Rhamy v. State

1957 OK CR 19, 307 P.2d 555, 1957 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 137
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 13, 1957
DocketA-12406
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1957 OK CR 19 (Rhamy 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
Rhamy v. State, 1957 OK CR 19, 307 P.2d 555, 1957 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 137 (Okla. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

POWELL, Judge.

Plaintiff in Error, Theodore Rhamy, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged by indictment filed in the district court of Payne County with the crime of rape in the first degree, was tried before a jury, convicted and his punishment fixed at fifteen years, in the state penitentiary. The case is here on appeal.

Interesting to state is that the sentence imposed was the minimum for the crime charged. The girl involved lacked less than two months of being fourteen years of age. And of course, if she had been of that age, the punishment, under the evidence developed, might have been as low as one year imprisonment. 21 O.S.1951 §§ 1114, 1116.

The facts developed are quite bizarre. The defendant, though his age is not shown (except one witness guessed it to be about 53), was not a youth, but a man with ten living children, and one deceased child. He had suffered an industrial accident in 1935, and received some compensation, but had received aid for dependent children off and on since 1935. He had once served a short term in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary on a check charge. The living conditions of the family left much to be desired. The children at home were six in number, ranging from grammar school age to seventeen years. The home consisted of one room downstairs, which served as bedroom, living room, etc., and one room upstairs. There was a kitchen and bath attached. All six children slept upstairs, but had to go outside the house to get upstairs. Apparently the only heat was from a wood and coal burning stove downstairs. On November 10, 1955 the stove was not working — the house was cold. The wife had some time before undergone a major operation. A ten year old daughter was then suffering from asthma and respiratory trouble. The defendant was still suffering *557 from his back injury. Truly this presents a held for sociological study.

On November 9, 1955 the defendant and his wife were called to Enid on account of the condition of a married daughter, scheduled to give birth to a child. Their seventeen year old son and a neighbor boy,1 Charles Smith, went along to drive the car. They left Stillwater around 11:00 P.M., and did not get back until about 4:00 A.M. of the next morning. These matters recounted are among undisputed points making up the background of the person charged.

The State furnished counsel for defendant at trial, and to prosecute his appeal to this court. Counsel vigorously represented the defendant throughout. The record was prepared at the expense of the State and hied here without cost.

For reversal some six propositions are advanced and argued in brief. After listening to oral argument, and a careful reading of the briefs and particularly the record, only the fifth proposition advanced has presented any difficulty and the record itself has resolved that. Wc shall treat the fifth specification of error last.

It is first said that the trial court committed error in refusing to exclude from the court room the county attorney, Robert M. Murphy, and the assistant county attorney, K. D. Greiner. Their names were endorsed on the indictment as witnesses for the State.

The record reveals that the case proceeded to trial, and the rule being asked for by defense counsel, all witnesses, except the county attorney and his assistant, who were conducting the prosecution, were excluded. The county attorney did not testify, but his assistant, K. D. Greiner testified, principally concerning a signed statement said to have been made by defendant. Counsel did not interpose an objection when Mr. Greiner was called as a witness, and no motion or pleading of any kind was filed prior to trial for purpose of disqualifying the named officials as witnesses. So far as the record reveals, the proposition we are considering was first raised in motion for new trial, and in motion for arrest of judgment. If the question was argued before the court, no record was preserved.

We have said that the exclusion of witnesses for the State at defendant’s request, is not an absolute right in all cases, but rests in the sound discretion of the trial court, and this includes the power to except one or more witnesses from the operation of the rule. Dean v. State, 51 Okl.Cr. 138, 300 P. 319.

And we have further said that matters occurring during the trial of a case, which counsel desires to assign as error, must appear by proper recital in the case made, duly certified to as the law provides, independent of the motion for new trial. Fields v. State, 85 Okl.Cr. 439, 188 P.2d 231.

Here, as stated, the county attorney did not testify. Mr. Greiner aided in the prosecution. Ordinarily, the State should develop its evidence by others than the prosecuting officers, but we cannot say from the record before us that the court abused its discretion. Further, we have said that where no objection is made as to the qualifications of a prosecuting attorney, or his authority to appear until after the case is tried, in the absence of any prejudicial conduct such objection comes too late. Bethel v. State, 8 Okl.Cr. 61, 126 P. 698. This principle seems applicable here. The procedure for disqualifying a county attorney is outlined in Lattimore v. Verner, 142 Okl. 105, 288 P. 463. It was incumbent upon counsel to follow such procedure. It was not done, The next proposition should clarify the issue.

The next specification of error is the contention that the trial court erred in the admission into evidence over the objection of the defendant of a confession contended to have been involuntarily made by defendant while under the influence oí drugs.

The evidence as pertains to this particular proposition developed that the alleged offense was committed by defendant at the home heretofore described, and lo *558 cated at 1212 South Duncan, Stillwater, just across the street from a junior high school, and between 9:30 and 10:30 on the morning of November 10, 1955. Some time during the afternoon of that day the officers went to the Rhamy home and arrested both the defendant and his wife and took them to the county attorney’s office. The county attorney, Mr. Murphy, was away at the time (though he came in before the questioning was completed), and his assistant, Mr. K. D. Greiner, questioned defendant as to the part he took in the commission of the alleged rape. By his personal use of a typewriter, Mr. Greiner typed out the questions and then the answers made by the defendant. A photostatic copy of the confession was received in evidence.

Mr. Greiner was called as a witness for the State to show the circumstances surrounding the taking of the statement. He said that the defendant freely and voluntarily made and signed the statement, after he had been advised that he did not have to make a statement, and that if he did so, it could be used against him as evidence.

After the alleged confession had been identified and offered in evidence, and after State’s witness had testified to the circumstances surrounding the taking of the statement, counsel for defendant challenged same, as he said: “On the grounds that Mr. Rhamy was not in any condition himself and was not represented by counsel, and it was not a voluntary statement.” The objection was overruled, and the confession was admitted into evidence.

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Related

Rice v. State
1961 OK CR 123 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1961)
Love v. State
1957 OK CR 115 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1957)

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Bluebook (online)
1957 OK CR 19, 307 P.2d 555, 1957 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 137, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rhamy-v-state-oklacrimapp-1957.