Suggs v. State

1973 OK CR 236, 509 P.2d 1374
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 4, 1973
DocketA-17428
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1973 OK CR 236 (Suggs 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
Suggs v. State, 1973 OK CR 236, 509 P.2d 1374 (Okla. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

OPINION

BLISS, Presiding Judge:

Appellant, William Suggs, Jr., hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged by information in the District Court of *1376 Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma. Defendant was subsequently tried before a jury and convicted for the • lesser included offense of First Degree Manslaughter. His punishment was fixed at four (4) years in the State Penitentiary, and from said judgment and sentence, a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.

Due to the nature of the propositions of error urged by defendant in his brief, only a concise statement of the facts is presented here.

Mr. Fay Red testified that he and defendant had gone for a ride in defendant’s car around 11:00 p. m. on March 18, 1971. Defendant parked his car behind another across the street from a cafe and a barber shop located on the ground floor of the Suggs Hotel in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The barber shop was owned by defendant who lived in the back of the shop. While they sat in the car, James Hester Miller, hereinafter referred to as the victim, parked his car so close behind defendant’s car, that he could not get his car out. Upon request, the victim would not move his car. Red and the victim went inside the cafe and defendant followed, again asking the victim to move his car. The victim refused and defendant left the cafe. Red then testified that he heard defendant unlock the front door of the adjacent barber shop and shut it a few seconds later. The victim then went to the front door of the cafe and started to open it and Red heard a shot from outside and observed the victim fall back through the door onto the cafe floor.

Lewis Odell Moody testified that he was inside the cafe when the victim came in for a few minutes. Moody then observed the victim start back out the front door and heard a shot. The victim fell back onto the cafe floor.

Leslie Dean Wright, whose testimony was read into the record from the transcript of the preliminary hearing, testified that he heard defendant and the victim arguing on the common front porch. The victim had opened the front door of the cafe and started back in when Wright heard a shot and saw defendant standing in the front yard with a gun in his hand. Wright had overheard the victim threaten defendant, making the statement, “Come on out and fight, because if you don’t, I’m going to get you anyway, when I catch you without your weapon.” The victim then took his hand out of his pocket and reached for the door at which time, Wright heard a shot, Wright did not go outside himself, but he heard defendant ask someone to take him to the police or to a lawyer.

Other State witnesses testified that the body was found inside the cafe door; that a small pattern of shot holes was found in the front screen door; and that there was a .410 shotgun shell laying in the front yard. A medical expert testified that in his opinion, the victim died of a gunshot blast in the left arm, chest, neck, heart and lung. He further testified that in his opinion, the shot came from the left side of the victim as he was turning away from defendant.

Defendant testified in his own behalf and admitted shooting the victim. He further testified that he and the victim had an argument concerning the parked cars and that the victim had become belligerent, using abusive language. Defendant then went to his barber shop and residence, and the victim went to the cafe. A short time after defendant had returned to his shop, the victim left the cafe and started pounding on defendant’s door. The victim made threats, and defendant got his .410 shotgun and went out on the porch. Defendant testified that he asked the victim to leave him alone. However, the victim continued to use abusive and threatening language; and when the victim made what defendant thought to be a threatening motion, defendant fired the gun. Defendant further testified that prior to the shooting, he was acquainted with the victim’s reputation in the community for being violent, quarrelsome person who had beaten up several persons.

*1377 Defendant then put on numerous witnesses who testified that defendant had a reputation for being a peace-loving, honest and non-violent person. The State, in cross-examination, questioned certain of these witnesses concerning their knowledge of a prior arrest of defendant for carrying a concealed weapon.

Defendant first contends that the trial court erred in admitting certain pictures of the body of the deceased and his jacket as a portion of the State’s rebuttal. With this contention, we do not agree.

This Court has held on numerous occasions that the admissibility of photographs of a homicide victim taken subsequent to the homicide is left largely to the discretion of the trial court, and unless there is an abuse .of discretion, the admission of said photographs into evidence will not be a cause for reversal. In the case of Ashton v. State, Okl.Cr., 478 P.2d 932, this Court in citing Pate v. State, Okl.Cr., 361 P.2d 1086, held as follows:

“ ‘8. When a photograph is shown to be a faithful reproduction of whatever it purports to reproduce, it is admissible in evidence, as an appropriate aid to the jury in applying the evidence and this is equally true whether it relates to persons, things, or places.
“9. Although it is error to receive in evidence gruesome photographs of a homicide victim, designed primarily to arouse the passion of the jury, such photographs are admissible; when they are relevant to the issues before the court and their probative value is not outweighed by the danger of prejudice to the defendant.’ ”

The photographs in question show the victim’s body at the funeral home and were taken with particular emphasis upon the gunshot wounds in the area of his left shoulder and chest. No autopsy surgery had been undertaken, and the pictures were not gruesome. The pictures were of probative value since they tended to reflect the position of the victim with reference to the direction of fire at the instant the victim was shot. The above is also true with respect to the admission of the Victim’s j acket.

The State tried to introduce the exhibits into evidence during the State’s case in chief, and the trial court would not Allow same. Therefore, defendant argues that the trial court should not have allowed the introduction of same on rebuttal, since it was new evidence and was intended to build the State’s original case. With this argument, we do not agree. The exhibits were admissible on rebuttal after defendant’s testimony tended to raise the defense of self-defense. Therefore, we find defendant’s first proposition to be without merit.

Defendant’s second proposition urges that the trial court erred in not granting defendant’s application to allow the jury to view the scene of the crime. Title 22 O.S. § 851, states as follows:

“When, in the opinion of the court, it is proper that the jury should view the place in which the offense was charged to have been committed, or in which any other material fact occurred, it may order the jury to be conducted in a body, in the custody of proper officers, to the place, * * *.”

The case of Hill v. State, 78 Okl.Cr.

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Related

Postelle v. State
2011 OK CR 30 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 2011)
Davis v. State
1982 OK CR 95 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
1973 OK CR 236, 509 P.2d 1374, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/suggs-v-state-oklacrimapp-1973.