Wofford v. State

1972 OK CR 69, 494 P.2d 672
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 1, 1972
DocketA-17215
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 1972 OK CR 69 (Wofford 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
Wofford v. State, 1972 OK CR 69, 494 P.2d 672 (Okla. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinions

BUSSEY, Presiding Judge:

Max Bruce Wofford, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged, tried and convicted in the District Court of Garfield County, Oklahoma, for the offense of Sale of Marijuana, After Former Conviction of a Felony; his punishment was fixed at eighteen (18) years imprisonment, and from said judgment and sentence, a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.

Briefly stated, the evidence at the trial adduced that on February 17, 1971, Gaylen Hayes, a Deputy Sheriff in Jackson County, Oklahoma, was working undercover for the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office in a narcotic investigation. In the early morning hours of the 17th day of February, Hayes and two other persons that were working undercover, were driving parallel down VanBuren Street in Enid, Oklahoma, and observed a vehicle containing defendant and Mike Telinde. They parked their vehicle and all the parties had a short discussion concerning a Jim Phillips who the defendant had trouble with the prior summer. The defendant asked them what they were doing and Hayes made the statement: “I’m looking for a place to score.” (Tr. 33) The defendant said “What?” and Hayes replied, “Weed.” The defendant stated, “I can turn you on.” Hayes inquired the price of a “lid” and the defendant replied, “$20.00.” The defendant thereupon left and returned approximately fifteen minutes later and sold Hayes a “lid” for the $20.00. Defendant stated, “If you need more tonight, I will be in Ruby’s.” Hayes identified State’s Exhibit One as the substance he purchased from the defendant and subsequently turned over to Undersheriff McFadden.

Pat McFadden testified that he was working surveillance of the undercover officers. He observed the officers having a conversation with two persons in a Chevrolet pickup. Hayes subsequently turned State’s Exhibit One over to McFadden which he delivered to Don Flynt of the Oklahoma 'State Bureau of Investigation.

Don Flynt testified that he was employed as a chemist with the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation. He further testified that Pat McFadden delivered State’s Exhibit One to his office on March 2, 1971. He examined the substance contained therein microscopically and chemi[674]*674cally and, in his opinion, the material was marijuana.

Defendant’s first proposition asserts that the trial court erred in overruling defendant’s motion to suppress the evidence for the reason that said evidence was the result of entrapment. The Record reflects the trial court conducted an evi-dentiary hearing outside the presence of the jury wherein Hayes testified concerning the details of the sale. The defendant testified that he and Mike Telinde were traveling down VanBuren when Jim Powell, traveling in another vehicle, asked him to pull over. He further testified that he had previously known Powell. Defendant then states, “Then I asked them what they had been up to and this Jim Powell knew that I was kind of running and indulging in drugs and he used marijuana.” (Tr. 17) Gaylen Hayes introduced himself to the defendant and Telinde, and asked the defendant where he could buy a “lid of weed.” He further testified that:

“I didn’t have any and I didn’t know where I could find any and then this Jim Powell which knew that I was indulging in it, this Powell, he said, ‘Well, I know that you know where some is at.’ And then they was talking to me about it some more and then I said, ‘Yeah, I know where there was some at.’ And then I went and got it for them.” (Tr. 18)

Defendant admitted using marijuana but denied selling it prior to the evening in question.

At the conclusion of the hearing the trial court stated:

“There isn’t any entrapment here, Mr. Maxwell. These people didn’t represent that they were users of narcotics or that they were in need of a fix. There wasn’t any such representation here. There wasn’t any such decoy for the purpose of luring the defendant or inducing' him to break the law and getting him to commit a crime by a false statement. Under the testimony of your client and the testimony of the agent here there wasn’t any such misrepresentation to this man. He wasn’t induced to violate the law by any wrongful act on the part of these men. All they told him was or all any of them told him was that they were looking all night or something like that for some weed or for a fix or something like that, but they didn’t represent to him that they just had to have narcotics. * * * ” (Tr. 25-26)

Bradley v. State, Okl.Cr., 485 P.2d 767, Judge Brett stated:

“Next, defendant asserts that the trial court should have granted his motion for a directed verdict, and should have held as a matter of law that the doctrine of entrapment was applicable. We do not agree. Defendant admitted that he was a user of marijuana. The fact that he had no previous criminal record, except for misdemeanors, and was not widely known as a marijuana seller and was not known as an ‘addict,’ is not sufficient to state as a matter of law that he was entrapped in this sale. In this case the officer merely furnished the opportunity for defendant to commit the crime; defendant already possessed the requisite criminal intent, while making another delivery. See: McCart v. State, Okl.Cr., 435 P.2d 419 (1967); and Shook v. State, Okl.Cr., 453 P.2d 332 (1969).”

In the instant case we concur with the trial court’s findings that defendant was not entrapped. We therefore find this proposition to be without merit.

The next proposition contends that the trial court erred in failing to dismiss a trial juror because of the misconduct of said juror. Defendant first raised this objection at the conclusion of the reading of the instructions wherein the following transpired:

“MR. MAXWELL: Comes now the defendant and moves for a mis-trial on the grounds and for the reason that the juror in box number 12 has repeatedly, and especially during the reading of the instructions, failed to pay attention and cleaned his fingernails and yawned and [675]*675previously has cleaned his fingernails and I move for a mis-trial on the grounds that he is an incompetent juror.” (Tr. 61)

At the conclusion of the closing arguments defendant again raised his objection to juror number 12 whereupon the trial court stated: “I watched him during the last part here after you called it to my attention, he was paying very close attention so far as I could tell.” (Tr. 63)

In Wilson v. State, Okl.Cr., 458 P.2d 315, the Court stated in the seventh syllabus :

“A claim of misconduct of a juror before a criminal case is submitted to a jury is not to be determined by inference or on the basis of speculation, but must be established by clear and convincing proof.”

We are of the opinion that defendant failed to show at the time of trial the misconduct of the juror to the satisfaction of the trial court by clear and convincing proof. We further observe that the juror was thought highly enough by his fellow jurors that he was the foreman of the jury in the first stage proceedings. We therefore find this proposition to be without merit.

The third proposition asserts that the punishment is excessive. We have repeatedly held that the questioning of exces-siveness of punishment must be determined by a study of all the facts and circumstances in each particular case. In the instant case, the minimum punishment which could be fixed by the jury was ten (10) years.

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Boyd v. State
1973 OK CR 101 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1973)
Wofford v. State
1972 OK CR 69 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1972 OK CR 69, 494 P.2d 672, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wofford-v-state-oklacrimapp-1972.