Rice v. State

1977 OK CR 225, 567 P.2d 525, 1977 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 568
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedAugust 1, 1977
DocketNo. F-76-804
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1977 OK CR 225 (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, 1977 OK CR 225, 567 P.2d 525, 1977 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 568 (Okla. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

OPINION

BRETT, Judge.

Appellant, Lorelei Lee Rice, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged in the District Court, Choctaw County, Case No. CRF-75-54, with the offense of Murder in the Second Degree, in violation of 21 O.S.Supp.1973, § 701.2. The case was tried to a jury, and a verdict of guilty of First Degree Manslaughter was returned. Punishment was assessed at twelve (12) years’ imprisonment. From said judgment and sentence a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.

Elmer C. Chesier, night patrolman for the town of Boswell, Oklahoma, stated that he knew the defendant, and that at about midnight on August 2, 1975, he spoke with her. She told him that her husband, Charles Rice, was drunk and had gone after their children in an automobile. The defendant asked the witness to go after her husband and get the car and children away from him. The witness and Marshall Battiest drove a short distance west of Boswell, and observed Mr. Rice and his children proceeding towards Boswell. The witness turned [527]*527around and stopped Mr. Rice near Boswell City Hall. The car and children were turned over to the defendant, and Mr. Rice was driven to his mother’s house. An hour later defendant returned to Boswell and met the witness, telling him “he came back home and done just what I said he would' do.” She also stated that she was going after him. One half hour later the defendant came back again, jumped out of her car with a shotgun in her hand, and ran toward the witness screaming, “Well, I killed him.” On cross-examination the witness stated that on the same night he removed Jo Gage from an American Legion dance because she was drunk. Deceased was killed later that evening at the Gage home.

Boswell City Marshal, Alto Battiest, gave testimony corroborative in large part of the previous witness’ testimony. He also stated that he investigated the scene of the shooting, finding the deceased lying partly on a mattress in the living room with a wound in his chest. He appeared to be dead at the time.

Josephine Gage stated that she was removed from the American Legion dance by Chesier, and that when she arrived home she put her children to bed. In the dark a match was heard striking, whereupon the deceased’s presence in her house manifested itself. The witness asked Mr. Rice what he was doing, and he replied that his wife had run him off. He then sat on a mattress on the floor and asked for a drink of water. The witness then observed the barrel of a gun protruding through an open window, heard a voice say, “Charles, lookie here,” and then the gun was fired, striking deceased. The witness went outside and saw the defendant with a shotgun. On cross-examination the witness admitted that she had been drinking heavily all day.

Gene Gage, 9-year-old son of the previous witness, corroborated his mother’s testimony.

Roylia Akins, employed with the Choctaw County Sheriff’s Office, reproduced a drawing of the crime scene.

The next witness called was Dr. Prosser, a psychiatrist, who gave testimony tending to establish defendant’s insanity defense. This witness was called out of turn.

Merlyn Bellamy, qualified as a pathologist, was the next witness for the State, and testified that the deceased died from a shotgun wound to the chest. The State then rested.

Defendant spoke on her own behalf. She testified that her husband was an alcoholic, and that he beat her regularly, often in front of others. At times she was forced to sit in his company at the point of a gun. She had filed for divorce three times, but had always decided to give him another chance. She was 28 years of age, had three young children, and had been married to her husband since 1966. Her education was complete to the ninth grade. Concerning the events surrounding the homicide, she stated that on August 2, 1975, her husband began drinking early in the day. Later the same evening at approximately 9:00 p.m., defendant and her husband went to a bar in Boswell called Lonzo’s. As they started to leave around 11:30 or 12:00 that night, they got into an argument over who should drive. Charles had been drinking and defendant felt it would be safer if she drove. Defendant finally gave her husband the keys, called her mother, and asked her to pick her up. Defendant then went to the City Hall and asked the night watchman, Elmer Chesier, and the City Marshal, Alto Battiest, to go to her mother-in-law’s house and ask her not to let Charles have the children because he had been drinking. The two men got the car and the children from Charles. Defendant took the children home in the car and they went to bed. Charles was taken to his mother’s house, as testified to by Chesier. Some time later after defendant had fallen asleep, she awoke when Charles grabbed her throat and dragged her out of bed. Defendant gave her husband the keys to the car and he left. Defendant then dressed, borrowed her grandfather’s car and went looking for her husband. She took a gun with her because she knew that Charles carried a gun. Defendant found Charles’ car parked outside of Josephine Gage’s house. She stopped, [528]*528got out of the car, and went up to the door but it was locked so she went to a window. She saw Charles sitting on a mattress beside Josephine Gage. Defendant called Charles twice. The second time he looked at her and started to the window. Then, according to defendant’s testimony, “that is when I shot him.” She turned around and ran. She testified that she did not know if she had shot Charles, and that she was afraid he would take the gun away from her and use it on her. After allegedly running down the street and standing by a tree for awhile, she returned, went inside the house, and saw that Charles was dying. She then went to the City Hall.

Defendant then presented several witnesses who verified accounts of beatings which defendant had related. These witnesses also attempted to testify as to defendant’s reputation, but their testimony was limited by several rulings of the court. The defense rested with the State presenting no rebuttal witnesses.

In her first assignment of error defendant complains of the submission to the jury of Instruction No. 11, which is reflected in the record as follows:

“On the trial of a person charged with murder, the commission of homicide by the defendant being proven or admitted, the burden of proving circumstances of mitigation, or that justify or excuse it, devolves upon the defendant, unless the proof on the part of the prosecution shows [that] the crime committed amounted only to manslaughter, or that the defendant was justifiable or excusable.”

In Pettigrew v. State, Okl.Cr., 554 P.2d 1186 (1976), we held that the giving of this instruction over the objection of the defendant constituted reversible error, for it had the effect of shifting the burden of proof to the defendant. Herein the record does not reflect that defendant made any objection to this instruction. The trial transcript ends with the conclusion of the defendant’s evidence, and does not reflect either closing arguments of counsel or the proceedings surrounding the giving of instructions. On March 28, 1977, this Court issued an order to supplement the record in order to determine whether objections were made. On May 3, 1977, a hearing was held wherein defendant’s trial attorneys gave testimony. Neither they nor the trial judge was able to state that objections had in fact been taken to court’s instruction No. 11, or to any other instruction.

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

Related

Robson v. State
1980 OK CR 42 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1980)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1977 OK CR 225, 567 P.2d 525, 1977 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 568, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rice-v-state-oklacrimapp-1977.