Hisel v. State

1953 OK CR 163, 264 P.2d 375, 97 Okla. Crim. 356, 1953 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 336
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 25, 1953
DocketA-11850
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 1953 OK CR 163 (Hisel 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
Hisel v. State, 1953 OK CR 163, 264 P.2d 375, 97 Okla. Crim. 356, 1953 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 336 (Okla. Ct. App. 1953).

Opinion

JONES, J.

The defendant, Edd Hisel, was charged by an information filed in the district court of Oklahoma county, along with Charles A. Litton and Grover Pendleton, with violating the terms and provisions of Title 69 O.S. 1941 § 323, as amended by House Bill No. 116 of the Session Laws of Oklahoma, 1951, in that “the defendants and each of them did purchase for and on behalf of Oklahoma county from the Metropolitan Paving Company asphaltic concrete in the total amount of ,$6,846.28, without having first advertised and considered bids for sucfi asphaltic concrete, and the said asphaltic concrete so purchased was used for the purpose of constructing, reconstructing, and repairing of a county highway in Oklahoma county known as Sooner Road.” The defendant Edd Hisel and Charles A. Litton each demanded an immediate trial, a jury was waived and the cause was heard before the Honorable Floyd L. Jackson, assigned judge, who found each of the defendants guilty as charged in the information and assessed a fine of $100 and declared their offices vacated as a result of such conviction.

From this conviction the defendant Hisel has appealed and presented four propositions for reversal of the case in his brief, to wit:

(1) The court erred in finding defendant guilty.

(2) The statute under which the prosecution was maintained is so vague, indefinite, uncertain and duplicitous as to be unconstitutional and void.

(3) That after the statute in question was amended in 1951 there were no penalty provisions in force and effect at the time of the commission of the acts alleged by the State to have been in violation of Section 323, Title 69 O.S. 1941, as amended in 1951.

(4) The evidence showed that the disbursements of the funds of Oklahoma County were made in connection with repairs on a county highway and that the same embraced labor, material, transportation and the use of machinery and that such uses were not prohibited by the statute involved.

As we view the case, assignments of error one, two and four are so closely connected that they should be considered together.

The undisputed evidence disclosed that a county highway in the vicinity of Tinker Field known as Sooner Road had for some months prior to July 1, 1951, handled a great volume of traffic and the road had gotten to be in very bad condition; that this road was embraced in county commissioner’s district No. 2, from which the defendant Hisel was elected; that many complaints were made to Mr. Hisel concerning the bad condition of the road and demands were made for its repair; that a considerable amount of patching by placing gravel and other material on the road, of an emergency- nature, was done and after this was completed, it was determined in order to preserve the road that a new layer *359 of asphaltic concrete of approximately one-half’ mile distance should be laid; that on November 22, 1950, the board of county commissioners of Oklahoma county had advertised for bids to be received for material to be furnished to the county commissioners for a six months period for highway purposes in accordance with the specifications named in the notice. That pursuant to the advertisement for bids a bid was received from the Metropolitan Paving Company for asphaltic concrete and a contract was made on November 22, 1950, with said company and the prices of said asphaltic concrete were set out in the contract.

The disputed evidence revolves around the time that the patchwork was done and the contract for the resurfacing work made. C. W. McFerron, county engineer, R. D. Neal, road superintendent for commissioners’ District No. 2, and H. H. Herring, an employee in District No. 2, all testified that the patchwork was done in August 1951, and Neal and McEerron testified that the decision to resurface the road by laying asphaltic concrete on it was made after the patchwork was done for the purpose of preserving the road. Neal testified that this decision was made between the defendant Hisel, himself, and McEerron. McEerron testified that it was determined that resurfacing should be done after the emergency patchwork on the road was completed and that this was about two or three days before the actual delivery of the asphaltic concrete by the Metropolitan Paving Company.

Contradictory to this testimony was that of the defendant Hisel, who stated that after the condition of the Sooner Road and other roads in the immediate area of Tinker Field was called to his attention, that he contacted the Metropolitan Paving Company and asked them to immediately deliver sufficient asphaltic concrete, delivered hot to be rolled on the highway for the purpose of putting the road in a state of repair, and was advised by Ed Kavanaugh in June, 1951, before the end of the fiscal year, that the company could not do the job immediately because of the rush of work that they were doing, but that, nevertheless, even though the work could not be reached before the end of the fiscal year, they would perform the work in accordance with the terms of the written contract then in force and effect.

It was undisputed that the Metropolitan Paving Company, during the latter part of August, 1951, did deliver asphaltic concrete laid in place on the S.oonef Road and that immediately after the work was completed and about September 10, 1951, A. W. Kavanaugh, president of the Metropolitan Paving Company, came to the office of the county engineer of Oklahoma county and presented two claims calling for the payment of the total amount of $6,846.28 for the delivery of the asphaltic concrete laid in place on the Sooner Road. One of these claims was for $1,563 for 130.25 tons of asphaltic concrete laid in place by hand labor at $12 per ton and the other claim was for $5,283.40 for 657.14 tons of asphaltic concrete at $8.04 a ton laid in place on the Sooner Road by machinery.

The said Kavanaugh was advised at that time by Jesse Johnson in the county engineer’s office that the claims would have to be revised and presented so that each claim would be less than $1,000 and accordingly the claims were redrawn in the county engineer’s office, and as redrawn they constituted eight in number, the smallest being for the sum of $526.94 and the largest being for $989.36. That the defendant Hisel issued purchase orders covering the exact amount of these individual claims and the purchase orders were duly certified by the county clerk of Oklahoma county as being within the unencumbered balance to the credit of the appropriation for highway purposes. That on September 20, 1951, these claims were duly approved by a unanimous vote of the board of county commissioners and warrants were issued and paid out of the appropriation for the fiscal year 1951-52.

*360 At the conclusion of the hearing the trial judge gave a lengthy statement in which he summarized his conclusions as to the facts and the law of the case. In his summary he found that the patchwork on the road was done after the commencement of the fiscal year July 1, 1952, and that the negotiation with the Metropolitan Paving Company for the delivery of asphaltic concrete was made thereafter and at a period of time when the written contract of November 22, 1950, had expired by its terms.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1953 OK CR 163, 264 P.2d 375, 97 Okla. Crim. 356, 1953 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hisel-v-state-oklacrimapp-1953.