Williams v. State

1937 OK CR 185, 74 P.2d 632, 63 Okla. Crim. 234, 1937 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 179
Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma·Decided December 10, 1937·No. No. A-9331.·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

DAVENPORT, P. J.

John Williams was by information charged with the murder of Myrtle Lambeth; was tried, convicted and sentenced to- life imprisonment. Motion for new trial was filed, considered, overruled, exceptions saved and the plaintiff in error has appealed, Hereafter the plaintiff in error will be referred to as the defendant. The charging part of the information, omitting the caption and signature, is as follows:

*236 “In the name and by the authority of the state of Oklahoma, comes now Lewis R. Morris, the duly qualified and acting county attorney in and for Oklahoma county, state of Oklahoma, and on his official oath gives the district court in and for said Oklahoma county and the state of Oklahoma, to know and be informed that heretofore, to wit: on the 15th day of September, A. I). 1936, in Oklahoma county, state of Oklahoma, John Williams whose more full and correct name is to your informant unknown, then and there being, did then and there willfully, and. unlawfully, and feloniously commit the crime of murder in the manner and form as follows to wit: That is to say, the said defendant in the county and state aforesaid, and on the day and year aforesaid, then and there being, did then and there knowingly, willfully, and feloniously, without authority of law and with the premeditated design to take the life of Myrtle Lambeth, drive, propel and operate a certain automobile to wit: a 1936 Ford Tudor sedan, 1936 Oklahoma license No. 234-050, upon a public highway, to wit: on South Walker street in the 1000 block in Oklahoma City, said county and state, while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, and in a careless, reckless and negligent manner, and in a manner imminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, regardless of human life, and the said defendant, while driving said automobile as aforesaid, did drive said automobile into and against the body of the said Myrtle Lambeth with such force and in such manner as to then and there inflict certain mortal wounds upon the body of the said Myrtle Lambeth, from which mortal wounds so inflicted, as aforesaid, the said Myrtle Lambeth did die instantly, as was intended by the said defendant, contrary to the form of the statutes in such cases made and provided against the peace and dignity of the state of Oklahoma.”

The state to sustain its allegations called R. D. Lam-beth, who in substance stated:

“I lived at 505 Southwest Tenth street,' in Oklahoma City, on the 15th day of .September, 1936; was employed as *237 a street car motorman for the Oklahoma Hallway Company; at the northwest corner of the intersection there is a filling' station, where the street runs into Walker there is a jog of some 18 feet, about 45 degree angle across Walker; the Garrett Grocery was nearer there where Tenth street goes east; on the east side of Tenth street is a filling station; the grocery store is operated by Mr. Chapman and his wife; Myrtle Lambeth was 25 years old, September 15, 1936; I got off from work at 2:09 andi got to the hospital at 2:30, my wife was dead when I got there; we had been married one year, four months, and two days.”

Mrs. J. L. Chapman, testifying for the state, stated:

“I was in the grocery business located at 435 Southwest Tenth street, just east of the filling station on the corner of Tenth and Walker; during her lifetime Myrtle Lambeth was a customer of mine; I remember the day she was killed; I did not go to the scene of the accident until after the accident was over; I saw the deceased about 20 minutes before the accident, she was in the store and purchased some things; she lived on Tenth street west of our store, and west of Walker street; the first I knew that the accident occurred the filling station boy brought in a grocery book and asked me if I knew the lady; the book had dropped out of her hand; I told the boy it was Mrs. Lambeth; that was about 20 minutes after Mrs. Lambeth made her purchases and left the store.”

Gus Benedict, called as a witness, testified:

“I live at 609 Southwest 29th street; I am well acquainted with Walker and Tenth street; there is a little Catholic school on the west side of the street, and the Washington school on the south side of Heno- street on Walker. Mrs. Lambeth was killed at Southwest Tenth' and Walker. I was sitting in a Ford car on Pine, on the south end of the viaduct or underpass, that would be in the 1000 block; my car was in motion facing south ready to make a turn, and I saw the defendant strike Mrs. Lambeth; she was about the middle of the street on *238 Walker going west; there is a double street car track where two cars can pass; I saw the car hit her with the left front fender. I have had experience with driving cars and this car was making 40 miles an hour; when the car struck Mrs. Lambeth she bounced up on the hood and from the hood to the windshield, and then tumbled off in the street to the left of the automobile; the car the defendant was driving kept going on north on the east side of the underpass; the last time I saw the car it went on through the underpass; I got out of my car and went and picked up the lady’s shoes and her bundles, one of which was a package of meat. I helped pick the woman up; she was badly bruised and was not breathing; she was laid on the curb and an ambulance called; a lady came out with a blanket and put it under her head. I am not sure how far it was from where the car struck Mrs. Lambeth to where her body was picked up, but I judge it was about 15 or more feet; I did not see the defendant, did not go up to where his car stopped. I saw some cars start out and follow the defendant.”

Witness was cross-examined at length, but his testimony was not changed on cross-examination.

Herman Baker was next called as a witness for the state and stated:

“I am 21 years old, lived at 3600 Northwest 12th street; I was carrying the Oklahoman and Times; I remember the occasion when Mrs. Lambeth was struck by an automobile and killed, at Tenth and Walker ; the accident happened about two o’clock in the afternoon, I was driving north in a 1933 Chevrolet; the first thing that attracted my attention was a truck honking at the car making too; much speed; the car was a Ford V8, and passed me on the north end of the viaduct; the Ford was making forty or 45 miles an hour, and the truck was not very far behind when they passed the Little Flower School, on Walker; I saw Mrs. Lambeth when the car struck her; the car carried her a ways before she fell off, her body went up in the air; she hit the pavement just. *239 before she got to the underpass; I was on the north side of Tenth street.

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Williams v. State, 1937 OK CR 185, 74 P.2d 632, 63 Okla. Crim. 234, 1937 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 179 (Okla. Ct. App. 1937).

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