Rasbury v. State

1956 OK CR 114, 303 P.2d 465, 1956 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 249
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 31, 1956
DocketA-12334
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 1956 OK CR 114 (Rasbury 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
Rasbury v. State, 1956 OK CR 114, 303 P.2d 465, 1956 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 249 (Okla. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

JONES, Presiding Judge.

Norman Frederick Rasbury was charged by an information filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Oklahoma County with operating a motor vehicle on a public highway while under the influence of intoxicating liquor; was tried, .found guilty by verdict of the jury who left the punishment to be fixed by the court. Thereafter the defendant was sentenced to serve 30 days in the county jail and to pay a- fine of $250 and has appealed.

We shall ■ consider .the assignments of error in the order -in which they are presented in .the brief of the accused. It is first contended that the arrest of defendant was unlawful and therefore the evidence accumulated pursuant to the unlawful arrest was not properly admissible and the testimony of. all .the witnesses for the State should have been excluded.

Present counsel did not represent the accused at the trial. He was represented by young and inexperienced attorneys. ' Present counsel recognized that the rules heretofore laid down in a number of cases decided by this court were not followed by trial counsel in that counsel did not present to the court a motion to suppress evidence before the commencement of the-trial, neither, did they object to the evidence when it was offered, nor did they present a motion to strike the evidence immediately after it was given and the only objection that appears in the record to the testimony of any of the witnesses for the State on the theory that the arrest was illegal was at the conclusion of the testimony of Officer Grounds wherein counsel for the accused stated, “Your Honor, we demur to this man’s evidence. There has been no misdemeanor committed in his presence. We demur to the whole evidence he has given in this case.” This objection was overruled by the court and an exception allowed to the accused.

Two Oklahoma City policemen testified in substance that on May 27, 1955, while they were off duty they were employed to assist in moving a house along Northwest Highway out of Okláhoma City; that some wires were down and they had stopped the house and were waiting while some utility linemen were raising the wires for the house to be moved when they stopped defendant’s car traveling in an easterly direction toward Oklahoma City. Without objection the officers were permitted to testify that several passing motorists had stopped and advised them there was a drunken driver approaching. They testified that the defendant approached driving a 1954 Pontiac automobile traveling astraddle of the center line going about 20 miles an hour. Defendant stopped, his car. As Officer Grounds approached, defendant threw- a whiskey bottle partially filled out of the car. Both officers . testified that in their opinion, defendant was intoxicated.

The testimony of the police officers was corroborated by Robert Lamb, a highway patrolman who arrived at the' scene a few minutes after the arrest of the accused. He took the defendant into custody, marked the whiskey bottle for identification, delivered the defcndáíit to the jail and gave the bottle to the county attorney’s office. On *468 the way to town the defendant told the patrolman that he had two or three drinks of whiskey and that he had thrown the whiskey bottle from the car.

Two linemen employed by the utility company were present at the scene where the accused was arrested and both of them testified 'that in their opinion he was intoxicated.

The argument of counsel that the arrest of the accused was unlawful is based upon their contention that the officers were acting merely as private citizens and that no misdemeanor was committed in their presence, but that the arrest of the accused was based upon hearsay reports given to them by passing motorists.

Counsel for the accused filed a motion to suppress evidence several days prior to the trial, but never at any time called it to the attention of the trial court and it was never acted upon. Regardless of the possible merit of the proposition urged by present counsel it is established law that objection to the reception of evidence obtained by.arrest .claimed to have been without authority of law to be available must be timely presented. Sanders v. State, Okl.Cr., 287 P.2d 458.. In Cornett v. State, 96. Okl.Cr. 165, 249. P.2d 1016, it was held:

“Burden is on movant to introduce evidence in support of his motion to suppress evidence and where he- fails to sustain the burden and introduce facts -to prove the invalidity of a search, the action of the court in overruling the motion to suppress will be sustained on appéal.
“The privilege of immunity against an illegal search is personal to the accused and is one which will be considered waived unless timely objection to the introduction of evidence is interposed on that ground.”

See White v. State, 81 Okl.Cr. 399, 165 P.2d 151; Carroll v. State, 95 Okl.Cr. 125, 240 P.2d 1131; Fulbright v. State, 96 Okl. Cr. 36, 248 P.2d 651.

It is next contended that the bottle partially filled with a liquid marked “whiskey” was improperly admitted as evidence. As heretofore noted, - witnesses testified that accused threw a bottle partially filled with a liquid out of the rear window of his automobile. While he was being transported to jail defendant told the patrolman that he had thrown the bottle from the car. The patrolman identified the bottle and it was admitted in evidence. The objection to this evidence seems to be based upon the proposition that there was no direct testimony from any witness that he had tasted the.liquid in the bottle and it was whiskey. The bottle was labeled “whiskey,” had an. odor of whiskey and was admitted in evidence and the jury were permitted to take it along with the other exhibits to the jury room with them. ' The circumstances were sufficient to justify its admission in evidence and were sufficient in the absence of any proof to the contrary to authorize the court and jury to conclude that the bottle contained whiskey.

It is next contended the trial court committed reversible error in permitting the witness Cain to be recalled as a rebuttal witness and to testify over !the objection and exception of defendant. The witness Cain was one of the utility linemen who testified as a part of the .State’s case in chief that he thought the accused was intoxicated. ' After the State had rested its case and defendant had testified at length relating that he had been on a business trip to Enid and was returning to his home in Oklahoma City and had offered witnesses to testify.to his- good reputation, defendant had rested his case. ■ -The witness Cain was - then recalled by the' State as a rebuttal witness. He testified on direct examination that defendant came to his home to see him on Thursday, October 20, 1955. The record disclosed that. counsel for the accused .repeatedly objected to the testimony of Cain in rebuttal. Ten objections were interposed during his testimony so it cannot be said that they failed to object to the disputed evidence. -The particular part.of the testimony of witness -Cain *469 which was flagrantly prejudicial was his voluntary statement that he smelled whiskey on the defendant when he came to his home in October, 1955. The court overruled the objection' to that statement.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Reynolds v. State
1979 OK CR 118 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1979)
Beasley v. State
1970 OK CR 147 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1970)
English v. State
1969 OK CR 320 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1969)
State v. Romero
447 P.2d 674 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1968)
Biles v. State
1958 OK CR 22 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1958)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1956 OK CR 114, 303 P.2d 465, 1956 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 249, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rasbury-v-state-oklacrimapp-1956.