Baker v. State
| Decision Date | 04 October 1930 |
| Docket Number | A-7316. |
| Citation | 292 P. 82,48 Okla.Crim. 358 |
| Parties | BAKER v. STATE. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
Syllabus by the Court.
The information in this case stated facts sufficient to charge the defendant with the crime of murder.
Evidence held sufficient to sustain conviction for first degree manslaughter.
Record examined, and evidence contained therein held sufficient to sustain the verdict and judgment.
The instructions of the court, considered in their entirety correctly and substantially advised the jury as to the law applicable to the facts in the case.
Instructions 5 and 6, requested by the defendant, were not applicable to the facts in the case, and the court did not err in refusing to give the same.
There are no errors in the record sufficient to warrant a reversal of the case.
Additional Syllabus by Editorial Staff.
Defendant inflicting wound which was proximate and contributing cause of death was responsible for death, though direct cause thereof was improper treatment of wound by attending physician.
Appeal from District Court, Latimer County; D. C. McCurtain, Judge.
Elliott Baker was convicted of first degree manslaughter, and he appeals.
Affirmed.
Claud Briggs and C. R. Hunt, both of Wilburton, for plaintiff in error.
J Berry King, Atty. Gen., and Smith C. Matson, Asst. Atty Gen., for the State.
The plaintiff in error, hereinafter for convenience referred to as the defendant, was tried for murder and convicted of manslaughter in the first degree, and was sentenced to serve a term of five years in the state penitentiary. Motion for new trial, and motion in arrest of judgment was filed, considered, and overruled, exceptions saved, and the defendant by petition in error with case-made attached has appealed to this court.
The substance of the testimony of the state is as follows:
Mrs. Mary Sherfield stated that on the 18th of January, 1927, she was living on the Wayne Boone place in Latimer county, Okl.; J. W. Sherfield was my husband at that time; I knew Elliott Baker, he married my daughter, who was a stepdaughter of J. W. Sherfield; Elliott Baker, his wife and baby came to our house about 7:30 p. m., and holloed; we had gone to bed; Mr. Sherfield got up and went to the door and asked who was there, and no one answered, and he opened the door and Annie and Elliott were at the door, and they rushed in, and Mr. Sherfield said, "Hello children, come in"; Elliott was carrying two suitcases in his left hand and had his right hand in his pocket; Annie was carrying the baby; Annie sat down and Elliott kindly walked around; Mr. Sherfield went back to the bed and put his clothes on and came back to the fire; the parties were talking back and forth, and after they got warm I asked them if they had had any supper and they said they had not, and my daughter Florence and I stepped in to fix some supper; Mr. Sherfield was standing in front of the fire place and Elliott was walking around; when we got supper ready, Annie came in, but Elliott refused to come in; Mr. Sherfield tried to get him to come in, and Elliott said he did not want any of the God damned old stuff; Annie ate her supper, and Elliott said he wanted to know why we had not answered the letters he had written, and we said we did not get his letters; he said he had written three letters and sent a phone message; my husband, Wellington, spoke up and said we did not get any of them; Elliott kept quarreling around about it, and kept asking us about not answering his letters and about having sent a phone message to the Blalock place; I went in the north room and waked Roy Sherfield and told him to go and get Walter Norman; I believed we were going to have some trouble; in a few minutes Walter Norman and Roy came in; when they came in Elliott jumped up and said, "Looks like you have sent for more help, I am ready for them, I am a mean Indian and have plenty of money to pay my way, and if I have to go to jail I don't care, jail is my home;" my husband told him there was no one mad at him, and he replied, "I know a damn sight better;" the defendant then told Annie to get her wraps, and Wellington said it was too far and cold for them to start out again, but if nothing will do you but go home, there is the door, and Elliott said, "Make me," and went toward Mr. Sherfield, and Mr. Sherfield pushed him back; Elliott come up again and cut my husband with a knife in the left side; Walter Norman took the knife away from Elliott and kindly pushed and scuffled with the defendant and got him out of the house and bolted the door; my husband staggered to the bed and said he was cut; he laid down on the bed and began groaning and said he was sick and began to vomit; Walter Norman went for Sherman Walden and brought him to the house; Elliott Baker called and wanted me to come out of the house, and I went out on the porch, and he said he would come to see me more often but he did not like Mr. Sherfield; I went back in the house and he called me again; Sherman Walden went for the doctor; Mr. Sherfield did not attack the defendant in any way; he did not have a pistol or a knife; there was a six-shooter in the house, but it was between two mattresses on the bed; Mr. Wayne Boone had left a gun hanging up on a rack; after the trouble began I raised up the mattress and took out the pistol; Elliott was still in the yard, and I took it out thinking if Elliott started in the door I would have some protection; when he did not start in the door I put it back; Mr. Sherfield did not come in the room while Annie was eating her supper. This occurred on the 18th day of January, 1927, and on the 23d day of January, 1927, Mr. Sherfield died; he got up a few minutes on the third day and also on the fourth day; he was only up a short while each time; he was in his usual good health when he was cut by the defendant; the doctor was called and treated him and saw him three or four times before his death; the doctor left some tablets to give him and he took several of them to ease him down when he was suffering; we gave him some the day he died; I do not know how many, I gave them as the doctor prescribed them to ease him; he was conscious until he died; there was no discoloration of the skin, it was normal; Mr. Sherfield was fifty years of age and his weight was 245 pounds; he was in good health. Her testimony was, in substance, the same on cross-examination as in her direct examination.
John Foster was called as a witness and testified with reference to a conversation he had heard the defendant have with Wayne Boone, the day of the trouble at night, and stated the defendant seemed to be in a bad humor; I could tell from the way he talked; he is an Indian and does not talk very plain.
Wayne Boone also testified to seeing the defendant in Wilburton on the day prior to the trouble at night, and stated the defendant seemed to be in a bad frame of mind; the defendant told me that Mr. Sherfield was to meet them but did not; it was raining and the defendant was sore about it; Mr. Sherfield lived on my place.
Walter Mitchell testified he saw the defendant on the streets at Wilburton; he asked me to take him out to Mr. Sherfield's home; I told him I could not go but would probably see some one in town who would take him out; he said Mr. Sherfield was supposed to meet them there but the son of a bitch did not come, that he would find out when he got out there why he did not come for them.
Walter Norman testified that on January 18, 1927, he was living on the Wayne Boone place in Latimer county; I knew Elliott Baker, and also J. W. Sherfield in his lifetime; I am J. W Sherfield's son-in-law; on January 18, 1927, I was living about two hundred yards from Sherfield, on the opposite side of Gaines creek; about 7 or 7:30 that night Elliott Baker and his wife and baby came to my house, he was carrying two suit cases; they remained a few minutes and I took a lantern and helped them across the foot log; about thirty or thirty-five minutes later I saw him at the Sherfield home; shortly thereafter I went with Roy Sherfield to the Sherfield home; I went in the house at the east room and set down in a corner on some pine; the defendant Baker was there, when I went in he was sitting down; he got up and said, "You have help now, I am ready for you"; Mr. Sherfield and I said about the same time, that I had come to see the baby; the defendant then told his wife to get her wraps, they were going home, they are mad at us; Mr. Sherfield said there was nobody mad; the defendant again told his wife to get ready, they were going, and Mr. Sherfield said, "if there is nothing else will do you, there is the door, hit it"; Mr. Sherfield was standing up at the time; Elliott said, "Make me," and started toward him; Mr. Sherfield shoved him back and when Elliott came back to him be cut him on the left side; I don't know whether Mr. Sherfield hit him or not, or what you would call it, he sorty hit him that way (indicating with his hand); Elliott Baker came toward Mr. Sherfield before Mr. Sherfield hit him or shoved him back; I did not see just what he did at the time they made that play, I got back behind Elliott and grabbed his arm; we scrambled around in the house and I took the knife away from him, they got the door open and I shoved him out in the yard; his wife told him no one was mad at him; after we shoved him out we closed the door and Mr. Sherfield laid down on the bed; I went after Sherman Walden; I asked Mr. Sherfield if he wanted Mr. Walden to go for a doctor, and I went for Mr. Walden who lived about a quarter of a mile away; the defendant Baker was there when I got back; he asked me if we were going after the law and I told him "No"; Sherman told him he was going to see...
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