Isom v. State

1933 OK CR 115, 26 P.2d 952, 55 Okla. Crim. 173, 1933 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 52
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 20, 1933
DocketNo. A-8539.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 1933 OK CR 115 (Isom 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
Isom v. State, 1933 OK CR 115, 26 P.2d 952, 55 Okla. Crim. 173, 1933 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 52 (Okla. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

DAVENPORT, J.

The plaintiff in error, hereinafter referred to as the defendant, was convicted of larceny of an automobile and sentenced to serve a term of eight years in the state penitentiary. From' the judgment and sentence, defendant appeals.

Sybil Monahan, called on behalf of the state, stated:

“I was the owner of a two' door Chevrolet Coach, 1932 model; I was spending the night with my mother in Duncan, Oklahoma; I parked my car in the yard near the living room window; next morning about eight I discovered the car was gone. I next saw the car the following Thursday at Wagonon Garage, in Duncan. It had a fancy radiator cap on it. The top of the car had a three inch hole cut clear through; the ignition had been un *175 screwed and filed where it could be opened with a finger nail or match.. When I parked the car for the night the windows were all up and both the car and the ignition were locked; when, I recovered the car the slit place was on the left side above the handle of the door; the motor number had been changed; I identified the car by a cigarette burn on the right side of the door handle. It had the same highway ;tag on it I got from the highway department.”

W. T. Stapp, called on behalf of the state, testified in substance:

“I am a deputy sheriff of Cotton county, Okla.; on August 80, 1932, I was in Grandfield; I arrested Chester Isom and G. Boone Hinkle; at the time I arrested them they were in a 1932 Model two'-door Chevrolet Coach; Boone Hinkle was doing the driving; Chester Isom was with him; Hinkle told me his name was Bob Graham, and Chester Isom told me his name was Chester Isom. I searched the car and the men; found a pistol in the right-hand pocket of the door; under the rug on the floor was some applications for titles. I took a purse, a pocketknife and some small change from Isom; I did not take the serial number of the car; I found a cashier’s check for |2,750 on one of the boys, but I don’t remember which one; the men,- were sitting in the car when arrested; Hinkle did the talking.”

B. B. Sharp, testifying on behalf of the state, stated:

“I am an undersheriff of .Stephens county, Oklahoma; I was! in Walters on the 31st day of August, 1932, when Mr. Sullivan was interrogating Chester Isom; Isom said he left his father’s ranch to- drive to Amber, and then to Oklahoma City; he met Boone Hinkle at the airport at Oklahoma City, and decided to go to- Wichita Falls, Texas, with Hinkle; they came back to his father’s ranch near Amber and left the car Isom was driving and went on in Hinkle’s car.”

*176 C. M. Mullins, called on behalf of the state, stated:

“I am a deputy sheriff of Stephens county; I went to Walters with the county attorney and Mr. Sharp; I saw the car Isom and Hinkle were driving at the time they were arrested; it had one Texas tag on it; Mr. Johnson, Mr. Crisp and myself went out to the Isom ranch; we found a Chevrolet car in a shed at the ranch; it was later turned over to Miss Monahan; on the left side above the door, a hole was cut in the top three or four inches long. The ignition was out of the instrument board hanging underneath; the door was still locked. We stayed there from four o’clock in the afternoon until after midnight; Mr. Isom, two boys and his son Leland, and a Mr. Baird came to the place. Leland came out to where the car was in the shed and went back; myself and a deputy sheriff from Chickasha was behind the car a,t the time; I went out and Mr. Isom and Mr. Baird was standing at the car, getting ready to leave; we brought the car back and turned it over to Miss Monahan.”

Horace Crisp testified in substance the same as Mr. Mullins, and further stated that the tag found in the side room of the chicken house was a 1932 Texas tag No. 523 —806.

W. L. Denney, testifying on behalf of the state, stated:
“I live at El Reno; on August 27, 1932, I lived in Duncan; I had a new Chevrolet car that was stolen from me that night; later I recovered the car at Walters; i had a Texas tag on it; when recovered the car only had a rear tag; the number of the tag was 523 — 806. I had a sort of an eagle or bird on the radiator cap; when I got it back it had a plain cap on it; the top was cut and the ignition had been taken out of it; the motor number had been changed. I know nothing about the Monahan car.”

Archie Royce testified he lived near the Isom ranch:

“I moved there the last night of August; I saw the car out at the shed; Chester batched there part of the time *177 and Leland part of the time; I did not see Chester about the place fhe 30th or 31st of August; I saw Chester a,t. the ranch getting ready to go to the city; Chester stayed there part of the time, and was gone for several days at a time. I had not seen the Chevrolet in the shed prior to the time the officers found it.”

The defendant’s defense is an alibi. Testifying in his own behalf, tbe defendant denied any knowledge of the car being brought to the ranch house while he had been living there and denies any knowledge that the car that he started to drive in with Boone Hinkle to Texas was a stolen car; he states he was going down there to¡ see a sweetheart; that he met Boone Hinkle out between the old and new airports; he was coming to Oklahoma City and Boone was leaving; that he was coming to the city to get chloroform to treat the cattle; had borrowed $2 from a Mr. Huekaby who' ran a store at Amber to buy the chloroform with, as Mr. Huekaby was out of chloroform and defendant did not have any money. The defendant states he started to Texas with Hinkle, but no mention is made or anything said about his getting money from any place to defray the expense of the trip. Several of his family and friends testify that the defendant Isom was in Oklahoma City the nights it is alleged the cars were stolen.

The foregoing is all the testimony it is deemed necessary to set out in order to pass upon the questions raised by the defendant in the record. The evidence in this case is all circumstantial, but the jury found against the defendant and returned a verdict of guilty.

Twenty-four errors have been assigned by the defendant wherein it is alleged the court committed reversible error. The first assignment discussed by the defendant is that the court erred in overruling the demurrer of the *178 plaintiff in error to the evidence offered by the state, and that the court erred in overruling the motion of plaintiff in error to. instruct the jury to. return a verdict of not. guilty, for the reason that the evidence was wholly insufficient to show the defendant guilty of the crime as charged, or any other crime against the laws of the state of Oklahoma.

It is urged by defendant in support of his first assignment of error that the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction and that there is no circumstantial evidence tending to. connect the defendant in any way with the larceny of the automobile.

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Related

People v. Hannon
50 Misc. 2d 297 (New York Supreme Court, 1966)
Taylor v. State
1955 OK CR 63 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1955)
Phillips v. State
1954 OK CR 22 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1954)
Henderson v. State
1951 OK CR 52 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1951)
Baker v. State
1943 OK CR 58 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1943)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1933 OK CR 115, 26 P.2d 952, 55 Okla. Crim. 173, 1933 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 52, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/isom-v-state-oklacrimapp-1933.