Smith v. State

1970 OK CR 52, 468 P.2d 807, 1970 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 302
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 8, 1970
DocketA-14894
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1970 OK CR 52 (Smith 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
Smith v. State, 1970 OK CR 52, 468 P.2d 807, 1970 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 302 (Okla. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

BUSSEY, Judge.

James Franklin Smith, hereinafter referred to as defendant, wa.s charged, tried and convicted in the District Court of Oklahoma County; William S. Myers, Jr., bery with Firearms; he was sentenced to serve 45 years in the state penitentiary, and appeals.

The record discloses that the first witness called by the State was Homer Piatt, the victim of the robbery. He testified that on January 12, 1968, he was employed as assistant manager at the Safeway Store at 24 East Second Street in Edmond, Oklahoma, and was working at the store on the evening of that date. He stated that about 7:50 p. m., while he was in the office box, the defendant, wearing coveralls and an orange cap, entered the store, came to the box, placed a T. G. & Y. sack on the counter, and pointed a gun at the witness, demanding the money in the store. The witness complied, giving him $2,400, and the defendant left. Piatt then called the police who showed him five pictures, one of which he identified as being that of the defendant and the robber. The witness later identified the defendant in a lineup as being the robber.

Dick Adams, an employee at the Safeway Store, testified that on the night of-January 12, 1968, he was working at one *809 of the check stands of the store. He said that he needed some change and went to the office box, where he found a man whom he identified as the defendant standing in front of the box with a gun. The witness described the man’s clothing as coveralls and an orange flourescent hat. Adams said that the defendant told him to stand aside, that there was a robbery going on, and that Homer Piatt gave the defendant a T. G. & Y. sack.

James E. Stafford testified that on the evening of January 12, 1968, he was working at the Safeway Store in Edmond in the office box with Homer Piatt when the defendant came to the box, put a T. G. & Y. sack on the counter and ordered Piatt to fill it with the money in the safe. Stafford said that the defendant, holding a gun in his hand, ordered him to step aside, and about that time Dick Adams, another employee, came to the box for change, and was also-told by the defendant not to interfere, and to stand to one side. Stafford testified that Piatt filled the sack given him by the defendant, that the defendant questioned whether that was all of the money, and that when he was assured of such by Piatt, took the sack, turned and left the store. The witness said that he later identified the defendant from pictures shown him by the police.

Raymond Kerr, an officer with the Oklahoma City Police Department, testified that he was on duty on the night of January 12, 1968, and that having received a report of an armed robbery in Edmond by a man fitting the description of the defendant, whom he knew, went to the defendant’s home in Spencer. The witness stated that he saw the defendant, accompanied by a woman and two children, drive a red and white GTO into the driveway of the defendant’s home, get out and proceed to an out-building behind the garage. Kerr said he then approached the defendant, told him he was under arrest for Armed Robbery, searched and handcuffed him, and advised him of his rights. The witness further testified that he was given a gun by Kent Harrison, a detective with the Oklahoma City Detective Bureau, and that he took from the woman accompanying the defendant, a shoulder bag containing a T. G. & Y. sack which held $2,400.00.

Kent Harrison, a detective with the Oklahoma City Police Department, testified that on the night in question he was summoned from his home by Officer Kerr, and accompanied him to the Edmond Police Department, and then to the Safeway Store in Edmond to assist in the identification of an armed robbery suspect. The witness said he took several pictures with him and from these obtained an identification of the robber as James Franklin Smith, the defendant. Harrison stated he went with Kerr to Smith’s residence in Spencer, where he saw the defendant drive up in a red car, accompanied by a woman and two children. The witness testified that he recovered a .22 caliber pistol from an out-building shortly after Smith was seen coming from there, and helped take a bag from the woman who was with Smith. He advised the defendant of his rights and took him to the county jail.

Bob Hammer, a deputy sheriff of Oklahoma County, testified that on January 12, 1968, he was on duty in the sheriff’s office when Officer Kerr and Detective Harrison brought in the defendant and handed the witness an automatic pistol, clip and bullets, and a sack of money containing $2,400.00, which he marked and placed in envelopes to retain as evidence.

Steve Meador, a certified court reporter, testified, outside the hearing of the jury, that a transcript made by him of a hearing on a Writ of Habeas Corpus for one Ann Hyatt was a true and correct statement of the proceedings. Within the presence of the jury the witness stated that at that Habeas Corpus hearing the defendant said, in effect, that he had robbed the Safeway Store in Edmond of $2,400.00 with the aid of an automatic pistol, that he later joined Ann Hyatt, but that she did not participate in, or have knowledge of, the robbery, and that he put the sack of *810 money in her handbag without her knowledge so that the police would not find it on his person.

The defendant presented no witnesses.

The defendant first contends that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury that they should determine whether the judicial confession was voluntarily made, free of any promise or coercion, notwithstanding the fact that retained counsel for the defendant did not request the giving of such an instruction, nor was there any evidence tending to raise any question about the confession being voluntarily made. Counsel for the defendant further concedes that the specific question here presented has not been ruled on in this jurisdiction, but relies on the case of Williams v. State, Okl.Cr., 86 P.2d 1015, involving an extra-judicial confession, wherein this Court held that it was error for the trial court not to instruct the jury on this issue notwithstanding the fact that the defendant did not request that such an instruction be given.

Since neither the State nor the defendant have cited authority in this or any other jurisdiction dealing with the specific issue here presented, we are obliged, under the unique facts in the instant case, to determine whether the court’s failure to give, such an instruction constituted such error as would require a modification or reversal.

We believe that determinative of this issue are the undisputed facts that the record affirmatively discloses that subsequent to the defendant’s arrest he was twice given the Miranda warning by the officers and that prior to incriminating himself in the Habeas Corpus proceeding of Ann Hyatt, he had been thoroughly advised of his constitutional rights and knowingly and understandingly waived them. Illustrative of the warnings given in casting light on the defendant’s motivation in making the incriminatory statements is the following proceeding conducted outside the hearing of the jury and found at page 154 of the record:

“[MR. PORTER, DEFENDANT’S RETAINED TRIAL COUNSEL] Q. Have any threats or duress or promises been made to you in order to get you to give this testimony?
A. No.
Q.

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Related

Smith v. State
1973 OK CR 417 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1973)
Hinds v. State
1973 OK CR 413 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1973)
Muse v. State
1971 OK CR 290 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1971)
Paul v. State
1971 OK CR 28 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1970 OK CR 52, 468 P.2d 807, 1970 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 302, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-state-oklacrimapp-1970.