Matter of ME

1978 OK CR 26, 584 P.2d 1340
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 22, 1978
DocketJ-77-512
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1978 OK CR 26 (Matter of ME) 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
Matter of ME, 1978 OK CR 26, 584 P.2d 1340 (Okla. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

584 P.2d 1340 (1978)

In the Matter of M.E., a child under the age of 18.

No. J-77-512.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma.

February 22, 1978.
Rehearing Denied March 17, 1978.
Certiorari Denied May 22, 1978.

Baker, Baker & Martin, Jay C. Baker and C. Rabon Martin, Tulsa, for appellant.

David Young, Dist. Atty., Sapulpa, for appellee.

Certiorari Denied May 22, 1978. See 98 S.Ct. 2271.

*1342 OPINION

BUSSEY, Presiding Judge.

M.E., a juvenile, appeals from an Order of the Juvenile Division of the District Court, Creek County, Case No. J-77-34, waiving jurisdiction over him and certifying him to stand trial as an adult for the offense of Murder in the First Degree.

Briefly stated, the facts adduced at the hearing are as follows. On April 4, 1977, M.E., hereinafter preferred to as the juvenile, age 16, and Gary Molt, age 14, ran away from their homes in Camdenton, Missouri. The juvenile apparently took three of his father's rifles — two .410 shotguns, and a .30-.30 rifle. The two boys drive to Joplin, Missouri where they picked up the juvenile's sister, Rhonda Eddings, and her friend Terry Clevenger, both age 14. The four then headed west on Interstate 40 in their red Volkswagen.

Just before getting onto the Turner Turnpike in Tulsa, the juvenile, who had driven the entire time, stopped to pick up a hitchhiker, Timothy Wayne Thomas, who got into the front passenger's seat. After stopping for a coke and to use the restroom at a concession stop on the Turner Turnpike, the juvenile lost control of his vehicle which went over a curb into a barrow ditch before the juvenile could regain control and pull it back onto the highway. Shortly thereafter a highway patrol car was observed following them and the juvenile was heard to say, "If that cop hassles me, I'm going to shoot him." When the highway patrol officer turned on his red light, the juvenile grabbed a sawed-off shotgun from the back seat, loaded it and cocked it. He then stopped the car and awaited the approach of Trooper Crabtree. When the officer was but a few feet away the juvenile stuck the gun through the open window and shot him in the chest. The juvenile then drove away, directing his friends to throw the other guns out of the vehicle as he did the same with the death weapon.

Another highway patrolman, Joe J. Inman, proceeding in the other direction, observed Trooper Crabtree approaching a red Volkswagen but concluded that he was only involved in a stop for a routine traffic violation. Shortly thereafter he received a call for help over the radio, reporting a wounded officer. After returning to the scene, Officer Inman started to pursue the red Volkswagen. The juvenile was subsequently arrested.

During the second stage of the certification hearing dealing with the question of *1343 the juvenile's amenability to rehabilitation within the juvenile system, Dr. R.D. Garcia, M.D., the chief forensic psychiatrist at Eastern State Hospital, and Dr. H. Brent Dietsche, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at Eastern State Hospital, testified that the juvenile knew the difference between right and wrong and was capable of understanding the consequences of his actions. Furthermore, Dr. Garcia went on to state that the juvenile had no mental disorder but had an anti-social personality which he asserted was not amenable to treatment in the medical sense. Dr. Garcia and Mr. Don McAllister, an intake counselor for Court Related and Community Services, both stated that, in their opinion, the juvenile was not amenable to treatment within the juvenile system.

Furthermore, the court had before it evidence of the juvenile's record in the State of Missouri. Mr. Stephen Dorn, juvenile officer for the 26th juvenile district, State of Missouri, testified that the juvenile was first referred to his office in November of 1975, after having been charged with four counts of burglary, second degree, and one count of tampering with a motor vehicle. A petition was filed against the juvenile on the 28th of November, 1975, he was found a delinquent and made a ward of the court. A supplementary petition was filed against the juvenile on September 17, 1976, for assault with intent to do bodily harm. Finally on November 21, 1976, while he was still living in the "group home" a petition was filed against the juvenile for "burglary second degree and stealing." Mr. Dorn testified that the juvenile's conduct in the "group home" steadily worsened until he was sent back to the custody of his parents. Mr. Dorn stated that the Missouri juvenile rehabilitation system failed with the juvenile and asserted that he knew of no juvenile program in Missouri capable of rehabilitating him.

The juvenile presented two witnesses on the issue of amenability to rehabilitation: Dr. Richard Pearson Rettig, Ph.D., an associate professor of behavioral science at Oral Roberts University, and Dr. Anthony C. Gagliano, D.O., an osteopathic physician specializing in psychiatry. Both asserted that the juvenile could be rehabilitated. Furthermore, Dr. Gagliano asserted that at the time of the shooting, the juvenile did not know the difference between right and wrong.

The juvenile's first assignment of error concerns three aspects of the right to counsel. Counsel for the juvenile contends that he was not given adequate time to prepare, that he was denied any opportunity for confidential conference with his client, and that he was not given access to certain reports which were introduced into evidence by the State during the testimony of Stephen Dorn.

First, it is necessary to closely examine the chronology of events relative to the issue at hand. On April 4, 1977, the juvenile was arrested for the murder of Trooper Crabtree.[1] On April 5, 1977, the juvenile accompanied by his parents, Ronnie Eddings and Mary Kenny[2], appeared before the Honorable Streeter Speakman, Associate District Judge, Creek County, whereupon hearing of the State's motion for certification of the juvenile was set to begin on the 8th of April, 1977.[3]

The juvenile's parents were given a copy of the petition and motion for certification.[4]

At said hearing on the 5th of April, the juvenile's parents agreed to diligently seek counsel in order to expedite the hearing.[5] On April 6, 1977, the juvenile's parents contacted Mr. J. Baker to arrange for him to *1344 represent the juvenile in this case.[6] Mr. Baker called the District Attorney's Office on the 7th of May and left word for District Attorney Young to call him, but apparently made no further attempt to inform himself of the proceedings.[7] On the morning of April 8, 1977, Mr. Baker consulted with the juvenile for the first time at the Creek County Jail, although apparently not using all of the time which was made available to him.[8] Furthermore, Mr. Baker declined an opportunity to consult with the juvenile during the noon recess before the State put on its evidence.[9]

After the noon recess, Mr. Baker was given leave by the court to file any motions at a later date.[10] Furthermore, the day's hearing was limited to the evidence concerning prosecutive merit,[11] and the juvenile was to be permitted any reasonable continuance before putting on evidence to rebut prosecutive merit.[12] After the State presented its evidence on prosecutive merit and rested, the hearing was continued for approximately eight weeks, during which time the juvenile was committed for diagnosis and evaluation at Eastern State Hospital.[13]

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Related

State Ex Rel. Burns v. Steely
1979 OK CR 101 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1979)

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Bluebook (online)
1978 OK CR 26, 584 P.2d 1340, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matter-of-me-oklacrimapp-1978.