began screaming. He grabbed her around the neck and picked up an iron and threatened to kill her if she did not stop screaming. He told her he wanted money and she gave him seven dollars. The man, whom she identified in court as the defendant, stated that he knew she had more money and pushed her into the bedroom. He put the iron up to her face and ordered her to remove her clothing. He grabbed her around the neck and forced her down onto the bed. He dropped his pants and raped her. The prosecutrix testified that the defendant was in her apartment for approximately 30 minutes. He was wearing blue pants, a blue windbreaker and had on a gray stocking cap.

On cross-examination she testified that she was shown two photographic lineups and a group picture of the Southwestern State University basketball team.

Officer Merle Bonner testified that he arrested the defendant on the afternoon of February 3, 1977. The defendant was wearing blue jeans, a blue coat and a white hat.

The defendant testified that he was attending Southwestern State University on a basketball scholarship. On February 3, 1977, he was in his apartment on the campus until 11:00 a. m. He then went to Oklahoma City with a friend, Jimmy Calib, and stayed until that evening. He denied being in the prosecutrix’ apartment or having intercourse with her.

Defendant contends in his first assignment of error that the trial court erred in admitting the prosecutrix’ in court identification of the defendant in that the pretrial identification procedures were so necessarily suggestive and conducive to irreparable mistaken identification amounting to a denial of due process. We must disagree.

The evidence established that the offense occurred on February 3, 1977, between approximately 9:30 and 10:00 a. m. Officer Free arrived at the prosecutrix’ apartment at approximately 10:07 a. m. He received a description of the assailant from the prose-cutrix as being a black male approximately 6'2", wearing a blue jacket and a gray ski mask. The prosecutrix was shown a photograph tray containing approximately 60 photographs of black males at 1:00 p. m. at which time she identified the defendant. The prosecutrix further identified the defendant later that day from a photograph of the Southwestern State basketball team and from another photographic display from the photograph tray. There was no evidence to indicate that any suggestion was made by the police officers to the pros-ecutrix as to whom she should identify. To the contrary, the evidence was uncontra-dieted that the officers merely advised her to “look carefully at each photograph in the tray, all of the photos in the tray, not to try to make any decision until she had looked at all of them and then [to] show [the officers] what she believed if the photo of her attacker were there.” Because of the short time factors between the commission of the offense and the number of photographs shown to the prosecutrix and her unequivocal, unsolicited identification of the defendant at each display, we conclude that the preidentification procedure' was not so im-permissibly suggestive as to give rise to a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification. See, Gonzales v. State, Okl.Cr., 480 P.2d 930 (1970), and Powell v. State, Okl.Cr., 478 P.2d 923 (1970).

Defendant urges in his second assignment of error that the trial court erred in orally instructing the jury after the case had been submitted for determination and before the verdict had been returned.

The record reflects that after the jury had been deliberating approximately one and a half hours they returned to the courtroom at which time the following transpired:

“[THE COURT] Who is the foreman of the jury?
*1120 “MR. TAYLOR: I am.
“THE COURT: Do you have a report to make to the court? You told the bailiff that you had something you wanted to report, to the court. You may state it.

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Related

Frederick v. State
1983 OK CR 114 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1983)
Pyle v. State
1982 OK CR 51 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1978 OK CR 90, 583 P.2d 1117, 1978 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hicks-v-state-oklacrimapp-1978.