State v. O'Donnell

61 P. 892, 36 Or. 222, 1900 Ore. LEXIS 6
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 30, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 61 P. 892 (State v. O'Donnell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. O'Donnell, 61 P. 892, 36 Or. 222, 1900 Ore. LEXIS 6 (Or. 1900).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Moore

delivered the opinion.

The defendant Thomas O’Donnell was jointly indicted with James Roach for the alleged larceny of a cow and a calf, the property of one Allen Rhodes, of the value of $30 and $12, respectively, committed in Umatilla County, Oregon, October 25, 1898; and, having been separately tried, he was found guilty thereof, and from the judgment which followed he appeals.

The testimony introduced at the trial tended to show that Rhodes owned a black muley cow and her black muley bull calf, which were missed about October 20, 1898, and three or four, weeks thereafter the cow was found about fifteen miles from his place, in the defendant Roach’s inclosed stubble field, and the calf’s hide near Pendleton, at the slaughter house of Swartz & Greulich, to whom Roach sold the calf, with three others, which he purchased, with said cow and other cattle, from the defendant O’Donnell. The state called one A. D. Rhonimus, who, over the defendant’s objection and exception, was permitted to testify that, having visited said slaughter house, he found a red hide, which he recognized as having been taken from a calf which he had missed, and which was included in the sale so made by Rhodes to Swartz & Greulich, and that-he had never sold the calf, or authorized any one to take, kill, or flay it. [224]*224It is contended that, the defendant having been charged with the larceny of a cow and a calf, the property of Rhodes, the court erred in admitting testimony tending to show the commission of an independent crime. “The general rule,” says Mr. Justice Bean, in State v. Baker, 23 Or. 441 (32 Pac. 161), “is unquestioned that evidence of a distinct crime unconnected with that laid in the indictment cannot be given in evidence against the prisoner. Such evidence tends to mislead the jury, creates a prejudice against the prisoner, and requires him to answer a charge for the defense of which he is not supposed to have made preparation.” The rule is well settled that evidence of the prisoner’s participation in the commission of crimes wholly unconnected with that for which he is put upon trial is inadmissible : Greenleaf, Ev. §52; Dunn v. State, 2 Ark. 229 (35 Am. Dec. 54); Rosenweig v. People, 63 Barb. 634; Bonsall v. State, 35 Ind. 460; Coleman v. People, 55 N. Y. 81; People v. Gibbs, 93 N. Y. 470; Barton v. State, 18 Ohio, 221 (98 Am. Dec. 118).

The rule that evidence of crimes other than that charged in the indictment is inadmissible is subject to a few exceptions, speaking of which Mr. Underhill, in his valuable work on Criminal Evidence (section 87), says: ‘ ‘These exceptions are carefully limited and guarded by the courts, and their number should not be increased.” The author gives five exceptions to such rule, which may be summarized as follows: (1) If several similar criminal acts are so connected by the prisoner, with respect to time and locality, that they form an inseparable transaction, and a complete account of the offense charged in the indictment cannot be given without detailing the particulars of such other acts, evidence of any or all of the component parts thereof is admissible to prove the whole general plan: State v. Roberts, 15 Or. 187 (13 Pac. 896); Phillips v. People, 57 Barb. 353; Hickam v. People, 137 Ill. 75 (27 N. E. 88); [225]*225Turner v. State, 102 Ind. 425 (1 N. E. 869); Commonwealth v. Robinson, 146 Mass. 571 (16 N. E. 452); People v. Foley, 64 Mich. 148 (31 N. W. 94); State v. Williamson, 106 Mo. 162 (17 S. W. 172); State v. Perry. 136 Mo. 126 (37 S. W. 804); Brown v. Commonwealth, 76 Pa. St. 319. Mr. Justice Agnew, in Shaffner v. Commonwealth, 72 Pa. St. 60 (13 Am. Rep. 649), in commenting upon this exception, says: “To make one criminal act evidence of another, a connection between them must have existed in the mind of the actor, linking them together for some purpose he intended to accomplish. ’ ’ (2) When the commission of the act charged in the indictment is practically admitted by the prisoner, who seeks to avoid criminal responsibility therefor by relying upon the lack of intent or want of guilty knowledge, evidence of the commission by him of similar independent offenses before or after that upon which he is being tried, and having no apparent connection therewith, is admissible to prove such intent or knowledge, which has become the material issue for trial: Yarborough v. State, 41 Ala. 405; People v. Sanders, 114 Cal. 216 (46 Pac. 153); Langford v. State, 33 Fla. 233 (14 South. 815); Stafford v. State, 55 Ga. 591; Anson v. People, 148 Ill. 494 (35 N. E. 145); Commonwealth v. Bradford, 126 Mass. 42; People v. Henssler, 48 Mich. 49 (11 N. W. 804); Lindsey v. State, 38 Ohio St. 507; Goersen v. Commonwealth, 99 Pa. St. 388; State v. Habib, 18 R. I. 558 (30 Atl. 462); Zoldoske v. State, 82 Wis. 580 (52 N. W. 778). Mr. Justice Rapallo, in People v. Corbin, 56 N. Y. 563 (15 Am. Rep. 427), speaking of this exception, says : “The cases in which offenses other than those charged in the indictment may be proved, for the purpose of showing guilty knowledge or intent, are very few.” (3) If the facts and circumstances tend to show that the prisoner committed an independent dissimilar crime, to enable him to perpetrate or to conceal [226]*226an offense, such, evidence is admissible against him upon an indictment charging the auxiliary crime, when the intent to perpetrate or conceal such offense furnished the motive for committing the crime for which he is put upon trial: State v. Watkins, 9 Conn. *47; Painter v. People, 147 Ill. 444 (35 N. E. 64); People v. Harris, 136 N. Y. 423 (33 N. E. 65); Templeton v. People, 27 Mich. 501; Pierson v. People, 79 N. Y. 424 (35 Am. Rep. 524); Commonwealth v. Ferrigan, 44 Pa. St. 386; People v. Stout, 4 Parker, Cr. R. 71; Crass v. State, 31 Tex. Cr. R. 312 (20 S. W. 579); Moore v. United States, 150 U. S. 57 (14 Sup. Ct. 26, 37 L. Ed. 996). (4) When a crime has been committed by the use of a novel means or in a particular manner, evidence of the defendant’s commission of similar offenses by the use of such means or in such manner is admissible against him, as tending to prove the identity of persons from the similarity of such means, or the peculiarity of the manner adopted by him : Frazier v. State, 135 Ind. 38 (34 N. E. 817); Commonwealth v. Choate, 105 Mass. 451; Brown v. State, 26 Ohio St. 176. (5) When a prisoner is charged with any form of illicit sexual intercourse, evidence of the commission of similar crimes by the same parties is admissible to prove an inclination to commit the act for which the accused is put upon his trial: Bishop, Stat. Cr.§ 679; State v. Scott, 28 Or. 331 (42 Pac. 1); McLeod v. State, 35 Ala. 395; People v. Patterson, 102 Cal. 239 (36 Pac. 436); Lefforge v. State, 129 Ind. 551 (29 N. E. 34); State v. Williams, 76 Me. 480;

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

Related

State v. Manrique
531 P.2d 239 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1975)
State v. Woolard
467 P.2d 652 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1970)
State v. Moore
460 P.2d 866 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1969)
State v. Latta
425 P.2d 186 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1967)
State v. Howell
388 P.2d 282 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1964)
State v. Holleman
357 P.2d 264 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1960)
State v. Schell
356 P.2d 155 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1960)
State v. Wilson
351 P.2d 944 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1960)
State v. Edges
251 P.2d 590 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1952)
State v. Elges
251 P.2d 590 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1952)
State of Oregon v. Long
244 P.2d 1033 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1952)
State of Oregon v. Risen
235 P.2d 764 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1951)
State v. Ankeny
204 P.2d 133 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1949)
State v. Kappas
114 P.2d 205 (Utah Supreme Court, 1941)
Hergenrother v. State
18 N.E.2d 784 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1939)
State v. Albert
82 P.2d 689 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1938)
State v. Gillis
59 P.2d 679 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1936)
State v. Stacey
56 P.2d 1152 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1936)
State v. Stratford
37 P.2d 681 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1934)
State v. Moltzner
17 P.2d 555 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1932)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
61 P. 892, 36 Or. 222, 1900 Ore. LEXIS 6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-odonnell-or-1900.