Rice v. State

1961 OK CR 123, 368 P.2d 507, 1961 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 221
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 6, 1961
DocketA-13023
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1961 OK CR 123 (Rice 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
Rice v. State, 1961 OK CR 123, 368 P.2d 507, 1961 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 221 (Okla. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

BRETT, Judge.

James Warren Rice, plaintiff in error, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged by information in the district court of Tulsa County, Oklahoma, with the crime of indecent exposure (21 O.S.19S1 § 1021 et seq.), second and subsequent offense (21 O.S.1951 § 51). He was tried by a jury, convicted and his punishment fixed at twelve years in the state penitentiary. From such judgment and sentence pronounced on the verdict, this appeal has been perfected.

The facts established by the evidence are that the defendant on September 22, 1960 exposed himself in front of the Safeway Store at Sand Springs, Tulsa County, Oklahoma. The exposure of his private parts by the defendant was made to two young women, fifteen and sixteen years of age. They both observed the defendant standing in front of the Safeway Store, after school. He was standing with a magazine in front of himself, which he removed, exposing himself. This they then reported to the police, but he was not apprehended at that time.

Two days after the exposure the two girls again passed the Safeway Store, and saw *510 the defendant, and identified him as the same man who had exposed himself to them.

In the early part of October, 1960 defendant was arrested in the same shopping center and taken to the police station for investigation as an ex-convict. There he was interrogated concerning the exposure, which he admitted he had committed. Two officers, Dodson and Wilson, so testified.

The two girls again identified the defendant in a police line.-up, and they also identified him in the court room at the trial.

Evidence of the prior conviction of the •defendant on a similar charge and his subsequent commitment to the penitentiary thereon was not only proven, but admitted in evidence.

The defendant plead not guilty by reason •of insanity. It appears he had been committed to the asylum at one time for attempted suicide. He had been confined for treatment in several private and government hospitals on several occasions. The defendant made a plea of present insanity before trial, that he was not able to make a rational defense, which plea was tried by a jury and the issue, on the evidence, was resolved against him.

The medical proof as to insanity at the time of the crime was that the defendant knew right from wrong. Dr. C. S. Summers testified for the defendant, and when asked if defendant would know the nature and seriousness of such an act at the time he would commit the same, answered:

“I could only state what my opinion was at the time I examined him. What his condition or what condition might have been present at that time, I would be guessing, I am afraid.
“Q Could you give us that opinion, please ? A He did seem to know right from wrong. He realized the seriousness of the offense with which he was accused, and he gave indications that he regretted his conduct and that he had no intention of committing further such offenses. He seemed to have complete insight into his problem and into the seriousness of the offense with which he was charged.”

The case came to trial on the facts as herein related. The verdict of the jury is amply supported by the evidence. Since they are the sole judges of the facts, we are bound by their findings. Sadler v. State, 84 Okl.Cr. 97, 179 P.2d 479.

The defendant’s first contention for relief is that the trial court erred in not excusing the jury before admitting testimony of the officers with reference to defendant’s oral statement to them, that he exposed himself to two teen-age girls, fifteen or sixteen years of age, at the place and time named in the information; and that he did this in response to an urge about twice a year to do so. To this testimony the general objection of incompetency and immateriality was interposed for the reason no proper predicate had been laid for such testimony. This objection was overruled.

At one stage of the proceedings the defense counsel also based his objection on the ground of duress. At no time in the proceedings did the defense ever advise the trial court if desired to offer evidence concerning the question of duress or involuntary character of the confession related. He stood on the naked objection and exception to the court’s ruling.

It appears from this record it was an attempt to raise an objection by innuendo, unsupported by proof. The trial court in the absence of a bona fide offer to establish the objection of the inadmissibility of the statement by proof, had a right to proceed with the proof of the confession, in the presence of the jury. Such objection must be supported by a tender of proof that the objection is well founded.

In State v. Roland, 336 Mo. 563, 79 S.W.2d 1050, 102 A.L.R. 601, the Supreme Court of Missouri held:

“Where the defendant in a criminal case assigns error in the admission of his confession without first having heard testimony to support the objection that it was involuntary, and the *511 bill of exceptions shows merely that the defendant objected to introduction of the confession on the ground that it was procured under circumstances making it involuntary, it will not he presumed by the appellate court, in passing on a motion for a new trial, that any request was made by the defendant of the trial court to hear testimony, or that the defendant offered to prove that the confession was obtained under circumstances rendering it involuntary.
“It will not be presumed that the confession of one on trial on a criminal charge was involuntary merely from a statement to this effect in the objection by him to introduction of such confession in evidence.
“An extrajudicial confession of an accused person is presumed to be voluntary until the contrary is shown.
“A defendant in a criminal case who objects to the introduction in evidence of a confession by him, on the ground that it was involuntary, should make timely offer of evidence showing the incompetency of the confession, or request that a preliminary investigation of the matter be made, and to be timely, such an offer or request should be made before the court rules on the evidence offered.”

And in People v. Knox, .302 Ill. 471, 134 N.E. 923, 925, the Supreme Court of Illinois said:

“The court is not bound to make such inquiry where, as here, counsel merely objects on the ground that the statement concerning which the evidence was offered was obtained by duress. * * * The defendant had offered no evidence on the question, and there was nothing before the court at the time the objection to the evidence was made, to prove a threat or promise, or other improper influence or inducement tending to bring about the confession, and while the defendant afterward testified' to such facts, there was no motion to exclude the evidence of the confession after such testimony was given. It was therefore held that the confession was properly submitted to the jury. To the same effect is Bartley v. People, 156 Ill. 234, 40 N.E. 831. See 12 Cyc. 482; 1 Greenleaf on Evidence, 219; 6 Am. & Eng.Ency. of Law (2d Ed.) 554.”

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Austin v. State
1966 OK CR 145 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1966)
Groom v. State
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Bluebook (online)
1961 OK CR 123, 368 P.2d 507, 1961 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 221, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rice-v-state-oklacrimapp-1961.