Murry v. State

1930 OK CR 433, 292 P. 389, 48 Okla. Crim. 430, 1930 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 161
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 18, 1930
DocketNo. A-7347.
StatusPublished

This text of 1930 OK CR 433 (Murry 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
Murry v. State, 1930 OK CR 433, 292 P. 389, 48 Okla. Crim. 430, 1930 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 161 (Okla. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

DAVENPORT, J.

The plaintiff in error, for convenience referred to as the defendant, was convicted of manslaughter in the second degree, and sentenced to serve a term of two years in the penitentiary. From which sentence and judgment the defendant has appealed.

The charge against the defendant is that:

“She did knowingly, willfully, wrongfully, unlawfully and feloniously, without authority of law, and with a premeditated design to effect the death of one C. P. Mitchell, Jr.,” and while the said C. P. Mitchell was engaged in a lawful act of driving a car on a public highway in Ok- *431 fuskee county known as State Highway No. 9, and while she, Lela Murry was driving an automobile at a reckless and unusual rate of speed along the said highway No. 9 in Okfuskee county, Okla., strike, collide, run into, upon and against the car being driven by the said O. P. Mitchell, Jr., “resulting in inflicting upon the body of him, the said C. P. Mitchell, Jr., certain mortal wounds-, of which mortal wounds the said C. P. Mitchell, Jr., did on the 27th day of February, 1928, die, as was intended by her, the said Lela Murry, he should do-, with the unlawful intent then and there on the part of her the said Lela Murry to kill and murder the said 0. P. Mitchell, Jr., contrary to the form of the statutes in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state.”

The substance of the testimony in support of the allegations in the foregoing information is as follows: O. B. Burris testified he lived near where the accident occurred, but did not see either of the cars while they were moving; he saw the cars after the accident, but did not see the defendant, and that he had no- information as to how the accident occurred.

Roosevelt M'icawber testified he was passing the place where the accident occurred and saw the car that had been injured and a doctor was called, but he did not see the defendant, and knew nothing about how the accident occurred.

Dr. J. L. Moise testified that in his judgment Ed Mitchell died as a result of the collision, and that was the substance of his testimony.

Dr. C. L. Bloss testified as to the injuries of the deceased Mitchell.

Frank Beaty testified as to the position of the cars after the accident, and in substance stated the car supposed to have been driven by the defendant was on the *432 wrong side of the road; he did not see the accident and had not seen either car before the accident, and had no information as to how the accident occurred.

P. B. Burris testified he saw the car after the accident occurred; he did not see the accident and did not see the defendant; he had no information as to how the accident occurred.

Carson Burris stated there was an accident; he saw the cars after the accident; he did not see the cars when they were moving'.

Cecil Johnson stated he was at the scene of the accident after it occurred; did not see the defendant, and did not see the cars while they were moving.

Bedford Penick testified he picked up the wrecked car and described the injury to the car; he knew nothing about the accident or how it occurred.

Prank Burris testified that the cars were on the north side of the road; he did not see the accident, and knew nothing about how it occurred, or who was driving the cars.

Grover Pink, a constable, testified as to the condition of the cars; he did not see the cars before the collision, and knew nothing about how the accident occurred.

Oscar Arnold testified he saw some tracks around the cars after the collision, but did not see the cars until after the accident.

Carl Moline testified, in substance, about the same as Oscar Arnold. Some of the witnesses for the state testified that, while they were at the scene of the accident, some other parties, whom it was claimed were riding in one of the cars with the defendant in this case, were *433 rubbing tbeir feet back and forth on the ground apparently to cover up or erase the tracks of the cars in the road; one witness testified as to one of the parties moving some glass toward the center of the road and rubbing his foot over it; this testimony of some one moving the glass, apparently trying to cover up the tracks of the car, took place in the absence of the defendant, and the testimony fails to show that the defendant had any knowledge of the actions of those parties at the scene of the accident.

No witness for the state testified as to what caused the accident or the rate of speed the cars were traveling at the time they run together. There is no testimony in the record to show that the defendant was driving the car, except what might be termed an extra-judicial confession wherein Eugene N. Catlett, the county attorney, testified that, in a conversation with the defendant, she told him she was driving the car at the time the accident occurred. There is other testimony that in the break of the steering wheel there was some fur which seemed to be the same kind of fur that was on the coat the defendant was afterwards wearing.

No testimony was introduced by the defendant.

The defendant first argues that the information was wholly insufficient to sustain a conviction of manslaughter in the second degree, or any other known offense under the criminal law of Oklahoma. No demurrer was filed to the information by the defendant, nor does the record show the defendant filed any motion to exclude the evidence on the ground that the information did not charge an offense. No motion in arrest of judgment was filed. The sufficiency of an information cannot be raised on appeal unless some foundation was laid therefor be *434 fore final judgment was rendered, and, where the record shows that no' demurrer was interposed and no motion in arrest of judgment filed after verdict, and no objection or question raised as to the sufficiency of the information in the trial court, the defects, if any, were in effect waived. McGaugh v. State, 12 Okla. Cr. 96, 152 Pac. 140; Love v. State, 12 Okla. Cr. 1, 150 Pac. 913.

No question having been raised by the defendant in the trial court as to the sufficiency of the information, and the information stating facts sufficient to advise the defendant of the charge against her, there is nothing for this court to consider.

The next and only contention argued by the defendant is the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction of manslaughter in the second degree. The state introduced no proof as to who was responsible for the collision. It occurred on the 27th day of February, 1928, about daylight, and, as shown by the testimony, the accident occurred on the brow of a little hill, the road sloping in both directions from where the accident occurred. The testimony of the state tends to show that the tracks of the cars where they came together were on the north side of the road; that the car the deceased was riding in was a light Ford, and was going west; the car in which it is alleged the defendant was driving was going east, the road at that point running east and west.

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Related

Tislow v. State
1927 OK CR 96 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1927)
Benson v. State
1913 OK CR 247 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1913)
Love v. State
1915 OK CR 187 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1915)
McGaugh v. State
1915 OK CR 207 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1915)
Cummins v. State
1911 OK CR 282 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1911)
Matheny v. State
1927 OK CR 210 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1927)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1930 OK CR 433, 292 P. 389, 48 Okla. Crim. 430, 1930 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 161, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murry-v-state-oklacrimapp-1930.