Washington v. State

1977 OK CR 240, 568 P.2d 301
Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma·Decided August 15, 1977·No. F-76-279·Published·Cited by 29 cases

Opinion

568 P.2d 301 (1977)

James Wadell WASHINGTON, a/k/a Ernest Eugene Harper, Appellant,
v.
The STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee.

No. F-76-279.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma.

August 15, 1977.

Richard A. Hoffman, Asst. Public Defender, Tulsa County, for appellant.

Larry Derryberry, Atty. Gen., Harold T. Garbin, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

*303 OPINION

BRETT, Judge:

Appellant, James Wadell Washington, also known as Ernest Eugene Harper, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged in the District Court, Tulsa County, Case No. CRF-75-2445, with Murder in the First Degree, in violation of 21 O.S.Supp. 1973, § 701.1(8). Upon trial by jury conviction was obtained which carried the mandatory death penalty. From said judgment and sentence a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.

The evidence adduced at trial can be summarized as follows. On the morning of October 14, 1975, a Tulsa police officer arrived at 2001 N. Trenton in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to check on the well-being of a family. After repeated knocking, a three or four year old boy, Chad Chancy, son of Leceta Burks, appeared at an upstairs window. This young boy eventually opened the front door for the officer. In an upstairs bedroom two bodies were found, a young girl named Teraunce Pegues, and her mother, Leceta Burks. Both had been shot in the head several times at close range. A pathologist testified that in his opinion the victims had been killed close together in time, although he conceded that the state of medical arts was such that he could not state for a fact that they had been killed any closer than 10 hours apart. The apartment was fingerprinted and it was shown that defendant's fingerprints matched those taken at the scene. A receipt bearing defendant's name was found on a dresser. There was testimony indicating that defendant had been living with the victims. It was proven that while on a trip to Oklahoma City with Ms. Burks defendant had *304 occasion to show Ms. Burks' brother-in-law a pistol which he carried, and which defendant stated was a .32 caliber weapon. A .32 caliber pistol and several slugs recovered from the bodies were introduced into evidence along with testimony indicating that the pistol had fired those slugs to the exclusion of every other gun in the world. The gun had been recovered on the afternoon of the 14th of October by a police officer summoned to an apartment in the Vernon Manor complex. The resident of that apartment found the gun on her bed and called the police. There were no prints on the gun, but human blood was found on the tip of the barrel.

Defendant was arrested inside the apartment of a friend in the Vernon Manor complex. Testimony of this friend showed that defendant had come over at about 9:00 a.m., asked the friend to get some gin, stating that he could not because he was "hot." When arrested defendant was hiding in a closet. There was a conflict in the testimony as to whether defendant was told when arrested that the arrest was for murder, or whether defendant replied "yeah, murder," when asked if he knew why he was being arrested.

It was further shown that defendant was wearing pants, shirt and tennis shoes when arrested, and that they had blood stains on them. The blood on the pants was the same type as Teraunce Pegues, blood group B. Defendant was brought to the police station and given Miranda warnings. An officer stated to the defendant that he had forgotten to wash the blood off of his pants. Defendant replied. "yes, I guess I did." When asked why he had killed the two victims, defendant said that he did not know. Defendant further stated that he had consumed a fifth of gin after he had committed the act. Defendant was asked if he used a.38 pistol, and defendant replied, "no, a .32." Defendant was asked where the gun was and if it were in the defendant's car. Defendant said that he did not know, that he had drunk a fifth of gin afterwards. Defendant commented to the police if they had found the bottle, and an empty gin bottle was found at the scene.

The victim's car was located some distance from the crime scene, and it contained defendant's fingerprints. The victim Burks' purse was found on the porch of a home, being discovered by the homeowner who called the police. The police recognized the name on identification in the purse and thereafter took the purse to officers at the crime scene.

At one point during the trial, an officer testified that after having a conversation with Chad Chancy, "I directed my investigation towards the suspect named James Wadell Washington." Defendant's objections to this statement were overruled.

In his first assignment of error, defendant asserts the unconstitutionality of 21 O.S.Supp. 1973, § 701.1, and § 701.3, which defines murder in the first degree, and prescribes the mandatory death penalty. He urges further that the punishment provision (701.3) is not separable from the provision defining murder in the first degree, § 701.1, and that therefore sentence should be set in accordance with the general felony statute, 21 O.S. 1971, § 9. However, in Riggs v. Branch, Okl.Cr. 554 P.2d 823 (1976), this Court decided the issues defendant now presents, holding that the penalty provisions (§ 701.3) was severable from the definitional provision (§ 701.1), and accordingly holding that the appropriate punishment for one convicted under 21 O.S.Supp. 1973, § 701.1, is life imprisonment.

In his second assignment of error defendant again presents a constitutional attack, this time upon the validity of ¶ 8 of 21 O.S.Supp. 1973, § 701.1, which provides as follows:

"Homicide, when perpetrated without authority of law and with a premeditated design to effect the death of the person killed, or of any other human being, is murder in the first degree in the following cases:
* * * * * *
"8. When perpetrated against two or more persons arising out of the same transaction or occurrence or series of *305 events closely related in time and location;"

Defendant's contention is that language of paragraph 8 is unconstitutionally vague in that a person of reasonable intelligence would not be able to garner therefrom that particular conduct which was prohibited. More specifically, defendant asserts that the use of the terminology "arising out of the same transaction" is indefinite and vague.

In Synnott v. State, Okl.Cr., 515 P.2d 1154, 1157 (1973), a similar argument was advanced, and we stated:

"... The concept that a facially vague statute is unconstitutional rests upon the constitutional foundation of procedural due process which requires in the interest of fundamental fairness adequate notice of what conduct is proscribed and adequate standards for the adjudication of the offense by judge and jury. If this statute is so obscure that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application, it is unconstitutional. See e.g. Connally v. General Construction Company, 269 U.S. 385, 391, 46 S.Ct. 126, 70 L.Ed. 322 (1926); Baggett v. Bullitt, 377 U.S. 360, 367-368, 84 S.Ct. 1316, 12 L.Ed.2d 377 (1964).
"On the other hand, only reasonable certainty is required, Winters v. New York, 333 U.S. 507, 68 S.Ct. 665, 92 L.Ed.

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Washington v. State, 1977 OK CR 240, 568 P.2d 301 (Okla. Ct. App. 1977).

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