Tobler v. State

1948 OK CR 52, 194 P.2d 202, 87 Okla. Crim. 25, 1948 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 197
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 26, 1948
DocketNo. A-10845.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 1948 OK CR 52 (Tobler 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
Tobler v. State, 1948 OK CR 52, 194 P.2d 202, 87 Okla. Crim. 25, 1948 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 197 (Okla. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

BAREFOOT, P. J.

Defendant, Pleasant Tobler, was charged jointly with George Pittman and Wilson Miller in the district court of Okmulgee county with the crime of larceny of four Duroc Jersey red hogs; was granted a severance, tried, convicted, sentenced to serve a term of three years in the State Penitentiary, and has appealed.

*26 It is contended that this case should be reversed for the reason that the evidence was not sufficient to support the verdict of guilty, and that the verdict is contrary to the evidence.

The defendant and his codefendants, George Pittman and Wilson Miller, were charged with stealing four hogs from William Hadley, a farmer living five miles south of Beggs, in Okmulgee county, on May 15, 1946. The defendants and the Hadleys were Negroes.

The statute under which the defendants were charged is 21 O. S. 1941 § 1716, which is as follows:

“Any person in this State Who shall steal any horse, jackass, jennet, mule, cow, or hog, shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction shall be punished by confinement in the State Penitentiary for a term of not less than three years, nor more than ten years; * *

William Hadley testified to the ownership of the hogs, and that they were allowed to run on the open range. The hogs returned home each night to be fed. They were fed on the morning of May 15th, but did not return home that night. He further testified that he lived about 250 yards from the home of Wilson Miller. About 7 o’clock on the morning of the date in question, he saw the defendant and George Pittman at the home of Wilson Miller. He identified the date by reason of it being his birthday, and he was 81 years of age. He testified that the hogs were taken without his consent or knowledge.

Lizzie Hadley, the wife of William Hadley, testified as to the description and ownership of the hogs, and of their return home each night to be fed. They did not return on the night of May 15, 1946. It had been raining *nd she went across the creek on the morning of May *27 16th to the place where the hogs ranged, looking for them. She saw where the grass was mashed down and where the hogs had been piled up. She saw the defendant and George Pittman about 7 o’clock on the morning of May 15th, at the home of the codefendant Wilson Miller, and both of them had guns which looked like 22 calibre rifles. About 10:30 or 11 that morning, she heard gunfire in the direction of where it was later found that the hogs had been killed. About 3 o’clock that afternoon, she again saw both of these parties at the home of Wilson Miller.

Howard Williams, also a Negro farmer, testified that he had been living in that community since February, 1946. About 4 o’clock on the afternoon of May 15, 1946, he was in the bottom looking for his horses. He had known the defendant, and at that time saw him carrying a red hog on his shoulder, with a gun under his arm. The hog’s head had been cut off. The codefendant George Pittman was with the defendant at the time, and was carrying a hog, wrapped in a cotton sack. He testified that the Hadleys came over the next day looking for their hogs, and he told them about the incident.

Monroe Griffin, age fifteen years and a nephew of Howard Williams, testified that he lived with his uncle. That on May 15, 1946, he went with his uncle into the bottom to look for the horses, and his dog smelled two dead hogs, and found them there in the pasture. One was uncovered, and the other was in a sack. He saw a small bullet hole in the right side of one of the hogs, and it looked like a hole made with a 22 rifle.

When these witnesses had testified for the state, the state rested. No demurrer to the evidence or motion for a directed verdict was made, and after the opening state *28 ment to the jury, the defendant placed Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Reynolds, residents of Okmulgee, on the stand. Mr. Reynolds worked for the Phillips Refinery. He and his Wife both testified that on the afternoon of May 15, 1946, they, with a fifteen-year-old boy by the name of Randolph, went to the home of defendant for the purpose of going squirrel hunting. They fixed the date by reason of it being the first day of squirrel season. They testified that they arrived at defendant’s home about 3 or 3:30 in the afternoon, and hnnted until very late. That they were with defendant all the time on the afternoon of May 15th, and that he did not go to the Hadley premises during that time.

Defendant and his wife Addie Tobler both corroborated the testimony of the Reynolds, and defendant specifically denied killing or taking the hogs of the Hadleys. On cross-examination defendant admitted having been previously convicted of the crime of grand larceny, and being sentenced to two years in the State Penitentiary; and to having pleaded guilty in the county court of Ok-mulgee county to a charge of violating the prohibition laws.

The state in rebuttal put on the witness stand one of the codefendants, George Pittman, He testified that he was acquainted with the defendant, and with Wilson Miller. He was living at Jones, Okla., on the date in question, but had previously lived in the Beggs community. He returned there about May 10th, about five days before the hogs were stolen. About 8 o’clock on the morning of May 16, 1946, the morning after it is alleged the hogs were stolen, this witness went to the home of Wilson Miller. He and Miller went in Miller’s two-seated Chevrolet car to the town of Beggs, in Okmulgee coun *29 ty. They went by the home of a Mr. Taylor, and a white boy got in the car with them. Wilson started to turn off to go up to the home of the defendant, Pleasant Tob-ler. The white boy, whose name was Jimmie Ray, got out of the car, and the witness also got out, telling Miller: “Pleas and I don’t get along, and I better wait for you.” Wilson Miller then went about, half a mile to the home of defendant, and soon returned with the defendant in the car with him. They stopped, and the witness, George Pittman, got in the car with them. Miller and the defendant had a conversation after they had gone a short distance, and the car stopped and defendant got out of the car and went' out under some grape vines near the road and brought out a red hog that was dead. Miller told him to hurry up, and he brought a second hog and “Miller opened the back of the car and they put them both in there.” The hogs were described as being red and about the size of the Hadley hogs. They went from the place where the hogs were placed in the car through a part of the town of Beggs to the home of Joe Adams, a cousin of the defendant. Neither Adams nor his wife was at home, but a boy and four or five small children were there. The two hogs were unloaded by Miller-and the defendant at the Adams home. In going to Beggs, they passed the boy, Jimmie Ray, who had gotten out of the car, but they did not pick him up. When they went back to Beggs, Wilson bought some potato slips and two sacks of sawdust. They returned to the Miller home and the witness set out the potato slips on the evening of May 16th. On cross-examination this witness admitted that he had been previously convicted of the crime of manslaughter, in Seminole county, and received a sentence of seven years in the penitentiary.

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Related

Williams v. State
1975 OK CR 171 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1975)
Ward v. State
1968 OK CR 146 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1968)
Opie v. State
422 P.2d 84 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1967)
Walters v. State
1965 OK CR 77 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1965)
In re Writ of Error Nobis by Young
1960 OK CR 87 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1960)
Taylor v. State
1955 OK CR 63 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1955)
Smith v. State
1949 OK CR 97 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1949)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1948 OK CR 52, 194 P.2d 202, 87 Okla. Crim. 25, 1948 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 197, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tobler-v-state-oklacrimapp-1948.