Yates v. State

1941 OK CR 134, 117 P.2d 811, 73 Okla. Crim. 51, 1941 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 198
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 1, 1941
DocketNo. A-9837.
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 1941 OK CR 134 (Yates 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
Yates v. State, 1941 OK CR 134, 117 P.2d 811, 73 Okla. Crim. 51, 1941 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 198 (Okla. Ct. App. 1941).

Opinion

*52 JONES, J.

The defendant, Lawrence Yates, was charged in the district court of Woods county with the crime of assault with a dangerous weapon, was tried, convicted of assault and battery, and sentenced to serve 30 days in the county jail and pay a fine of $75 and costs; and he has appealed to this court.

Counsel for defendant have set forth • several assignments of error in their petition in error filed herein, but have consolidated them for the purpose of argument and briefing, and have submitted them to this court as a whole under the proposition that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the judgment.

The defendant was employed as a worker upon the Earley Ranch near Hardtner, Kan. On November 19, 1939, the defendant was in a cafe in the city of Alva with his employer, Pauline Parley, and two men by the name of Moore and Lyons. After the meal had been eaten in the cafe, the defendant and Moore walked out of the cafe towards the Parley car. Two- night policemen of the city of Alva saw the defendant as he emerged from the cafe, and accosted the defendant and told him that they had a “pick up” for him, and started to take him to jail. The defendant asked the officers to allow him to' go into the cafe and leave the car keys with the owner, which was done.

After a lapse of a few minutes, the defendant not returning, the officers went into the cafe, and Officer Arnold approached the table where the defendant and the other people were conversing. The officer asked the defendant to come on and go to jail. The defendant asked the officer if he had a warrant, and the officer said, “No,” but that the sheriff had given him orders to> pick him up because of a misdemeanor warrant issued for the defendant as a result of a fist fight with one Whitey Mantz *53 some time prior. It was then about 10 o’clock on Sunday night. The defendant then asked the policeman if he had a county commission, and the policeman said he did. (The policeman on the witness stand admits making this statement, and that the statement was false). The defendant asked Arnold to' allow him to go until Monday morning, that being- Sunday night, as he could not make bond until nest morning; and Arnold replied that he could not do that, and for the defendant to come along.

The defendant told the officer that he should have a warrant in a case of that kind, and Arnold told him that he did not need any papers to pick him up, and for him to come along. The defendant said that he would not go.

Up to this point in the evidence, there is no substantial dispute between the testimony of the state and that of the defendant.

The testimony of the state was that when the officer insisted that the defendant go1 along with him to jail, that the defendant reached for a beer bottle and raised it to strike the officer, and that the officer lunged against him, causing the beer bottle to slip out of his hand and fall without striking the officer.

The testimony of the defendant was that the officer demanded that he go along with him to jail; and when the defendant refused to go that the officer drew his •blackjack from his pocket and started to strike the defendant, and the defendant reached for the beer bottle. That the neck of the beer bottle was slick, and when the defendant started to raise the beer bottle that it slipped out of his hand.

The testimony of both the state and the defendant was that the policeman was not struck by the beer bottle. When the beer bottle slipped from the defendant’s hand *54 without striking- the policeman, the testimony of both the state’s and the defendant’s witnesses was that the defendant turned and fled from the cafe through the rear door; that the officers started in pursuit, and Officer Cunningham slipped and fell close to- the rear door; that Officer Arnold emerged from the rear of the cafe and fired his pistol three times. (The officer swore that he was not trying to hit the defendant.) After the third shot was fired, Officer Arnold yelled for the defendant to stop or he would kill him, and the defendant stopped. Officer Arnold then got hold of the defendant by the arm, and started marching him to the jail; Officer Cunningham approached and took hold of the other arm of the defendant, and defendant jerked his arm loose from Cunningham, whereupon Cunningham pulled out his revolver and struck the defendant over the head, causing a severe scalp wound which bled profusely.

After the defendant was taken to the jail, charges of assault with a. dangerous weapon, to wit, a beer bottle, upon the person of Officer Arnold were filed against the defendant.

The policeman testified that at the time they approached the defendant he was not committing any offense in their presence, and that they did not have a warrant for his arrest; but stated that they had seen the warrant in the sheriff’s hands. The warrant for the arrest of the defendant for assault and battery upon' Whitey Mantz was admitted in evidence, but it discloses that there was no- endorsement on the warrant authorizing the officers to serve the same at night.

The defendant presented the following requested instructions at the close of the evidence:

“Instruction No. —
“The jury are instructed that under the laws of this state that an arrest for the commission of a misdemeanor *55 cannot be made under a. warrant, at night, unless by the direction of the magistrate issuing the warrant, indorsed upon the warrant by the magistrate issuing the same, section 2773, Okla. Stats. 1931.
“So that in this case the warrant issued for the defendant by the justice of the peace, Frank Houts, could not be served upon the defendant in the nighttime unless it was indorsed by the said Frank Houts, justice of the peace, authorizing the Avarrant to be served at night.
“So that if you find that the warrant Avas not so indorsed by the magistrate; then the officers had no- legal right to- arrest the defendant under said warrant.
“Offered by the Defendant,
“Refused by the Court,
“Exceptions allowed Defendant.
“J. W. Bird, Judge.”
“Instruction No. ■—
“The jury are instructed that under the laws of this state no officer may arrest a person, without a warrant, for a misdemeanor, unless the misdemeanor is committed in the presence of the officer at the time of making the arrest, and any officer making an arrest for a misdemeanor not committed in his presence is a trespasser, and the person sought to- be arrested is- not obliged to submit to- the arrest, and such an arrest is an illegal one.
“Offered by the Defendant,
“Refused by the Court,
“Exceptions allowed Defendant.
“J. W. Bird, Judge.”
“Instruction No. —

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

O'Rourke v. City of Norman
875 F.2d 1465 (Tenth Circuit, 1989)
Bynum v. State
1971 OK CR 389 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1971)
Coats v. State
1945 OK CR 56 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1945)
Duffey v. State
1944 OK CR 80 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1944)
Montgomery v. State
1942 OK CR 152 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1942)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1941 OK CR 134, 117 P.2d 811, 73 Okla. Crim. 51, 1941 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yates-v-state-oklacrimapp-1941.