Silverhorn v. State

1960 OK CR 111, 358 P.2d 226, 1960 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 213
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 21, 1960
DocketNo. A-12950
StatusPublished

This text of 1960 OK CR 111 (Silverhorn 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
Silverhorn v. State, 1960 OK CR 111, 358 P.2d 226, 1960 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 213 (Okla. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

NIX, Judge.

Billy Joe Silverhorn, hereinafter referred to as the defendant, was charged by information in the District Court of Caddo County with committing the offense of furnishing alcoholic beverage to a minor. Defendant was tried before a jury who found the defendant guilty and set his punishment at one year in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and recommended the sentence be suspended.

The defendant appeals to this court upon four assignments of error contending that the court erred:

1. Error of the court in' overruling defendant’s demurrer to the evidence and in overruling defendant’s motion for a directed verdict.
2. Error of the court in giving instruction number 4.
3. Error of the court in permitting the testimony of the arresting officers that defendant was intoxicated but appeared to know what he was doing.
4. That the verdict of the jury was cruel and excessive.

In order to discuss the issues involved it is necessary to briefly relate upon which the charge was filed.

Billy Joe Silverhorn, the 'defendant; was approached by his cousin Otis Saddle Blanket, a minor, who asked the defendant to purchase for him a bottle of Gallo wine. The defendant, who evidently was drunk 'after borrowing a dime from his minor cousin, agreed to purchase the wine. Defendant whs given a dollar by his cousin and was directed to the liquor store where the wine was purchased. He returned and handed the bottle in a sack to the minor. A matron at the Riverside Indian School happened to see the transaction. Saddle Blánket was a student at the Riverside School. She took the student- and the [228]*228bottle of wine' to the police -station and reported the incident to the officers. The officers proceeded to arrest the defendant, brought him to the police station and charged him with the charge of public drunk. Subsequent thereto defendant was charged in the case at bar with furnishing alcoholic beverage to a minor.

At the conclusion of the state’s evidence, defendant demurred and asked for a directed verdict. It is the contention' of defendant that the testimony did not establish that defendant furnished liquor to the minor as defined by law. He cites as authority for his interpretation of the word “furnish” the case of Rhodes v. State, 30 Okl.Cr. 2, 234 P. 645, 647, where the Court said:

“To furnish is to provide or supply anything ordered by another, and necessarily carries with it the idea of ownership, property in, or dominion over the thing furnished by the one who furnishes [⅞].”

Defendant contends that the evidence in the instant case refutes any idea of ownership, property in or dominion over the liquor on the part of defendant. The court is unable to follow defendant’s reasoning in this respect. The statute provides in Tit. 37 § 537 that:

“(a) No person shall:
“(1) Knowingly sell, deliver, or furnish alcoholic beverages to any person under twenty-one (21) years of age.”

The statute apparently was created to prohibit such incidents as the one depicted here. Whether or not the acts of the defendant constitute furnishing alcoholic beverages to one under 21 has been passed upon in numerous jurisdictions. The court cites for example, the case of Burnett v. State, 92 Ga. 474, 17 S.E. 858, where the Supreme Court of Georgia said:

“Section 4540a of the Code, which makes it penal to furnish intoxicating liquors to a minor, is violated by a person who receives money from a minor with which to procure and pay for such liquor, and, at the minor’s request, purchases and delivers it to him.”

Also see Jackson v. State, 16 Ga.App. 213, 84 S.E. 974.

Though Oklahoma has not as yet passed upon the identical question, the weight of authority gleaned from other jurisdictions appears to be adverse to defendant’s theory of the law.

Defendant next complains that the court erred in giving instruction No. 4 to the jury. Instruction No. 4 followed the exact wording of the statute:

“The court instructs the jury that the statutes of the State of Oklahoma provides that no person shall knowingly sell, deliver, or furnish alcoholic beverages to any person under 21 years of age.”

The statute of the state further provides that any person who knowingly sells, furnishes, or gives alcoholic beverages to a person under 21 years of age shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisonment in the state penitentiary for not more than 5 years, or both such fine and imprisonment.

Defendant’s complaint arises from the fact that the information charges defendant as follows:

“ * * * that he did then and there, intentionally, unlawfully, wilfully and feloniously and knowingly furnish alcoholic beverages to Otis Saddle Blanket, a person under 21 years of age * ⅜ *

Defendant argues that the defendant was charged with “furnishing”, not selling or delivering. Therefore, it was error to instruct on delivery, which enabled the jury to find defendant guilty if he delivered it to the minor. The court fails to see the merits of this argument. The words furnish and deliver are of such similarity and are synonymous to the extent we fail to see how harm could arise from using them interchangeably. There could hardly be a furnishing without a delivery nor a delivery without a furnishing. In the case of People v. Joy, 30 Cal.App. 36, 157 P. 507 headnote 3 reads:

[229]*229“The word ‘furnish’ is used in St. 1911, p. 602, § 13, prohibiting a furnishing of alcoholic liquors in certain territory, means to supply, to offer for use, to give, or to hand.”

A review of the whole record reveals sufficient testimony to support the conviction as to furnishing alcohol to a person under 21. The instructions were in the exact language of the statute. Instruction No. 5 clearly explains to the jury that defendant was charged with furnishing alcohol to a person under 21 and properly explained the law applicable thereto. To approve defendant’s theory in this regard would be using a technicality to abort the law. The record does not show an objection to the instruction. No instructions were offered on the part of the defendant. No exceptions were saved. This court has held in cases too numerous to cite that where no objection is taken to the instructions this court will examine the instructions only for fundamental error. See Green v. State, 70 Okl.Cr. 228, 105 P.2d 795. Certainly the error complained of is not of that nature.

Defendant contends that the court erred in permitting three police officers to testify that the defendant, while at the police station after his arrest, appeared to them to know what was going on. Defendant contends that their answers, over his obj ection were conclusions and prejudicial to the defendant. An example of the contention is reflected by the testimony of Officer D. G. Bacon on page 36 of case made:

“Q. Alright, what was the defendant’s condition? A. He was pretty well intoxicated, and he was filed on in the police department as a public drunk.
“Q. Was there any disposition of that charge? A. No, there wasn’t.
“Q. For what reason? A.

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

Related

People v. Joe Joy
157 P. 507 (California Court of Appeal, 1916)
Colbert v. State
1910 OK CR 239 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1910)
Rhodes v. State
1925 OK CR 166 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1925)
Collins v. State
1918 OK CR 135 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1918)
Green v. State
1940 OK CR 112 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1940)
Burnett v. State
17 S.E. 858 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1893)
Jackson v. State
84 S.E. 974 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1915)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1960 OK CR 111, 358 P.2d 226, 1960 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 213, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/silverhorn-v-state-oklacrimapp-1960.