Sowell v. State

1967 OK CR 127, 430 P.2d 820, 1967 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 366
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 26, 1967
DocketNo. A-14165
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1967 OK CR 127 (Sowell 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
Sowell v. State, 1967 OK CR 127, 430 P.2d 820, 1967 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 366 (Okla. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

BRETT, Judge.

Holly Sowell, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged in the district court of Tulsa County, on January 22, 1965, with burglary, second degree, after former conviction of a felony. The cause was tried on March 5, 1965, before a jury, defendant was found guilty, and was thereafter sentenced to serve not less than five nor more than fifteen years in the state penitentiary, and he was transferred to that institution.

While in the penitentiary, defendant began efforts to perfect an appeal. He filed in this Court an application for writ of mandamus, to require the trial court to grant the preparation of a transcript of the proceedings, at public expense, and his application was granted.

In compliance with the order of this Court, which was issued July 28, 1965, the trial court had such transcript prepared and appointed counsel to represent the defendant on his appeal. Thereafter, on August 27, 1965 a petition in error with the transcript attached was filed in this Court, which was erroneously entered on the court clerk’s docket under the same style and number of the mandamus proceeding. The petition in error and transcript should have been docketed as a new case, with a new number.

Subsequently, on November 24, 1965 this Court rendered an opinion reversing and remanding the cause to the trial court for a new trial. The State’s petition for rehearing was denied on December 14, 1965. Sowell v. State, Okl.Cr., 408 P.2d 561. However, because of the erroneous docket entry, the mandate of this Court was not handed down until November 17, 1966. In the meantime, the defendant remained incarcerated in the state penitentiary at McAlester, Oklahoma.

During the month of June, 1966 the defendant filed his petition for writ of habeas corpus in the district court of Pittsburg County, seeking his discharge from the penitentiary, alleging a lack of speedy trial, based on this Court’s earlier opinion which reversed and remanded his conviction. Such matter was brought to the attention of the Tulsa County authorities, who immediately requested the Tulsa County District Court for issuance of an order returning the defendant to Tulsa for a new trial.

On Monday, June 27, 1966 the defendant’s cause came on for arraignment in the district court of Tulsa County, before the Honorable Robert D. Summs, and defendant entered a plea of “not guilty”. At that hearing, the defendant informed the judge, that he had withdrawn his petition for writ of habeas corpus in the district court of Pittsburg County. Because of the uncertainty of the defendant’s financial condition, the district judge considered him to be an indigent defendant, and appointed the public defender at Tulsa County to represent defendant at his second trial. The judge then set defendant’s trial date for the following Wednesday morning at 9:30. [822]*822tention was that he was entitled to a speedy-trial. The State’s position was that defendant was being offered a speedy trial, but the defendant was resisting such trial, without offering justifiable reasons.

The record shows that defense counsel, while contending lack of preparation refused to request a continuance as provided for in the statutes. During this discussion, the district judge most succinctly stated, “Gentlemen, it seems kind of like we have got a game of cat and mouse going on here, and I don’t quite understand who is the cat and who is the mouse”. Thereafter the judge set the matter to be tried at 1:30 p. m. that same day.

At 1:30 p. m. the defendant and his two court-appointed attorneys appeared before the Hon. Leslie Webb, supernumerary judge, to stand trial. Defense counsel requested that the proceedings of that morning be incorporated into the record of the trial. The trial court granted defendant’s request. Thereafter, through his attorneys, the defendant entered his plea of guilty.

The trial judge then proceeded to precisely explain the defendant’s constitutional rights to him, after which he again asked the defendant to state for himself how he plead to the charges. The defendant answered the judge by stating that he wanted to plead guilty. The judge thereupon continued . to question the defendant and to each question he elicited the answer from the defendant himself.

After pleading guilty, the defendant first requested that the judge defer passing of judgment and sentence for ten days. However, after a conference with his attorneys he reconsidered the request, insofar as the judge stated that he would permit him to remain in the jurisdiction of the court for ten days, in order that he could perfect his appeal. At that point, the defendant requested immediate sentencing by the court.

However, in order to assure that the court was fully advised, the judge made the following statement to the defendant, “I want him to be completely voluntary in his choice of these matters though, but I want him to be advised that the court has the right to order him committed without bond from this time until sentence time— so, whatever you want to do”. To which statement the defendant answered, “I would like to have the sentence now, your Honor.”

Upon the district attorney’s recommendation, the court sentenced defendant to serve six years imprisonment in the state penitentiary. The court then set the defendant’s appeal bond at $10,000, and stayed the execution of the judgment and sentence for ten days.

The defendant filed his motion for a new trial, which was overruled; filed his notice of intent to appeal, and his affidavit for appeal forma pauperis. The court ordered preparation of the transcript at public expense, and subsequently this appeal was perfected.

Defendant sets forth four errors in his motion for new trial, Mr. Jay Dalton, who was appointed to represent the defendant on his appeal, sets forth six citations of error in his petition in error, which he argues in his brief under two propositions. Those propositions are stated:

“1. Error of the court in failing to dismiss the prosecution for failure to grant a speedy trial; and
“2. Error of the court in failing to dismiss the prosecution inasmuch as the trial court did not have jurisdiction to sentence the plaintiff in error at the time he was sentenced.”

In support of his first proposition, the defendant cites Article 2, § 20 of the Oklahoma State Constitution, which provides that the accused shall have the right to a speedy and public trial; and he then recites Title 22 Okl.St.Ann. § 812, which in substance provides that the defendant must be tried at the next term of court after the indictment or information is filed, or be subject to being discharged.

This Court has recently interpreted these sections of the statutes in Harge v. Turner, Okl.Cr., 404 P.2d 683; and Collins v. Page, Old.Cr., 414 P.2d 716.

[823]*823In an effort to support his contention under these constitutional and statutory provisions, defendant cites McLeod v. Graham, 6 Okl.Cr. 197, 118 P. 160, and In re Gregory, Okl.Cr., 309 P.2d 1083. He also quotes from the transcript, setting forth the prosecuting attorney’s comments, in an effort to show that Tulsa County failed to follow those requirements of the law.

In support of his second proposition, the defendant cites Egbert v. St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad Company, 50 Okl. 623, 151 P. 228, and Powers v. Holder, 168 Okl.

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Related

Dowdy v. Caswell
2002 OK CR 11 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 2002)
Ledgerwood v. State
1969 OK CR 170 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1969)

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Bluebook (online)
1967 OK CR 127, 430 P.2d 820, 1967 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 366, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sowell-v-state-oklacrimapp-1967.