Stidham v. State

1973 OK CR 143, 507 P.2d 1312, 1973 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 770
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 13, 1973
DocketA-17114
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 1973 OK CR 143 (Stidham 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
Stidham v. State, 1973 OK CR 143, 507 P.2d 1312, 1973 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 770 (Okla. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

OPINION

BLISS, Presiding Judge.

Appellant, George A. Stidham, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged, tried and convicted in the District Court of Cleveland County, Case No. CRF-71-37, for the crime of Murder. He was sentenced to serve a term of life imprisonment in the state penitentiary in accordance with the verdict of the jury, and a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.

The record discloses the following facts. Billy Bob and Connie Cunningham testified that Jackie Jo Unsell was living with them in Oklahoma City on January 29, 1971. At approximately 4:00 p. m. on that date, the defendant arrived at the Cunningham home with a 12-gauge shotgun in his possession. Mrs. Cunningham observed the shotgun being placed in defendant’s car before he left a few minutes after 4:00 p. m. Defendant returned to the Cunningham home at approximately 5:00 p. m. and told Billy Bob that he would kill anyone before he went to the penitentiary for a hundred years and that he was not going to let anyone “snitch” on him. To which Cunningham replied, “No, me neither.”

The defendant then left the house in his automobile at approximately 5:30 p. m. with Jackie Jo Unsell, who was carrying an overnight case, a paper sack containing clothing, and a purse. They drove to the defendant’s mother’s home where they finally left at about 8:00 p. m., again in defendant’s automobile.

The next time the defendant was seen that night was at approximately 11:15 p. m. at Lake Thunderbird in Cleveland County. Witness Songer testified that he recognized the defendant as the person he had helped to pull a car from the lake that night. The auto was located four to four and one-half miles east of the Franklin Store where the road runs into Lake Thunderbird, and was approximately 20 feet into the lake. Songer testified that the defendant’s clothes were wet nearly to his waist.

Defense witness Rackley testified that the defendant visited his Oklahoma City home at approximately midnight on the night of January 29, 1971; and that defendant’s clothing did not appear wet or muddy at that time.

The defendant’s mother, Mrs. Marshall, testified that the defendant arrived at her *1316 home at about 12:15 a. m. on the 30th of January; that there was nothing unusual about his appearance or clothing; and that she did not observe any mud on defendant’s automobile.

The body of a young woman, later identified as Jackie Jo Unsell, was discovered near the community of Franklin, in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, during the morning of January 30, 1971. The County Medical Examiner examined the body at the scene and was of the opinion that the cause of death was a gunshot wound in the right lower rib cage and that there was another wound in the right hip; that death occurred before midnight January 29, 1971, and probably twelve hours before his arrival at 9:00 a. m. on the 30th. During the autopsy, shotgun wadding, later identified as from a 12-gauge shotgun, was removed from the body of the victim as well as shotgun pellets, later identified as number four pellets.

The defendant was arrested without a warrant at approximately 9:00 p. m. January 30, 1971, in Oklahoma City and advised of his rights. Following arrest, the defendant was taken to the Cleveland County Jail and incarcerated. At 3:15 p. m. on Sunday, January 31, 1971, the defendant was interviewed by the Sheriff concerning the death of Jackie Jo Unsell after the defendant had executed a written advice of rights form. The defendant stated that he last saw Jackie Jo Unsell around 10:30 p. m. on the 29th when he let her out of his car in Oklahoma City where she had parked her auto.

The following morning (Monday, January 31), the defendant was arraigned and again advised of his rights. After acknowledging that he understood his rights, the defendant asked the Sheriff to tell him what evidence he had on the case. After the Sheriff complied the defendant replied, “I won’t take this alone. I took the victim out there, but I didn’t shoot her. Billy Bob Cunningham shot her.” The defendant then directed the Sheriff to the death scene; the area where shotgun shells and a shotgun were thrown from the car; the place where the victim’s overnight case, clothes and purse were disposed of; and the location where the defendant drove his car into the lake. The articles were later found by the police to be generally where the defendant had indicated. The gun found was identified as a 12-gauge shotgun which had fired the number four shells also found at the scene.

I

Defendant’s first, second and third propositions may be discussed together since they concern defendant’s motions to suppress evidence which were overruled by the magistrate and the trial court.

Defendant contends that the arresting officer did not have sufficient cause to arrest the defendant for murder; that the warrantless arrest was thus illegal; that the evidence obtained at the death scene was a fruit of defendant’s statements made after his arrest; and that as fruits of the original unlawful arrest, they were, as a matter of law, inadmissible. After reviewing the record, we find that the motions to suppress evidence were correctly overruled.

Both the magistrate and the trial court found that there was probable cause for arrest under 22 O.S., § 196. Giving due weight to these findings, we think them amply justified by the facts in the record. Title 22 O.S.1971, § 196, provides in part:

“A peace officer may, without a warrant, arrest a person:
* * * # * *
“3. When a felony has in fact been committed, and he has reasonable cause for believing the person arrested to have committed it.”

This Court set forth the standard by which facts allegedly constituting “reasonable cause” are to be measured in Cudjo v. State, Okl.Cr., 489 P.2d 1101, 1105, as follows:

“ * * * If the facts are such that a reasonably prudent man would have believed the accused guilty, and would *1317 have acted upon that belief, a police officer is justified in making an arrest without a warrant (for a felony). * * * »

See State v. Chronister, Okl.Cr., 353 P.2d 493. There need not be absolute, irrefutable cause. Welch v. State, Okl.Cr., 236 P. 68.

The record of the hearing conducted on defendant’s motion to suppress reveals that the investigating officers knew that the victim Unsell had been shot by a shotgun. The victim was later identified and officers interviewed Billy Bob and Connie Cunningham in whose home the victim had been living. From them it was learned that the victim had been last seen with the defendant; that the defendant had had a shotgun in his possession at that time; and that the defendant had made threatening remarks about the victim. We find these facts to be sufficient for the magistrate and trial court to rule that probable cause for arrest was shown and the arrest was legal.

But even if the arrest were illegal, the evidence to which defendant objects does not come within the “fruit of the poisoned tree” doctrine.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1973 OK CR 143, 507 P.2d 1312, 1973 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 770, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stidham-v-state-oklacrimapp-1973.