Whitehead v. State

1974 OK CR 165, 526 P.2d 959
Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma·Decided September 4, 1974·No. F-74-227·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

OPINION

BUSSEY, Judge:

Appellant Tommy Whitehead, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged by Information in the District Court, Oklahoma County, Case No. CRF-73-1377, with the crime of Robbery with Firearms. The Information was later amended to the charge of Robbery in the First Degree. Defendant was convicted of the latter charge by a jury which recommended a sentence of fifty (50) years imprisonment. Defendant was sentenced in accord with that recommendation, and a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.

The State’s first witness at trial was Mark Brooming, the manager of Kimber-ling’s IGA, located in an Oklahoma City shopping center. He testified that the clerk on duty at the time of the robbery was Lonnie Wayne Johnson, who had been transferred to another Kimberling store in Oklahoma City after the robbery, and had later resigned and moved to California. Brooming also testified that he had given no one permission to take from the store the money which was taken in the robbery.

The next witness for the State was Detective O. R. Summers of the Oklahoma. City Police Department, who testified that he and several other officers had the store under surveillance on May 14th and 15th, 1973, in response to “information” they had received. On the evening of May 15th, Detective Summers and his partner, Detective Behrens, stationed themselves in a building across the street from the store. Detectives Guinn and Knight were stationed down the street in another unit, and Officer Shobert was stationed inside the store. At approximately 8:00 p. m. they observed a blue Chevrolet pickup park in front of a nearby drug store. A Negro male emerged, and walked over to the grocery store, which was closed at the time. He stopped just short of the door, looked around, looked at his watch, and pulled his shirt tail up and apparently stuck some *961 thing in his belt. After looking around once again, the subject walked through the exit door of the grocery (the entrance door had already been closed), at which point Summers lost sight of him. About 30 seconds later, the subject re-emerged with a sack in his hand and ran toward the pickup truck. At this point Detective Summers and his partner ran to their car and proceeded to the shopping center parking lot. As they approached, they heard three shots. The unit driven by Detectives Summers and Behrens, converged with the one driven by Detectives Knight and Guinn, and trapped the pickup as it attempted to leave the parking lot. Detective Summers then arrested defendant, who was wounded in the arm. He also saw Detective Guinn retrieve a pistol from within the pickup, at which time he discovered a white male adult and a small female child inside the pickup. On cross-examination, Detective Summers stated that he had never seen defendant in possession of the pistol, and did not know he had it.

The next witness for the State was Officer Shobert, who was stationed inside the grocery store at the time of the robbery. He testified that he had placed 25 marked one dollar bills in the cash drawer of the store on the morning of May 15, 1973. At approximately 7:45 p. m. that evening, he returned to the store and positioned himself behind a potato chip display rack about 30 feet from the cash register. At around 8:05 p. m. he saw a Negro male, whom he identified as the defendant, enter the store through the exit door and go over to the register where he pulled a nickel or chrome plated pistol from his waistband. Holding the gun flat on the counter, defendant told the cashier to “give me your money and make it quick.” The cashier asked him if he wanted it in a sack, and he said, “yes, but hurry.” Officer Shobert further testified that he followed defendant out the door and ordered him to halt. Looking back over his shoulder at Shobert, defendant threw down the paper sack full of money and ran. Officer Shobert fired three shots, the first of which struck defendant in the shoulder. Shobert then observed defendant run and get into the pickup truck. When the pickup began backing out of its parking place, Shobert had moved behind it where, for the first time, he observed a little white girl inside. At this point the vehicles driven by the other officers surrounded the pickup and defendant was arrested. Officer Shobert further testified that he then retrieved the money which had been thrown down by the suspect as he ran, and sealed it in an evidence envelope. He counted the money, and testified that the total was $961.00, which included the 25 marked one dollar bills he had earlier placed in the cashier’s drawer. At trial, he identified the marked money (State’s Exhibit 2), and the pistol (State’s Exhibit 3). On cross-examination he stated that the robbery was a “setup” and that the exit door had been left unlocked for that purpose.

The next witness for the State was Detective Jerry Guinn, who testified that he and his partner, Detective Knight, had maintained a surveillance of the grocery on the night in question, from their patrol unit, from about a half block away. His testimony was substantially the same as that of Detective Summers’ as to the events immediately preceding and subsequent to the robbery. He further testified that he had removed a chrome plated revolver from the pickup at the time of defendant’s arrest. He admitted, on cross-examination, that the pistol in question was a blank pistol, incapable of firing live ammunition, and also verified the fact that the officers had prior knowledge that there was to be a robbery that night at 8:00 p. m. Thereupon, the State rested.

After the court had overruled defense counsel’s Motions for Dismissal based on entrapment and on lack of evidence, defendant testified in his own behalf. He admitted entering the store and receiving *962 the money from Lonnie Johnson, the store’s assistant manager, but testified that he had done so pursuant to a pre-arranged scheme by which Johnson had agreed to hand him the money. In fact, the exit door had been left unlocked as a result of this scheme. Defendant further testified that he had not taken the blank pistol inside the store, but had left it in the pickup.

Defense counsel next moved to introduce the preliminary hearing testimony of Lonnie Wayne Johnson, the above-mentioned assistant store manager. The State objected on the ground that defendant had failed to issue a subpoena for Johnson, hence had failed to exercise due diligence in obtaining him as a witness. After the court had overruled defendant’s Motion, the case was submitted to the jury, which returned the guilty verdict.

In his first proposition of error, defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the charge of Robbery in the First Degree. We first refer to the applicable statutory provisions:

21 O.S.1971, § 791 provides: “Robbery is a wrongful taking of personal property in the possession of another, from his person or immediate presence, and against his will, accomplished by means of force or fear.”
21 O.S.1971, § 797 provides: “Robbery, when accomplished by the use of force, or of putting the person robbed in fear of some immediate injury to his person, is robbery in the first degree. . . .”

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Whitehead v. State, 1974 OK CR 165, 526 P.2d 959 (Okla. Ct. App. 1974).

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