Morris v. State

1911 OK CR 252, 115 P. 1030, 6 Okla. Crim. 29, 1911 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 276
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 6, 1911
DocketNo. A-407.
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

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

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:

“So far as the circumstances of the taking'of these pictures, and the purpose of them in evidence were concerned, in our judgment they were properly received, if copies of objects taken by that process are ever competent in evidence. And we are now to consider whether they are, under a proper state of facts, and *36 for a proper purpose, competent evidence. We know not of a rule, applicable to all cases, ever having been declared, that they are not competent. Nor do we see, in the nature of things, a reason for a rule that they are never competent. We do not fail to notice, and wa may notice judicially, that all civilized communities rely upon photographic pictures for taking and presenting resemblances of persons and animals, of scenery and all natural objects, of buildings and other artificial objects. It is of frequent occurrence, that fugitives from justice are arrested on the identification given by them. 'The Rogues’ Gallery’ is the practical judgment of the executive officers of the law on their efficiency and accuracy. They are signs of the things taken. A portrait or a miniature taken by a skilled artist, and proven to be an accurate likeness, would be received on a question of the identity or the appearance of a person not producible in court. Photographic pictures do not differ in kind of proof from the pictures of a painter. They are the product of natural laws and a scientific process. It is true that in the hands of a bungler, who is not apt in the use of the process, the result may not be satisfactory. Somewhat depends for exact likeness upon the nice adjustment of machinery, upon atmospheric conditions, upon the .position of the .subject, the intensity of the light, the length of the sitting. It is the skill of the operator that takes care of these, as it is the skill of the artist that makes correct drawing of features, and nice mingling of tints, for the portrait. Most of evidence is but the signs of things. Spoken words and written words are symbols. Once a deaf mute, born so, was presumed in law an idiot (1 Hale, 34); but later days look upon him as not incompetent to be a witness, if he in fact have understanding and knows the nature of .an oath. Rustin’s case, 1 Leach Cr. Cas. 408. He is now taught to give ideas to his fellow-men by signs, and his deprivation of some of the common faculties of humanity does not exclude him from the witness-box. The signs-he makes must be translated b3r an interpreter skilled and sworn. So the signs of the portrait and the photograph, if authenticated by other testimony, may give truthful representations.

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Cooper v. State
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Melton v. State
1935 OK CR 40 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1935)
State v. Remick
300 P. 1054 (Washington Supreme Court, 1931)
Cole v. State
1931 OK CR 204 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1931)
Dobbs v. State
1928 OK CR 129 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1928)
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1927 OK CR 32 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1927)
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Canty v. State
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1921 OK CR 38 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1921)
Beason v. State
1921 OK CR 30 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1921)
Elliott v. State
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1911 OK CR 252, 115 P. 1030, 6 Okla. Crim. 29, 1911 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 276, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morris-v-state-oklacrimapp-1911.