Scott v. State

1957 OK CR 63, 316 P.2d 192, 1957 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 193
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 19, 1957
DocketA-12401
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 1957 OK CR 63 (Scott 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
Scott v. State, 1957 OK CR 63, 316 P.2d 192, 1957 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 193 (Okla. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

POWELL, Judge.

The defendant, Orville L. Scott, Sr., has appealed from a judgment and sentence rendered in the district court of Tulsa County, after conviction by a jury in a case where he was charged with conspiracy, as defined by 21 O.S.19S1 § 424. The jury found the defendant guilty, but being unable to agree upon the punishment to be assessed, left that to the court, who imposed a sentence of nine months confinement in the State penitentiary at McAlester, and assessed a fine of $3500 and the costs, taxed at $98.50.

The prosecution was by way of indictment by a grand jury, and is very voluminous, requiring 37 pages of the record. There are 108 overt acts alleged. Plaintiff in Error, who will hereinafter be referred to as defendant, has as concisely as may be for proper understanding, outlined the charge as follows:

“The indictment charged that the defendant and Tom White, Sr., and Tom White, Jr., named therein as co-conspirators, conspired together in violation of Title 21, Section 424, Oklahoma Statutes Annotated ‘to commit offenses against the State of Oklahoma and to cheat and defraud the State of Oklahoma, by doing acts constituting violations of Title 21, Section 341, Par. 2, Oklahoma Statutes Annotated.’ The indictment contains 108 overt acts which it is alleged were committed by one or more persons to effect the objects of the conspiracy. The indictment, in substance, charged that the defendant was an employee of Tulsa County, Oklahoma, to-wit: the Garage Superintendent of the County Commissioner of District No. 1; that the co- *195 conspirator, Tom White, Sr., at the time of the commencement of the conspiracy, which was alleged to be July 1, 1951, down to his death on February 13, 1954, was president and manager of Motor Exchange Tire Company, a corporation, which was engaged in the business of selling motor vehicle tires and accessories, household appliances, boats, boat motors and fishing equipment; that the co-conspirator, Tom White, Jr., was from February 14, 1954 up to the time the indictment was returned, the president and manager of Motor Exchange Tire Company, having succeeded his father upon the latter’s death; that the agreement between the defendant and his co-conspirators was to the effect that Motor Exchange Tire Company would sell and deliver tires and truck accessories to Tulsa County Commissioner’s District No. 1 and that certain household appliances, boats, boat motors and other things of value would be sold and delivered to the defendant for his own personal use and for the personal use of his son, Orville L. Scott, Jr.; that payment of the aforesaid household appliances and merchandise would be made by Tulsa County, that is, that Tom White, Sr. would prepare written invoices for tires and truck accessories purportedly sold to Tulsa County and said written invoices would be submitted to the defendant for his signature showing receipt of such tires and truck accessories by and for Tulsa County Commissioner’s District No. 1, but that in fact said tires and accessories would not be delivered to the county; that Tom White, Sr. would prepare or cause to be prepared and sign or cause to be signed written claims against the county and would submit such claims to the Board of County Commissioners for reimbursement to the Motor Exchange Tire Company for said tires and truck accessories which were not in fact delivered to Tulsa County; that the defendant would acknowledge receipt' of such tires and accessories which were not in fact delivered to Tulsa County, well knowing that he, the defendant, would derive a financial and monetary gain therefrom; that upon approval of such claims by the Board of County Commissioners, Tom White, Sr. would receive from the County a warrant in payment of said claims for tires and accessories which were not in fact delivered to Tulsa County; that Tom White, Sr. would thereafter receive the warrants in payment of the household appliances and fishing equipment and other things of value sold and delivered to the defendant and his son. The indictment further charged that on or about February 13, 1954, Tom White, Sr. died and that the co-conspirator Tom White, Jr., became president and manager of Motor Exchange Tire Company and that he assumed his position with the company with full knowledge of the unlawful agreement which his father had entered into with the defendant and that he, Tom White, Jr., entered into and became a part of the conspiracy and engaged in furthering its objects and purposes and did carry out the unlawful agreements above set forth.
“The indictment further charged that the object and purpose of the conspiracy was that the defendant would acquire these appliances and other things of value for his own personal use and pay for them by signing invoices acknowledging receipt of tires and accessories purportedly sold to Tulsa County but which were not in fact sold to Tulsa County or to anybody.
“The overt acts contained in the indictment concern every item of merchandise purchased by and charged to the account of Orville Scott, Sr. and Orville Scott, Jr., describing the merchandise and the value thereof; the preparation of invoices by Motor Exchange Tire Company for merchandise purportedly sold to Tulsa County, the *196 act of acknowledgment of receipt of such merchandise by the defendant, the preparation of claims by Motor Exchange Tire Company, the filing of the claims with the county, the -receipt of warrant in payment of the claim, the application of the amounts represented by the warrants to the credit of the accounts of Orville Scott, Sr. and Orville Scott, Jr.”

The defendant demurred to the indictment, and the same was overruled.

Grounds advanced for reversal are, in defendant’s words: first, that the court erred in overruling defendant’s demurrer; and, second, that the evidence of the State was insufficient to submit the cause to the jury, and that the court erred in overruling the defendant’s motion made at the close of the State’s case to advise the jury to acquit. The latter is based upon the contention that the evidence of the State consists entirely of evidence of co-conspirators or accomplices,-and that there was no corroboration sufficient to support the evidence of the accomplices.

Considering first the demurrer to the indictment. The defendant, as we have seen, is alleged to have conspired with Tom White, Sr., and Tom White, Jr., in violation of 21 O.S.1951 § 424, by doing acts constituting violations of 21 O.S.1951 § 341(2). Defendant contends that he is not a person who comes under section 341, which provides:

“Every public officer of the State or any county, city or town, or member or officer of the Legislature, and every deputy or clerk of any such officer and every other person receiving any money or other thing of value of or for account of this State or any department of the government of this State or any bureau or fund created by law and in which this State or the people thereof, are directly or indirectly interested, who either:
* * * * * *
“Second: Receives, directly or indirectly, any interest, profit or perquisites, arising from the use or loan of public funds in his hands or money to be raised through his agency for State, city, town, district, or county purposes; or * *

Defendant'argues as to section 341(2) of Title 21, O.S.1951:

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Related

State v. Owens
129 N.W.2d 284 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1964)
Smith v. State
368 P.2d 246 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1962)
Heartsill v. State
1959 OK CR 53 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1959)
Clark v. State
1958 OK CR 59 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1958)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1957 OK CR 63, 316 P.2d 192, 1957 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 193, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scott-v-state-oklacrimapp-1957.