Collins v. State
| Decision Date | 14 March 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 6595,6595 |
| Citation | 494 P.2d 956,88 Nev. 168 |
| Parties | Varner Ray COLLINS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Nevada, Respondent. |
| Court | Nevada Supreme Court |
During the morning of September 10, 1969, an individual entered the Hyde Park Liquor store in Las Vegas and forced two patrons to lie on the floor while he took from the employee on duty a paper bag of cash and a cigar box containing rolled coin. Before fleeing, the robber directed the three idnividuals to enter one of the restrooms. The store owner after parking his car observed a man running from the store carrying a cigar box and a paper bag and enter an automobile. This aroused the owner's suspicions so he took down the auto's license number. Appellant was later arrested near an apartment house, standing beside a vehicle bearing the license number taken by the store owner. A paper bag and cigar box, identified as those taken from the store, were located in a trash receptacle at the rear of the apartments. Several hundred dollars in bills and coin were scattered in the bag, cigar box, and trash receptacle. Fingerprints taken from the paper bag, cigar box, and automobile matched those of appellant. Upon this evidence and the identification of the appellant by both the store owner and one of the patrons who observed the robbery, appellant was convicted.
Appellant now contends that his conviction must be reversed because: (1) his request for a jury composed of six black persons and six white persons was denied, (2) the court refused to give his proposed instruction regarding the inferences that could be drawn from his failure to testify in his own behalf, (3) the district judge imposed a sentence in excess of that recommended by the Department of Parole and Probation, and (4) insufficient evidence was adduced at the trial to support his conviction. We find all the assertions of error to be without merit.
Regarding appellant's first assignment of error, a jury verdict violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment only if it can be shown that members of the appellant's race were excluded systematically from jury duty. We find nothing in the record to suggest that members of the appellant's race were so excluded from jury service, nor has appellant directed us to any portion of the record which would so indicate. Howard v. State, 84 Nev. 599, 446 P.2d 163 (1968); Collins v. State, 87 Nev. 436, 488 P.2d 544 (1971); Collins v. State, 88 Nev. ---, 492 P.2d 991 (1972). In Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 202--204, 85 S.Ct. 824, 826, 13 L.Ed.2d 759 (1965) the United State Supreme Court state...
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Cutler v. State
...be set for trial." The instructions offered by appellant were either substantially covered by other instructions, Collins v. State, 88 Nev. 168, 494 P.2d 956 (1972), or they misstated the law applicable to the facts and were properly refused by the trial court. NRS 174.455 allows for change......
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Geary v. State
...instruction when the law encompassed therein is substantially covered by another instruction given to the jury.' Collins v. State, 88 Nev. 168, 170, 494 P.2d 956, 957 (1972). Cf. People v. Bickerstaff, 46 Cal.App. 764, 190 P. 656 5. Finally appellant claims that State's Exhibit No. 32, a vi......
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Brinkman v. State
...of error. We therefore decline consideration of the issue. Franklin v. State, 89 Nev. 382, 513 P.2d 1252 (1973); Collins v. State, 88 Nev. 168, 494 P.2d 956 (1972). Finally, appellant argues that the trial judge improperly instructed the jury that the specific intent in a burglary may be pr......
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Johnson v. State
...court is not required to follow the sentencing recommendation of the Division of Parole and Probation. See Collins v. State, 88 Nev. 168, 171, 494 P.2d 956, 957 (1972). We will not interfere with the sentence imposed by the district court "[s]o long as the record does not demonstrate prejud......