Morris v. State

1911 OK CR 252, 115 P. 1030, 6 Okla. Crim. 29, 1911 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 276
Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma·Decided June 6, 1911·No. No. A-407.·Published·Cited by 32 cases

Opinion

DOYLE, J.

The petition alleges twenty-three assignments of error. With one exception they are all based on the rulings of the court in the admission of testimony. The majority of the assignments are unimportant and were not referred to in the oral argument. They have all been examined, however, and *34 such of them as are deemed worthy of comment will be considered here.

The first objection relates to the testimony of Mrs. Margaret Curley. The witness testified that at the time of the homicide she was living as a tenant on the defendant’s place with her children,' one a son named George Curley; that she was making garden and saw the deceased and the defendant near the line fence talking; that the defendant went home and immediately returned to the line fence with a shotgun; that witness then went into the house and presently heard two shots fired. She then started to the defendant’s home and met her son going to the place of the shooting. That her son was now in Texas.

She was then asked:

“Q. What did your son go to Texas for, to make his home? A. He went there to make it his home; he could make better wages there.”

The answer was permitted over the objection of the defendant. Counsel contend that this is error.

The testimony shows that her son, George Curley, was the first, or among the first, to arrive on the scene after the shooting, and was not present at the trial. It was therefore competent to show where he was and why he was absent, as otherwise he should have been called as a witness.

It is contended that:

“It was error for the court to admit in evidence the gloves worn by the deceased at the time of the homicide for the reason that the defendant offered to admit that the wounds were in the location alleged in the indictment and that they were fatal, and for the reason that they did not serve to explain any controverted issue, and the tendency was to create prejudice.”

Counsel cites in support of this proposition, Crenshaw v. State, 85 S. W. 1148, 48 Tex. Cr. 17 ; Melton v. State, 83 S. W. 822.

In the latter case the court says:

“It is permissible to introduce the bloody clothing when their introduction serves to illustrate some point or solve some question or throw light upon some matter connected with the proper solution of the case, but under no other circumstances.”

*35 The gloves were properly admitted as evidence. In view of the fact that the defendant claimed that the deceased was trying to shoot him with a pistol held in his right hand, and there was some uncertainty as to which hand the glove was on at the time of the shooting, this evidence was competent as tending to show whether or not the deceased was attempting to use a pistol, and it clearly showed that it was only the right hand glove that was blood stained, the blood having run down the wounded arm into the right hand glove, and tended to prove that the deceased had this glove on his right hand when he was shot.

“The gloves were competent for the purpose of enabling the jury to determine whether or not the deceased with those gloves on his hands would likely have been able to draw a small pistol from his pocket and fire it.” Saunders v. State, 4 Okla. Cr. 264.; Bennefield v. State, 2 Okla. Cr. 44, 100 Pac. 34.

It is also contended:

“That the court erred in admitting photographs taken of the body of the deceased three weeks subsequent to the homicide for the reason that they were incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial, and could serve no purpose except to inflame the minds and arouse the passion of the june”

It appears from the evidence that about three weeks after decedent’s death the prosecution procured three photographs of the body showing wounds on the right arm and the right side ranging forward and on the back between the shoulder blades.

The general rule is without contradiction, that, where the photograph is shown to be a faithful representation of whatever it purports to reproduce, it is admissible, as an appropriate aid to the jury in applying the evidence, and this is equally true whether it relates to person, things or places. Rice Crim. Ev. p: 154; Wharton’s Crim Ev. (9th. Ed.) sec. 544.

In the case of Cowley v. People, 83 N. Y. 464, 38 Am. Rep. 464, Folger, C. J., said:

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Morris v. State, 1911 OK CR 252, 115 P. 1030, 6 Okla. Crim. 29, 1911 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 276 (Okla. Ct. App. 1911).

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