State v. Unsworth

402 P.2d 507, 240 Or. 453, 1965 Ore. LEXIS 520
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedMay 26, 1965
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 402 P.2d 507 (State v. Unsworth) 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. Unsworth, 402 P.2d 507, 240 Or. 453, 1965 Ore. LEXIS 520 (Or. 1965).

Opinion

McAllister, C. J.

The defendant, William TJnsworth, was convicted of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for life. He appealed and this court reversed the conviction and remanded the case for a new trial because of error in the admission of certain hearsay evidence. State v. Unsworth, 235 Or 234, 384 P2d 207 (1963). While the case was pending retrial it was resubmitted to the *455 grand jury, which returned a new indictment, again charging defendant with murder in the second degree. The defendant was tried on the new indictment, convicted, and again sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for life. He again appeals.

The only serious questions presented in appellant’s brief involve the admission in evidence of testimony concerning incriminating oral statements made by defendant at about the time of his arrest and of a written statement made by defendant as a result of his interrogation by the authorities while he was in custody in Klamath Palls.

As a witness on his own behalf, defendant testified that on or about April 15, 1962, in the living room of his home in Beatty he shot and killed one Anthony Moore. Beatty is a village on the highway traversing the Klamath Indian Reservation.

Defendant contended that the shooting was accidental and testified that it occurred in the following manner. Defendant lived with his wife, Helen, in a small house in Beatty; and for some years he had known Tony Moore, who was also living in Beatty. Defendant and Moore had worked together all day on Sunday, April 15, 1962, at cleaning up a yard for the owner of the tavern in Beatty. According to the defendant the two men quit work about five o’clock in the afternoon, defendant went to the tavern, drew $5.00 from his employer, drank a glass of beer, bought a couple of cans of beer and went home. Defendant had invited Moore to come to his house for supper. Moore was late and defendant went to the neighbors looking for Moore. Defendant did not find Moore but on the way back was accosted by “an Indian fellow” who told defendant they didn’t want white people in Beatty and that he was going to run defendant out of town. Ac *456 cording to defendant the Indian said that “he was going to go get his gun and come back and shoot at me. I told him to go ahead and get his gnn and he took off to the east from the corner and I went on home.”

Later in the evening Tony Moore arrived at defendant’s home and brought with him a half gallon of wine. Defendant opened the jug and poured drinks for himself, his wife, and for Tony. At about that time defendant heard someone talking outside his house and his dogs, which were in the house, started to “make an uproar.” Defendant picked up his gun, a 30-30 Winchester rifle, and after letting his dogs out, stepped outside and walked around the house. Defendant found no one and returned to the house. He testified:

“* * * Of course, it was dark and I couldn’t see anybody so I came on around the rest of the house and I stepped up on the porch * * * so I walked in the house with this gun cocked—I will absolutely not play around with a cocked gun and so I went to uncock the gun so I took the gun in my hand just like that and, of course, this was cocked then and I turned around and I opened the door and I stepped in and closed the door and just at the minute that I stepped in there I called my dogs in and then I closed the door. As I turned around, my wife just screamed at the top of her lungs, ‘Bill, put that goddamn gun down’, so I started into the kitchen and I had the hammer held back like this and I pulled the trigger to let the gun—to let the hammer down and my wife yelled at me and the hammer slipped and the gun went off.”

The bullet struck Moore in the abdomen and killed him.

The shooting occurred about midnight on Sunday, April 15, 1962. After the shooting the defendant remained in the cabin and sent his wife to summon help *457 and notify the authorities. According to defendant he drank a considerable quantity of wine while he was waiting, and finally lay down on the bed. He testified that he remembered nothing from the time he lay down until he “woke up” in the district attorney’s office in Klamath Falls later in the day.

A deputy sheriff named Conroy, who went to defendant’s cabin to investigate the shooting, testified that while they were getting the defendant ready to take him to Klamath Falls, the following occurred:

“Q. What happened then?
“A. Well, he finally got the shirt on and part of it buttoned up and under his belt and then he grabbed for his pipe and tobacco and started to fill this pipe. He was having a pretty rough time and I offered to assist him and he told me, ‘to get your goddamned hands away’ that he could take care of himself.
“Q. Do you remember the exact words that he used at the time?
“A. ‘Get your goddamned hands away from me, I’ll wait on myself.’
“Q. What happened then?
“A. He staggered around and finally got the pipe filled and looked at me and he said, ‘I’ve got a gun and I’ll shoot your guts out, you son of a bitch’.
“Q. Then what happened—where was he when he said that?
“A. Standing by the bed.
“Q. Then, did he say anything else after that?
“A. Well, he raved on quite a little bit and turned around and observed Tony Moore sitting in the chair and he said, ‘There is Tony’ he says—he says ‘He got in my way and I had to kill him’. He said to me again, ‘If I had my gun, I’d kill you too, you son of a bitch’, that’s the words he said.”

*458 Another deputy sheriff as a witness repeated in substance the statements related by Conroy, and also testified as follows:

“Q. Was there any other conversation in your presence that you heard?
“A. Yes, Mrs. Unsworth came in and told Mr. Unsworth to shut up and he called her several names.
“Q. Mr. Hutton, we are going to have to know if you can recall the exact words that he said?
“A. He called her a ‘dirty son of a bitch and a slut,’ and he says, ‘You’re the cue that I intended to kill anyway’, and he tried to get away from us to get at her.
“Q. Was there any other conversation in your presence ?
“A. I heard him tell Mr. Walker two or three times that he shouldn’t—he didn’t intend to kill Tony and that he was his best friend.
“Q. Anything else?
“A. That’s all the conversation.
“Q. You testified a little while ago that you saw some kind of an argument between Mr. Unsworth and Mr. Conroy, did you hear the conversation if any, or any of the argument?
“A.

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

Related

State v. McGinnis
64 P.3d 1123 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2003)
State v. Lopez
936 P.2d 386 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1997)
City of Lake Oswego v. $23,232.23 in Cash
916 P.2d 865 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1996)
State v. McKendall
584 P.2d 316 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1978)
State v. Poole
572 P.2d 320 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1977)
State v. Gaylor
527 P.2d 4 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1974)
Unsworth v. Gladden
261 F. Supp. 897 (D. Oregon, 1966)
State v. Frazier
418 P.2d 841 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1966)
Lugo v. Gladden
414 P.2d 324 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1966)
Washington v. People
405 P.2d 735 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1965)
State v. Hammon
404 P.2d 851 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1965)
State v. Dean
404 P.2d 797 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1965)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
402 P.2d 507, 240 Or. 453, 1965 Ore. LEXIS 520, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-unsworth-or-1965.