Payne v. State

209 P. 334, 21 Okla. Crim. 416
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 16, 1922
DocketNo. A-3892.
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 209 P. 334 (Payne 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
Payne v. State, 209 P. 334, 21 Okla. Crim. 416 (Okla. Ct. App. 1922).

Opinion

BESSEY, J.

Corb Payne and Earl Williams were on April 7, 1920, convieted of the crime of maiming, and the punishment of each was fixed at confinement in the state penitentiary *417 for a term of three years. , The amended information in substance charges that:

"Said defendants, Corb Payne and Earl Williams, then and therel being, without authority of law, and with' the premeditated design to injure one E. E. Hensel, and'to disfigure his personal appearance and disable the members and organs of his body, and seriously diminish his physical vigor, in and upon the said E. E. Hensel unlawfully, willfully, purposely, and feloniously did then and there make an assault upon the said E. E. Hensel with a certain blunt instrument or instruments, a better description of which is not known to the county attorney, the said Corb Payne and Earl Williams then and there had and held in their hands, on the right eye of the said E. E. Hensel purposely, unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did injure and destroy the same, with a premeditated design on the part of them, the said Corb Payne and Earl Williams, to injure, disfigure, disable, and seriously diminish his physical vigor, all of which is contrary to, the form/ of the statutes in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state.”

The injured man testified that he was a police officer, holding the position of desk sergeant in the, city of Sapulpa; that on the night of June 27,1919, he saw defendant Williams on the street in Sapulpa, opposite where he was; that Williams was quarreling with some negroes, using loud, profane, and vulgar language. Witness ordered Williams to cease, but Williams continued, saying he was from overseas and was not going to let any “d-negro bump him around on the street.” After some argument the officer took hold of Williams and started towards the police station. After the objectionable talk ceased, the officer hesitated whether to take williams further or not. While he so hesitated, Williams attempted to escape, and defendant Payne caught hold of witness for the purpose of overcoming him and permitting Williams to escape. Witness was knocked down, struck, beaten, and abused in the .encounter; both defendants making their escape. The witness then went on towards the police station and reported the af *418 fair. A short time thereafter the defendants were arrested in the vicinity of the place where the difficulty occurred. The testimony is conflicting as to just the manner in which the blow was struck that destroyed the eyesight of the witness.

Fourteen assignments of error are urged as to why the' judgment of the trial court should be reversed. These assignments may be condensed and summarized thus:

(1) That the court erred in overruling the demurrer to the amended information, on the ground that the amended information failed to show the manner in which, or with what instrument or weapon, if any, the beating and striking was done, and that no battery was charged.

(2) That the court erred in permitting the state to withhold certain evidence that should have been introduced in chief, if admissible at all, and permitted it to be introduced in rebuttal.

(3) That the court erred in admitting in evidence a statement of the prosecuting witness Hensel, made at or near the city hall, after the difficulty was over, and in the absence of the defendants.

(4) That the court erred in giving instruction No. 4, and in refusing to give a substitute instruction offered by the defendants.

(5) That the court erred in failing to properly admonish the jury in regard to improper remarks of the special prosecutor in his closing' argument to the jury.

Section 2345, R. L. 1910, defines the crime of maiming as follows:

“Any person who, with premeditated design to injure another, inflicts upon his person any injury which' disfigures his personal appearance, or disables any member or organ! of his *419 body, or seriously diminishes his physical vigor, is guilty of maiming.”

It is contended by the defendants that that part of the information, “the defendant did then and there make assault upon the said E. E. Hensel with a certain blunt instrument or instruments * * * then and there had and held in their hands, on the right eye of the said E. E. Hensel,” failed to charge that a battery was committed, as well as an assault. We think this amended information, construed as a whole, necessarily implies that a battery, as well as an assault, was committed, and that the information was sufficient, and sufficiently apprised the defendants of the naturej of the accusation against them. It would be absurd to contend that the eye of the prosecuting witness could have been permanently injured and the sight destroyed by a mere simple assault, without a battery, and it would be a strained construction to say that this information does not state a battery. Where a personal injury results from an assault upon person, a battery is necessarily implied. Cotton v. State, 22 Okla. Cr.—, 210 Pac. 739.

Defendants next complain of the testimony'of Eichard Jeffrey, introduced by the state in rebuttal. The evidence in chief did not show definitely by what means or with what instrument the wound in the eye was inflicted. It occurred some time during the fight, and may have been inflicted by the bare fist, or by some small instrument held in the fist, or by a black-jack or billy. Eichard Jeffrey, a boy whose' father had a blacksmith shop near the scene of the difficulty, said that some three or four months before the trial he was passing through the alley near where this controversy took place, and found a stick or policeman’s billy1, which he turned over to his father and had not seen since; that the policeman’s club exhibited to him was the stick, or was like the stick, he found and delivered to his father. This witness did not positively *420 identify this stick or billy, and the court, over the, objections of the defendants, permitted it to be introduced as an exhibit.

We are inclined to agree with counsel for defendants that no proper foundation was laid for the introduction of this exhibit, and that the instrument was, not properly identified as being the one previously found by the boy, and for the further reason that it was not shown that the defendants had anything to do with this particular stick or club. The injured prosecuting witness had previously testified that he had carried such a stick that evening, and that he had it when the difficulty commenced, but that it was taken away from him during the difficulty. Under all the circumstances in this case, we think it was immaterial whether this particular stiek or billy* was the one with which the wound was inflicted or not. Maiming may be accomplished with the clenched fist, or with any instrument calculated to inflict bodily injury. This man’s eye may have been ruptured by the fist of his assailants, or, by some stick, black-jack, or billy club, and the finding of this particular club in the alley near where the difficulty occurred could be only a remote circumstance affecting the issue one way or another. There was no question but that the man’s eye was permanently injured.

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Yeager v. State
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Proctor v. State
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Bluebook (online)
209 P. 334, 21 Okla. Crim. 416, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/payne-v-state-oklacrimapp-1922.