Sneed v. State

1975 OK CR 66, 534 P.2d 1321, 1975 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 329
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 22, 1975
DocketNo. PC-75-58
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1975 OK CR 66 (Sneed 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
Sneed v. State, 1975 OK CR 66, 534 P.2d 1321, 1975 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 329 (Okla. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

OPINION

BLISS, Judge:

Appellant, Cecil Ray Sneed, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged in the District Court, Pottawatomie County, for the offense of Burglary Second Degree. Upon a plea of guilty the court assessed a five (5) year sentence and suspended said sentence upon defendant’s good behavior. On August 29, 1974, following a hearing held upon an application to revoke the suspended sentence of defendant filed by the District Attorney, the trial court revoked defendant’s suspended sentence. Subsequently, defendant made application in the District Court of said county for post conviction relief. From an adverse ruling of the trial court, defendant has perfected a timely appeal to this Court.

In summary, at the hearing of the State’s application to revoke defendant’s suspended sentence, the testimony of Officer T. J. Hill, Police Officer for the-City of Perryton, Texas, revealed that on July 10, 1974, he stopped a white 1974 Thunderbird. After stopping the vehicle he observed defendant to be seated on the passenger side of the vehicle. In his company were a Mr. Burrows who was driving the vehicle and a Mr. Allen who was seated in the back seat. After observing motions made by Allen, he drew his revolver and ordered the three men from the vehicle. The trio was ordered to the front of the vehicle and frisked for weapons. Subsequently, a search of the vehicle revealed a loaded .22 Magnum single-action revolver in the back seat next to where Allen was sitting. In the front seat between the driver’s seat and passenger’s seat, was a loaded .410 shotgun pistol with the butt up and barrel down, and cocked. The gun was on the side of the console toward the passenger side of the vehicle, the side where defendant was sitting. The State offered this weapon into evidence and the weapon was admitted without objection of defense counsel.

Ella Renfro, a Pottawatomie County Probation and Parole Officer, testified that during the period of time, six months, she had been assigned as a parole officer in the County the defendant had never reported to her.

[1323]*1323State’s Exhibits Nos. 2 through 8 were offered and admitted into evidence without objection of defense counsel. Said exhibits were judgments and sentences of convictions of one of the companions in the vehicle, Burrows. Said exhibits established that Burrows was a convicted felon and were introduced for the purpose of showing defendant was keeping company with convicted felons, contrary to the provisions of his probationary status.

Thereafter the State rested its case.

On behalf of the defense, Annie Marie Sneed testified that on the date that defendant was arrested he was looking for work. To her knowledge that was the reason defendant was in the company of Burrows and Allen on the date he was arrested. On cross-examination she stated it was her understanding he was going to look for work in Oklahoma City and it wasn’t until the day following his arrest that she learned that he was arrested in Texas. She stated defendant parted from the house in his 1966 Chevrolet, however, while she was absent from the home defendant’s car was returned that same date and was in the front yard when she returned.

Defendant testified he was the same person placed on probation in the same court in May of 1974. On that date he was living in Tishomingo and subsequently moved to Seminole, Oklahoma, for the reason he was unable to find work in Tishomingo. He testified he had paid the five dollar fee required of a probationer, but stated that he had not met with a corrections officer for the reason he was not notified who the officer was or where he was to meet with him. He also stated he did not inform a probation officer of his change of address. He stated that on the date he was arrested he left for Oklahoma City in his car. He had trouble with a rear wheel bearing and therefore returned it to his house. He walked from the house to Highway 9 where he attempted to hitchhike to Oklahoma City. Burrows and Allen picked him up. He testified that he told them he was going to Oklahoma City to look for work; that they told him he could get work as a roughneck for a drilling firm, Baker and Taylor in Texas; and that he decided to go there with them to find a job. Defendant testified he had no knowledge that the firearms in question were in the vehicle. The evidence also revealed Burrows and the defendant had previously worked together at a service station.

Officer T. J. Hill was recalled to testify, and on rebuttal stated no work clothes were found inside the vehicle at the time of arrest and the additional items (tools) were found in a consent search in the trunk.

Defense counsel urges in his first proposition of error that the evidence adduced at the revocation hearing is not sufficient to establish a basis for revocation of defendant’s suspended sentence. Defense counsel in detail urges; that the evidence is insufficient to show defendant violated a city, State or Federal law; that the evidence is insufficient to show that the Gene Allen Burrows represented in the seven judgments and sentences introduced into evidence as State’s Exhibits Nos. 2 through 8 was the same Gene Aldon Burrows defendant was known to work and associate with; that the judgments and sentences were insufficient to place defendant on notice of the manner in which he was to report to the Department of Corrections while on probation; and that the evidence of temporary absence of defendant outside the boundaries of the State of Oklahoma was not sufficient to constitute leaving the State of Oklahoma as prohibited by the terms of probation.

Before this Court is able to determine whether or not the evidence is sufficient to constitute a violation of the terms of probation, we first must look to the terms set by the court within the judgment and sentence and the court minutes to determine what the provisions of probation were. The summary of facts entered at defendant’s plea of guilty, page 4 of the original record, and a portion of the minutes of [1324]*1324that court’s record provides the conditions of probation and states them as follows :

“1. If you violate any City, State of (sic) Federal laws;
“2. If you should be in possession of narcotic drugs;
“3. If you habitually associate with convicted felons, or with lewd or vicious persons;
“4. If you indulge in vicious habits;
“5. If .you leave the State of Oklahoma without first having received written permission of the Corrections Officer to do so;
“6. If you change residence from the address you gave the Corrections Officer, without notifying said officer in writing promptly;
“7. If you fail to report in writing to the Corrections Department as directed by them;
“8. If you fail to pay the required sum of money each month to the Clerk of the Court as instructed;
“9. If you fail to pay the Court costs in the sum of $80.00 on or before August 1, 1974; or, * * *”

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Related

Witherspoon v. State
1988 OK CR 40 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
1975 OK CR 66, 534 P.2d 1321, 1975 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 329, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sneed-v-state-oklacrimapp-1975.