White v. State

1986 OK CR 153, 726 P.2d 905, 1986 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 343
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 14, 1986
DocketF-84-245
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 1986 OK CR 153 (White 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
White v. State, 1986 OK CR 153, 726 P.2d 905, 1986 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 343 (Okla. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinions

OPINION

BUSSEY, Judge:

On appeal from his conviction in the District Court of Creek County, Case No. CRF-83-83, on the charge of First Degree Murder, for which he received life imprisonment, the appellant, Rawshall Luther White, raises four assignments of error.

The night of March 11, 1983, the appellant approached Ronald Abraham in the parking lot of a pool hall in Sapulpa and stated, “Ronnie, I’ve got to be good to you because I’m on probation, you know.” Mr. Abraham did not reply, a,nd walked to his mother’s house, which was nearby. Later Abraham and his cousin, Willis Bruner, Jr., went to the Big Cabin Cafe, and while they stood talking, the appellant approached. Abraham went into the cafe while Bruner and the appellant stood and talked. During the conversation he told Bruner that he really did not care about living. Subsequently, Abraham came out of the cafe, approached the appellant and asked, “Rawshall, can we sit down and talk about this?” To which the appellant replied, “Yeah, Ronnie, we can talk about it.” At that point appellant pulled a forty-four caliber magnum revolver from his jacket and shot the victim once in the abdomen. He then chased Abraham around the building firing four more times at him, but without striking him again. Abraham ran to his mother’s house where he collapsed. After being transported to the hospital, he died the next day.

The appellant testified that on that evening, Abraham had displayed both a knife and a gun to him, and threatened to kill him. During the shooting incident, he claimed that as the victim approached him, he noticed Abraham had his hand in his pocket which was protruding out, and that when Abraham bent his arm, the appellant shot him in self-defense. He then claimed that some of Abraham’s friends shot at the appellant who returned fire. He stated he never shot more than one time at the victim.

As his first assignment of error, the appellant contends that the trial court committed fundamental error in permitting only five peremptory jury challenges. Title 22 O.S.1981, § 655 provides for nine per[907]*907emptory challenges in prosecutions for first degree murder. The appellant made no objection to the trial court’s error, did not request additional peremptory challenges, nor has he shown how he was prejudiced by the court’s ruling. As the burden is upon him to establish the fact that he was prejudiced in his substantial rights by the commission of error, this complaint is not sufficient to cause the reversal of this conviction. Landrum v. State, 486 P.2d 757 (Okl.Cr.1971).

Appellant next alleges nine instances of prosecutorial misconduct, only four of which were properly preserved for review by timely objections. See Tucker v. State, 620 P.2d 1314 (Okl.Cr.1980). Two instances involve comments upon the appellant’s failure to call any witnesses who observed the shooting. The first time the prosecutor referred to appellant’s failure to call a specific witness, the objection by defense counsel was sustained, but no request that the jury be admonished was made. Failure to request an admonition waives an error which could have been cured by the withdrawal of the remark. Rushing v. State, 676 P.2d 842 (Okl.Cr.1984). During the second instance, the prosecutor referred to defense counsel’s closing argument that during the shooting the appellant was surrounded by friends of the victim. The prosecutor went on to state:

I submit Mr. White had friends there, and yet, Mr. White has been unable to bring you any Witness. He has the same subpoena power that the State does to subpoena any Witnesses that he wants to here. He has not brought you one Witness—
MR. MILLER: Your Honor, we object to that as being improper and move the Court to admonish the jury to disregard the statement.
THE COURT: Well, the jury is the best judge of whether or not the Defendant has brought Witnesses. Overruled.
MR. MILLER: Exception.
THE COURT: You have two minutes to close.
MR. COWAN: Thank you, Your Honor. If I can finish my sentence. — he has not' brought you any Witness who claimed to have seen the events that occurred there. that night, and has not brought you any. Witness that corroborates his story that he did not fire five times at Ronnie Abraham ....

The appellant cites cas.es, including Thompson v. State, 462 P.2d 299 (Okl.Cr.1969), for the proposition that criticizing a defendant’s failure to call witnesses is reversible error. Such a broad statement is incorrect.

Subject to the rule ... that a comment by the prosecution on the failure of accused to produce witnesses or evidence is improper if it constitutes a reference to accused’s failure to testify, it is generally held that it is not error for the prosecuting attorney to comment on the failure of accused to produce or use certain witnesses, who are accessible to him or in his control, and who are cognizant of material and relevant facts, and competent to testify thereto, and whose testimony would presumably aid accused or substantiate his story if the story were true, as where, for example, the witnesses referred to are relatives of accused, or are otherwise peculiarly under accused’s influence or related in interest to him.

23A C.J.S. Criminal Law § 1099 (1961). We have reversed or modified cases due to comment on the failure of the defendant to call witnesses where the comment was misleading, or otherwise improper. A careful reading of Thompson and Baldwin v. State, 519 P.2d 922 (Okl.Cr.1974) reveals that those cases were modified because the prosecutor in each case drew questionable conclusions from matters outside the record. This Court affirmed Porter v. State, 76 Okl.Cr. 16, 133 P.2d 903 (1943), where the prosecutor argued that the defendant could not find one witness to testify for him, and that every witness who testified related facts contrary to his story. As that argument was a deduction from the evidence which appeared to be justified, the argument was proper.

[908]*908During the testimony, the appellant gave the names of several people who were present during the shooting, and although he claimed they were all friends of the victim, at least one of those witnesses testified that he was also a friend of the appellant. Although several witnesses testified, none corroborated the story of the appellant that he only shot one time at the victim, and that was in self-defense. We find that the argument of the prosecutor was within that permitted for closing argument. See Capps v. State, 674 P.2d 554 (Okl.Cr.1984).

The appellant next complains of the display of an unadmitted photo. It shows the victim holding a small child. The photo is about two inches wide by three inches long. The trial court sustained defense counsel’s objection to its admission into evidence, but denied the motion for a mistrial. Given the size of the photo, and the fact that the jurors were never allowed to examine it, we do not find that the appellant was prejudiced.

In the fourth instance cited by the appellant, the prosecutor, during voir dire, in the context of questioning a prospective juror who stated that her past experiences would interfere with her ability to be fair in this case, asked these questions:

MR.

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White v. State
1986 OK CR 153 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1986)

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Bluebook (online)
1986 OK CR 153, 726 P.2d 905, 1986 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 343, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-state-oklacrimapp-1986.