Coca v. State
| Decision Date | 01 February 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 3493,3493 |
| Citation | 423 P.2d 382 |
| Parties | Nicholas COCA, Jr., Appellant (Defendant below), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff below). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Samuel A. Anderson, Laramie, for appellant.
Dean Borthwick, Deputy Atty. Gen., Robert Smaha, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Cheyenne, Norman V. Johnson, Deputy County and Pros. Atty., Laramie, for appellee.
Before PARKER, C. J., and HARNSBERGER, GRAY and McINTYRE, JJ.
Defendant was charged jointly with two others, Lujan and Borrego, with second-degree murder for the killing of Scott Lyle Nelson, was separately tried, was convicted by a jury of manslaughter, and has appealed. The basis facts relating to the death of Nelson are: On August 16, 1965, the three defendants and deceased were at a crowded dance at the National Guard Armory in Laramie. Nelson died following altercations in the armory with the three accused between 11 and 12 p.m. Borrego admitted having struck Nelson in the jaw, and Wilford Candelaria, a person not charged, admitted having kicked him between the legs. Coca denied having any physical contact with Nelson, but he and Lujan, who had gone to the dance together, were identified by various witnesses as having either hit or kicked the deceased. Following the final altercation, Nelson walked or staggered a short distance, and dropped to the floor, apparently unconscious. It appeared to the patrolman who was summoned that Nelson was gasping for air and he started to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Gurgling noises were heard prior to the arrival of the ambulance, but the boy riding with Nelson in the ambulance said that there was some 'feeling' of a pulse. Upon arrival at the hospital, at about midnight, Nelson was pronounced dead. The doctor performing the autopsy testified that the cause of death in the 17-year-old Nelson, who had previously been in excellent health, was asphyxia due to vomitus in the breathing airway and that vomiting might be caused by extreme emotional disturbance, trauma, disease, or certain other circumstances. Three bruises were found on the deceased, one on the right cheek, one on the left chest above the fifth rib, and the third over the side of the left hip.
Three errors are urged by the defendant in the appeal:
1. The overruling of a motion to examine evidence and motions for suppressions and continuance was improper and prejudicial;
2. The State's voir-dire examination of certain jurors was prejudicial; and
3. Because of insufficient evidence of defendant's guilt, the court erred in refusing to grant his motions for directed verdict, for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and for a new trial, which criticism encompasses the propriety both of instructions given and refused.
On the first point, defendant's counsel urges that inability to examine statements from defendant and contemplated witnesses prevented the proper preparation of his defense. Numerous cases and writings are discussed in the brief, which in general can be said to indicate that defendant's inspection of the prosecution's evidence in criminal cases may under certain circumstances be permitted and that courts are now inclined to be more lenient in permitting this than in times past. However, perusal of all authority to which allusion is made indicates that any such inspection or examination either flows from clear statutes or rules providing therefor or is within the discretion of the trial court. Wyoming has neither statute nor rule nor has this court ever had occasion to discuss the matter directly at length. In State v. Vines, 49 Wyo. 212, 54 P.2d 826, 828-829, a homicide case, it was said by way of dicta, 'There seems to be no rule of the common law or statute that gives a defendant the right before trial to pry into the state's case by obtaining a disclosure of its evidence, though there is authority for the view that the trial court has at least a discretionary power to permit the defendant to inspect documents sor chattels for the purpose of obtaining information that will enable him to make a defense.' There is no contention in this case that the trial court abused its discretion in this respect, and the circumstances of the case indicate to the contrary. In that connection, it is of some interest to observe the procedures prior to the trial. The affidavit of the county and prosecuting attorney before the district court at the time the information was there filed indicated that he had been summarily informed by the district judge that he would not permit any filing of a felony case directly in district court even though it was within the thirty-day period exempted from the requirement for preliminary examination under the provisions of § 7-124, W.S.1957. Accordingly, the prosecuting attorney on August 18 filed an information against the mentioned defendants in the justice court and proceeded with the preliminary hearing, which resulted in the justice of the peace finding that a crime had been committed and that there was probable cause shown that each of the defendants should be bound over to the district court, where information was then filed on August 30. The affidavit of the prosecuting attorney, in the justice court at the time of the hearings there, stated, 'That on or about the night of August 16, 1965 at the National Guard Armory located in this county, the defendants did, while attending a dance in said armory, shove, strike with fists, and kick with their feet the person of the deceased, Scott Lyle Nelson, to such an extent and in such a severe manner as to cause him to regurgitate and fill his upper passages leading to the lungs and such matter than being inhaled into and clogging deceased's lung(s) causing his death by asphyxiation.' This would seem to have been a reasonable delineation of the details concerning the crime with which each of the defendants was charged, and to have permitted the ascertainment of witnesses and the preparation of the defense.
At the time the information was filed in the district court some twenty-one names were endorsed thereon. On October 18, one week before the defendant Coca's trial began, defense counsel were given the names of several witnesses and on October 19 and 20 twelve more witnesses were endorsed. Simultaneously counsel for defendant filed motions for examination of 'all evidence' intended to be introduced at the trial without stating any reasons therefor and filed a motion for suppression of all testimony of witnesses endorsed after the filing of the original information unless the prosecution should demonstrate that the defendant would not be injured by subsequent endorsements and at the same time filing a motion for continuance, stating, inter alia, that certain witnesses contained on the late endorsement by the prosecution could not be found and that co-operation in finding one of these witnesses had not been given by the prosecution.
Defendant concedes late endorsements of witnesses on the information have heretofore been permitted. State v. Hambrick, 65 Wyo. 1, 196 P.2d 661, 198 P.2d 969; State v. Bemis, 34 Wyo. 218, 242 P. 802; Boulter v. State, 6 Wyo. 66, 42 P. 606. Although the circumstances in each of these cases were different from the other and from the one at bar, we see no reason in the light of such holdings to say that prejudice was thus occasioned here. From the record, it would appear that by reason of the preliminary examination, together with the affidavit of the prosecution containing a resume of the nature of the offense which was charged, the defendant was reasonably apprised of that which he would be required to meet at the trial. He had as full an opportunity to know the eyewitnesses at the dance as had the State. In denying the motions, the trial court indicated that one witness who had been endorsed would not be present and that another would be made available to the defense upon his arrival from out of the State. The court also noted that the State had offered to allow defendant the inspection of his own statements if he would admit them in evidence at that time, which offer he rejected, and that the State agreed that the defendant's shoes might be examined at the police station. Considering these circumstances, there was no abuse of discretion by the trial court. In fact, if such requests should be recognized and continuances granted as were demanded, great and unwarranted delays would be experienced in the administration of justice.
On the alleged error of the State's improper questions on voir-dire examination of prospective jurors, the following statements are challenged:
'Do you believe that the citizens of the community, the members of our community by the very fact of being members of the community have to give up certain things which they might like--'
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Richter v. State
...is chargeable with those aspects of Ronald Richter's conduct that constitute the elements of the crime in this case. See Coca v. State, Wyo., 423 P.2d 382 (1967); Lujan v. State, Wyo., 423 P.2d 388 (1967); Borrego v. State, Wyo., 423 P.2d 393 (1967); Espy v. State, 54 Wyo. 291, 92 P.2d 549 ......
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...or deny adequate trial preparation. Fitzgerald v. State, 601 P.2d 1015 (Wyo.1979); Dodge v. State, 562 P.2d 303 (Wyo.1977); Coca v. State, 423 P.2d 382 (Wyo.1967). Compare the hypnosis cases and duty to reveal in Gee v. State, 662 P.2d 103 (Wyo.1983) and Chapman v. State, 638 P.2d 1280 In s......
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Gentry v. State, 86-50
...to admit witnesses just prior to or even during trial, late endorsements have been consistently permitted in Wyoming courts. Coca v. State, Wyo., 423 P.2d 382 (1967); State v. Hambrick, 65 Wyo. 1, 196 P.2d 661, reh. denied 65 Wyo. 1, 198 P.2d 969 (1948). In Coca v. State, a homicide case, t......
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