Thornton v. State

1948 OK CR 43, 193 P.2d 609, 86 Okla. Crim. 394, 1948 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 170
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 5, 1948
DocketNo. A-10762.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 1948 OK CR 43 (Thornton 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
Thornton v. State, 1948 OK CR 43, 193 P.2d 609, 86 Okla. Crim. 394, 1948 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 170 (Okla. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

JONES, J.

The defendant, Ray Thornton, was charged by an information filed in the municipal criminal court of the city of Tulsa, by the city attorney of Tulsa, with the unlawful possession of intoxicating liquor as a violation of the statutes of Oklahoma, was tried and convicted by a jury which fixed his punishment at imprisonment in the county jail of Tulsa county for a period of 90 days arid to pay a fine of $250. Thereafter, a motion for a new trial was filed and the same was overruled on February 4, 1946. On June 3, 1946, the case-made with petition in error attached was filed in the office of the Clerk of the Criminal Court of Appeals.

On November 21, 1947, the state filed a motion to dismiss the appeal upon three grounds, to wit: First, the appeal was not taken within sixty days after the judgment was rendered and no extension of time in which to perfect his appeal was entered by the court; second, the case-made contains no copy of the judgment and sentence of the trial court; third, there is no law which authorizes an appeal from the municipal criminal court of the city of Tulsa to the Criminal Court of Appeals.

It has been held that where an appeal is taken from an alleged judgment of conviction, and the transcript of the record or case-made contains no copy of the judgment of the trial court, this court does not acquire jur *396 isdiction of the appeal, and sneb appeal will be dismissed. Patton v. State, 60 Okla. Cr. 409, 64 P. 2d 1245; Fowler v. State, 11 Okla. Cr. 157, 143 P. 658; Loyd v. State, 12 Okla. Cr. 82, 151 P. 1190; Harjoe v. State, 14 Okla. Cr. 187, 169 P. 659.

In the brief in support of the response to the motion to dismiss tbe appeal, counsel for defendant states:

“We agree that the defendant’s appeal to this Court is premature and that the court at this time has no jurisdiction to entertain his appeal, as no time had ever been appointed by the honorable trial court to enter judgment upon the verdict of the jury, and that no judgment and sentence has ever been rendered in this cause, and that there is no journal entry of judgment in the ■ records of this cause; and that because of these omissions upon the part of the honorable trial court this court has no jurisdiction at this time of this appeal.”

An examination of the record discloses that when the jury returned its verdict of guilty, that the Clerk of the court entered the verdict on the docket. No time was fixed by the court for the pronouncement of judgment and sentence in accordance with the verdict of the jury, and no judgment and sentence has ever been pronounced upon the verdict. It has apparently been the practice in the municipal criminal court to treat the verdict of the jury as the judgment and according to statements of counsel the practice has been to issue commitments in criminal cases based upon the verdict of the jury. Such procedure in prosecutions instituted in said court for violations of the laws of the state is not a compliance with the laws of our state pertaining to the pronouncement of judgment and sentence pursuant to the verdict of a jury.

*397 By statute it is provided:

“After a plea or verdict of guilty, or after a verdict against tbe defendant on a plea of a former conviction or acquittal, if tbe judgment is not arrested or a new trial granted, tbe court must appoint a time for pronouncing judgment.” Tit. 22 O.'S. 1941 § 961.
“Tbe time appointed must be at least two days after tbe verdict, if tbe court intend to remain in session so long; or, if not, at as remote a time as can reasonably be allowed.” Tit. 22 O. S. 1941 § 962.
“For tbe purpose of judgment, if the conviction is for misdemeanor judgment may be pronounced in tbe defendant’s absence.” Tit. 22 O. S. 1941 § 963.

In criminal cases tbe appeal is from the judgment imposing tbe sentence and tbe time for perfecting tbe appeal runs from tbe date tbe judgment and sentence is imposed, and not from tbe date of tbe overruling of tbe motion for new trial. Wyatt v. State, 81 Okla. Cr. 248, 162 P. 2d 884; Johnson v. State, 70 Okla,. Cr. 322, 106 P. 2d 128; Easterwood v. State, 38 Okla. Cr. 298, 260 P. 789. Upon tbe remanding of this case with directions for tbe trial court to proceed to pronounce judgment and sentence in accordance with tbe verdict of the jury, tbe time for taking tbe appeal will run from tbe date tbe judgment is entered.

Counsel for tbe defendant, while conceding that tbe appeal should be dismissed for the reason that no judgment and sentence has been pronounced upon tbe verdict of tbe jury, asks this court to bold that the verdict of the jury is unenforceable at this time because of tbe failure of tbe court to pronounce the judgment within a reasonable time after tbe verdict of tbe jury was rendered.

*398 In the recent case of Boykin, v. State, 86 Okla Cr. 175, 190 P. 2d 471, this court, in a lengthy opinion, reviewed the statutes pertaining to this question and the decisions of this court and of many other states on the question involved. In view of our holding in the Boykin case, this contention now presented by the defendant will not be sustained. It appears that the counsel for defendant as well as the court treated the verdict of the jury as the judgment of the court and this purported appeal was filed. The pendency of this appeal therefore constitutes sufficient cause for the court not pronouncing judgment and sentence during the pendency of the appeal. If the municipal criminal court without further delay fixes a definite time for pronouncing judgment and sentence and proceeds to pronounce judgment and sentence upon the verdict of the jury without undue delay, then it cannot be said to have lost jurisdiction to pronounce judgment and sentence by reason of an unusual delay in the pronouncement of said judgment and sentence.

One other proposition was presented in the motion to dismiss the appeal which we shall not decide, but which we wish to again direct attention to the parties concerned. Counsel for the state stated that there was no law which authorized an appeal from a conviction in the municipal criminal court to the Criminal Court of Appeals. This question was not briefed either by the state or defendant. For that reason, we shall not express an opinion on said question. Attention is directed, however, specifically to Tit. 11 O. S. 1941 § 807, which provides for an appeal to the district court from the judgment of the municipal criminal court in certain cases.

*399 Said statute provides:

“Appeals may be taken from any order or judgment of such municipal criminal court made by virtue of any of the provisions of this Act to the District Court of the County in which such municipal court is located in the same manner and with the same effect as is now or may hereafter be provided for County Courts of the State of Oklahoma in like cases.” Tit. 11 O. S. 1941 § 807.

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

Related

Peters v. State
1961 OK CR 85 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1961)
Smith v. State
1961 OK CR 10 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1961)
Moran v. State
1958 OK CR 112 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1958)
Brown v. State
1954 OK CR 140 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1954)
Livingston v. State
1954 OK CR 125 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1954)
State v. Smith
1954 OK CR 37 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1954)
Crawford v. State
1953 OK CR 105 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1953)
De Wolf v. State
1953 OK CR 43 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1948 OK CR 43, 193 P.2d 609, 86 Okla. Crim. 394, 1948 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 170, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thornton-v-state-oklacrimapp-1948.