Hill v. State

1921 OK CR 65, 200 P. 253, 19 Okla. Crim. 406, 1921 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 75
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 30, 1921
DocketNo. A-3510.
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 1921 OK CR 65 (Hill 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
Hill v. State, 1921 OK CR 65, 200 P. 253, 19 Okla. Crim. 406, 1921 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 75 (Okla. Ct. App. 1921).

Opinion

DOYLE, P. J.

The plaintiff in error and one Joe Hart-ley were jointly informed against for the crime of robbery. The information in substance charges that, in the county of Payne, state of Oklahoma, on the 29th day of November, 1918, one C. L. Hill and Joe Hartley did then and there willfully, unlawfully, wrongfully and feloniously make an assault upon the person of one Jeff Long, and against the will and without the consent, and by means of force and fear of immediate and unlawful injury to the person of the said Jeff Long, said fear being brought about by said defendants then and there pointing a revolver, held in the hands of the said defendants, at the person of said Jeff Long, and then ana there threatening to shoot him if he, the said Jeff Long, resisted, and while he, the said Jeff Long, was under the influence of such fear so produced as aforesaid, said defendants did then and there wrongfully, willfully, unlawfully, forcibly, violently, and feloniously take, steal, and carry away from the person of him, the said Jeff Long, the sum of $17.90, good and lawful money of the United States, with the willful, unlawful, and felonious intent then and there to convert said money to their own use and benefit and to permanently deprive the owner, Jeff Long, thereof.

A severance was granted and upon his separate trial the defendant, Hill, was convicted. The jury failed to agree on the punishment. The court sentenced the defendant to imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of five years. From the judgment he appeals.

*408 It is contended: First, that the court erred in overruling the demurrer to the information. Counsel for *she defendant in their brief say:

"That the words or phrase,_ as used by the pleader in drawing the information, viz., ‘take, steal and carry away from the person,’ make the information duplicitous, in that it charges larceny and robbery.”

Our Penal Code defines robbery as follows:

"Bobbery is a wrongful taking of personal property in the possession of another from his person or immediate presence and against his will, accomplished by means of force or fear.” Section 2364, Bev. Laws 1910.
"To constitute robbery, the force or fear must be employed either to obtain or retain possession of the property, or to prevent or overcome resistance to the taking. If employed merely as a means of escape, it does not constitute robbery.” Section 2365, Bev. Laws.

Generally speaking, within this definition, robbery is a larceny with aggravated features added, and the larcenous taking of money or goods, of any value from the person of another, or in his presence against his will, by force, or by putting in fear, is robbery.

It follows that the information is not bad for duplicity and is definite and certain as to the offense charged. Therefore the demurrer thereto was properly overruled.

It is next contended that the court erred in overruling the application for continuance. The record shows that after the case was called for trial and the jurors were sworn on their voir dire counsel for the defendant moved for a continuance. The defendant’s affidavit for continuance sets forth:

That he filed a praecipe for a subpoena to Otto Parkinson, which was issued, but not served; "that, if present, said absent witness would testify that on the evening of the 29th *409 day of November, 1918, he met Jeff Long on the streets of Yale, and about 8 o’clock in the evening they started to go to a place about a mile south of town, and, passing the Missouri, Kansas & Texas depot on their way, they were there held up by two men, one of which held a gun on them, and the other took what money they had; that said absent witness is acquainted with this defendant, C. L. Hill, and he knows that neither of said men was this defeñdant.”

A hearing was had on the motion. The state offered testimony tending to show that the absent witness, Parkinson, had been arrested as a participant in the crime; that at that time the defendant Hill said to the officers that he did not know Parkinson; that the defendant Hill and said Parkinson had been seen together a short time preceding the robbery; that the sheriff had used all reasonable diligence to serve a subpoena on said absent witness; that the case had been set for trial at that time on the request of the defendant. The defendant’s affidavit was silent as to whether or not the attendance of the absent witness at a future term of court could be secured or that his deposition could be obtained.

The rule is well settled that the refusal to grant a continuance in a criminal case is largely a matter within the discretion of the trial court, and nothing but a plain abuse of this discretion would warrant this court in interfering with the judgment. Upon the record before us we think the application for continuance was properly denied.

It is further contended that the court erred in permitting the state to introduce in evidence a pistol purporting to be the pistol used in the robbery.

The testimony shows that the prosecuting witness detailed with particularity the robbery as charged in the information and positively identified the defendant as one of the men who robbed him and identified the pistol introduced in evidence, a hammerless 38-caliber revolver, as the gun used in the rob *410 bery. Another witness testified that he traded this revolver to the defendant Hill, the day before the robbery. On this proof the pistol was properly admitted in evidence.

Another objection is urged to the ruling of the court in regard to the testimony of the witness J. B. Calderhead, who testified:

“I am the stillman at the Southern Oil Company Refinery, located about a quarter of a mile from the Katy depot at Yale. On the night of the robbery, about 9:30 p. m., the defendant Joe Hartley handed me the revolver introduced in evidence. At that time the defendant Hill was at the gate next to the Sante Fe tracks east of the refinery office. I should judge he was about 150 feet from us. There was an electric light within 15 feet of him, and to the best of my knowledge it was the defendant Hill; I knew his face pretty well.”

The evidence of the state shows that both the defendants had participated in the robbery, and it was competent for the state to show that shortly after the defendants were in the vicinity, and that at the time his codefendant, Hartley, delivered the revolver to the witness Calderhead while the defendant Hill was near by, apparently waiting for Hartley. In that connection the evidence was proper for the jury to consider, and was therefore properly admitted.

It is also contended that the evidence is not sufficient to sustain the verdict. The defense was an alibi, to prove which the defendant called two witnesses.

Bert Martin testified:

"I work at the Yale Cafe. I am acquainted with the defendant Hill. I saw him on the street and at the Belmont Rooms in Yale about 8 o’clock in the evening of November 29.”

On cross-examination this witness admitted that he had been convicted of the crime of grand larceny.

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1930 OK CR 88 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1930)
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1930 OK CR 46 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1930)
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1930 OK CR 2 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1930)
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Berry v. State
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Bayouth v. State
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Hunt v. State
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Ward v. State
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1921 OK CR 65, 200 P. 253, 19 Okla. Crim. 406, 1921 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 75, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-state-oklacrimapp-1921.