Privitt v. State

1959 OK CR 24, 336 P.2d 925, 1959 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 155
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 4, 1959
DocketA-12682
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 1959 OK CR 24 (Privitt 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
Privitt v. State, 1959 OK CR 24, 336 P.2d 925, 1959 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 155 (Okla. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

BRETT,- Judge.'

This is an appeal by Vernon Junior Priv-itt from a judgment and sentence rendered against him on May 15, 1958, in the District' Court of Garfield County, Oklahoma, on an information charging him in two counts, first, with felonious assault upon Kathleen Platt with intent to rape, allegedly committed on or about January 15, 1958, or second, assault with intent to rob the said victim. 21 O.S.1951 § 681. He was tried by a jury, convicted of assault with intent to rape, and the jury being unable to agree on the penalty, determination thereof was left to the trial court which fixed his punishment at two years in the state penitentiary. Judgment and sentence were entered accordingly, from which this appeal has been perfected.

The defendant first urges that the information was duplicitous and the trial court erred in not sustaining his demurrer. This point is without merit under the hereinafter cited authorities and the provisions of 22 O.S.1951 § 404, reading as follows:

■ “The indictment or information must charge but one offense, but where the same acts may constitute different offenses, or the proof may be uncertain as to which of two or more offenses the accused may be guilty of, the different offenses may be set forth in separate counts in the same indictment or information and the accused may be convicted of either offense, and the court or jury trying the cause may find all or either of the persons guilty of either of the offenses charged, and the same offense may be set forth in different forms or degrees under different counts; and where the offense may be committed by the use of different means, the means may be alleged in the alternative in the same count.”

The same indictment or information may contain two counts provided the averments in the indictment or information show that both counts are based upon one and the same transaction; and upon trial the accused may be convicted of either of the offenses. Cochran v. State, 4 Okl.Cr. 379, 111 P. 974; Thoreson v. State, 69 Okl.Cr. 128, 100 P.2d 896. Such is the situation herein and the information is not duplicitous.

Under his second assignment of error, the defendant alleges the trial court erred in not requiring the state to elect on which count it would rely for conviction. The defendant cites no authority in support of this contention. To the contrary is Bond v. State, 9 Okl.Cr. 696, 129 P. 666, 667, wherein it was said:

“We think that the different counts in the indictment all charge one and the same offense, and are based upon the same transaction, and that they were inserted in the indictment merely for the purpose of avoiding the possibility *927 of a variance between the allegations and the evidence. See Williams v. United States, 17 Okl. [28], 33, 87 P. 647; Sturgis v. State, 2 Okl.Cr. 362, 102 P. 57; De Graff v. State, 2 Okl. Cr. 519, 103 P. 538. The trial court therefore did not err in refusing to require the state to elect upon which count in the indictment it would put the defendant upon trial.”

Griswold v. State, 23 Okl.Cr. 136, 212 P. 1018; Boone v. State, 15 Okl.Cr. 29, 175 P. 61; Hughes v. State, 7 Okl.Cr. 117, 122 P. 554. Under these authorities, this contention is wholly without merit since the two counts involved but one offense, and upon one of which the jury could and did base its verdict.

The defendant’s next contention is that the verdict is not sustained by sufficient evidence. He relies upon the case of Cape v. State, 61 Okl.Cr. 173, 66 P.2d 959, 963. We do not believe that he can find relief in the Cape case for therein it was said:

“The felonious intent is the essence of the offense. It is elementary, when a specific intent is required to make an act an offense, that the doing of the act does not raise a presumption that it was done with the specific intent. Intent, which is essential to support conviction of assault with intent to rape, cannot be presumed, but must be shown to exist by competent evidence and beyond a reasonable doubt. Something more than a mere intention and solicitation is necessary.
“It is therefore necessary that the acts and conduct of the defendant should be shown to be such that there can be no reasonable doubt as to the felonious intent. If these acts and conduct are equally consistent with the absence of the felonious intent, then it is clear they are insufficient to justify or sustain a verdict of guilty.”

On this basis, we must ascertain the correctness of the jury’s finding. In Easter v. State, 74 Okl.Cr. 114, 123 P.2d 691, 694, it was said:

“From a reading of the cases from this court and other courts it will be seen that the question of intent is the real basis for the decision of the jury, the question being, was there an intent on the part of the defendant to have or attempt to have intercourse with the prosecutrix.”

It is contended that if the defendant had any intention to commit rape, it was abandoned short of attempted penetration and therefore would constitute no more than assault and battery citing Cape v. State, supra. The trial court instructed the jury on this contention. Moreover, this contention is without merit as was said in People v. Bradley, 71 Cal.App.2d 114, 162 P.2d 38, 40:

“Nor is there merit in his contention that if there had been such an intention it was abandoned when he left Mildred and climbed into the back seat with Rachael. Such abandonment on his part has ‘not the slightest tendency to purge him of the legal consequences of his criminal conduct.’ People v. Stewart, 97 Cal. 238, 240, 32 P. 8, 9. For, as stated in the case last cited, ‘If an assault with the intent here alleged is made, it is no less a crime, though the aggressor should abandon his intentions before the consummation of the act,’ See. also People v. Jones, 112 Cal.App. 68, 296 P. 317; People v. Bowman, 6 Cal.App. 749, 93 P. 198. When he placed the knife against Mildred he definitely committed an assault upon her person, and under the facts of the case, i. e., his statements and his conduct, the jury were entirely within their province in determining that this was an assault with intent to commit rape. ‘What the assailant meant to do, however, and the manner in which he intended to accomplish his purpose— whether by persuasion, force, or fear— is, as we have said, a question of fact to be determined by the jury; and an *928 appellate court should not disturb their finding simply because conflicting inferences may reasonably be deduced from the evidence.’ People v. Norrington, 55 Cal.App. 103, 110, 202 P. 932, 935. The intent with which the assault herein charged was committed was exclusively for the jury to determine from all of the circumstances and acts of the defendant. People v. Mit Singh, 59 Cal.App. 64, 209 P. 1013. Tt is the function of the jury in the first instance, and of the trial court after verdict, to determine what facts are established by the evidence, and before the verdict of. the jury, which has been approved by the trial court, can be set aside on appeal upon the ground of the insufficiency of the evidence to support it, it must be made clearly to appear that upon no hypothesis' whatever is there substantial evidence sufficient to support the conclusion of the trial court.’ People v. Tom Woo, 181 Cal.

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Bluebook (online)
1959 OK CR 24, 336 P.2d 925, 1959 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 155, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/privitt-v-state-oklacrimapp-1959.