Stewart v. Territory

1909 OK CR 31, 100 P. 47, 2 Okla. Crim. 63, 1909 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 120
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 20, 1909
DocketNo. 2205, Okla T.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1909 OK CR 31 (Stewart v. Territory) 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
Stewart v. Territory, 1909 OK CR 31, 100 P. 47, 2 Okla. Crim. 63, 1909 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 120 (Okla. Ct. App. 1909).

Opinions

FURMAN, Presiding Judge.

First. The defendant assails the sufficiency of the indictment upon the ground that it did not allege that the assault committed by the defendant with the pistol was in a manner likely to produce death. The charging part of the indictment is as follows:

“That Lee Stewart, late of the county aforesaid, on the fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and five, in the county of Kingfisher, and territory of Oklahoma, aforesaid, with force and arms, in and upon one Fred L". Cordis, in the peace of the territory of Oklahoma then and there being, wilfully, feloniously, and from a deliberate and premeditated design to effect the death of the said Fred L. Cordis, did make an assault, and the said Lee Stewart, then and there, wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously, and from a deliberate and premeditated design to effect the death of the said Fred L. Cordis, did strike at, towards, against, and upon the head of the said Fred L. Cordis, with a certain deadly weapon, to wit, a pistol, commonly called a revolver, then and there had in the hand of the skid Lee Stewart, and the 'said) Lee Stewart, with the plistol, commonly called revolver aforesaid, by the stroke aforesaid, him, the said Lee Stewart, there and then feloniously, wilfully, and with a deliberate and premeditated design to effect the death of the said Fred L. Cordis, did cut, and wound, giving unto him, the said Fred L. Cordis, then and there, with the pistol, commonly called a revolver, aforesaid, by the cutting and wounding aforesaid, by the said Lee Stewart, in and upon the head of the said Fred L. ■■Cordis, one wound of the length of two inches of the breadth of one inch and of the depth of one-half of one inch. Contrary to the form of the statute in such ease made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the territory of Oklahoma.”

This indictment was drawn under Wilson’s Rev. & Ann. St. 1903, § £206, which is as follows:

[65]*65“(2'206) No. 287. Every person who intentionally and wrongfully shoots, shoots a.t, or attempts'to shoot'at another, with any kind of fire-arms, air-gun, or other means whatever, with intent to kill any person, or who commits any assault and battery .upon another by means of any deadly weapon, or by such other means or force as is likely to produce death or in resisting the execution of any legal pfoeess, is punishable by imprisonment in the Territorial prison not exceeding ten years.”

If the assault had been alleged to have been made by any other means or force than with a deadly weapon, then it would have been necessary to have made the further allegation that such an assault was likely to produce death to have brought the act within the statute. But, when an assault is alleged to have been-made with a deadly weapon, it is not necessary to go further under this statute, and allege that it was likely to produce death. We therefore find that there was no error in the' action of the trial court 'in sustaining the indictment.

Second. Defendant complains of the following instruction given by the court to the jury:

“A deadly weapon is any instrument, which, when used upon a human being in the manner' the evidence shows the pistol was used in this case, is reasonably likely to produce a wound or wounds from which death may reasonably be expected to result.55

The objection is that the instruction assumes .material facts of which there is no evidence. If the record sustained this contention, or if there was a conflict in the evidence upon this question, the objection would be well founded. ' It is true that there is a conflict in the evidence as to how the difficulty began, but there is no conflict in the evidence as to the manner in which the pistol was used or as to the effect of such use. The complainant testified as follows:

“He [defendant] came in there where I was, and'got me by the arm and said T want to see you out doors,5 and then I went to the middle of this room, and there was a large crowd in there, and, when I got in there about the middle, I said, ‘I don't wiant to go out there, and, if you have anything to say to me, sa.y it in here,5 and he did not say anything, but reached in here and pulled [66]*66out a gun and hit me over the head, and as quick as he pulled his gun I tried to get away, but he knocked me down — I guess he knocked me down, I don’t know really — but I know I was down on the floor after he hit me and I tried to get away.”

The defendant testified as to the usé of the gun as follows:

“Q. You hit him with the gun? A. Yes. Q. He was standing up? A. Yes ' Q. ' Did you knock him down? A. I don’t know whether I. hit him hard enough to knock him down, but he fell down. Q. He'fell down the same time you hit him? A. About that time.”

The physician who attended on the complainant testified that he had three or four bad wounds upon his head, which penetrated to the bone, winch were evidently made with a blunt instrument. The instruction given as to the manner of the use of the pistol was responsive to the testimony of the defendant as well as to the testimony of the prosecution. In view of the testimony of the defendant himself, the court was authorized to treat it as an admitted fact that the defendant had knocked the complainant down by a blow upon the head with the pistol. Counsel for the defense complain of the instruction given upon the ground that it assumed that the pistol was a deadly weapon as a matter of law, and that it took from the jury the right to determine this matter as a question of fact. The instruction complained of is not susceptible of this construction. After charging upon the manner of the use of the pistol, which was an admitted fact, the court further instructed the jury that such manner of use must have been likely to produce a wound or wounds from which death might reasonably be expected to result. This was the test submitted to the jury as to whether the pistol was a deadly weapon. The determination of this question was left to the jury without suggestion from the court. We think that the instruction given is not as. full and clear as it should have been, but, in view of the facts of this case, we do not feel that we would be authorized in disturbing the verdict on account of this instruction.

Third. The counsel for the defendant complain of the -following instruction given to the jury:

[67]*67“An assault and battery is not unlawful when committed by a person in resisting or in attempting to prevent an offense upon his person, provided he uses no more force than is reasonably necessary to protect himself. And in this case, if at the time Stewart struck ’Cordis, it was apparent to Stewart from some hostile act or demonstration of Cordis that Cordis was about to commit an assault upon his person, and he in good faith believed, and had good grounds to believe, that Cordis was in the act of doing him some bodily harm, and that it was necessary for his own safety from injury to strike Cordis,-then uncler such circumstances, the striking of Cordis by Stewart would be justifiable on the grounds of self-defense.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1909 OK CR 31, 100 P. 47, 2 Okla. Crim. 63, 1909 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stewart-v-territory-oklacrimapp-1909.