Cook v. State
| Decision Date | 22 February 1961 |
| Docket Number | No. 4291,4291 |
| Citation | 77 Nev. 83,359 P.2d 483 |
| Parties | R. Dale COOK, Appellant, v. STATE of Nevada, Respondent. |
| Court | Nevada Supreme Court |
R. Dale Cook, in pro. per.
Roger D. Foley, Atty. Gen., Carson City, Nev., Roscoe H. Wilkes, Dist. Atty., Pioche, Nev., for respondent.
This is an appeal from a judgment finding appellant guilty of forgery, based upon the jury's verdict.
Appellant, an attorney disbarred from practice in this state, accepted a retainer from one Joan E. O'Haver in connection with divorce proceedings to be instituted on her behalf. When she learned that he had been disbarred, she consulted the district attorney who arranged for her to continue with appellant and complete her arrangement with him. Some half dozen conferences were had between Mrs. O'Haver and appellant. At her final meeting with him, he delivered to her what purported to be a certified copy of a divorce decree and accepted balance of fee. This payment was made in marked bills. As soon as she left his office, the peace officers entered and arrested him and found the marked bills in his possession.
An information was filed against him charging him, in the first count, of obtaining $150 from Mrs. O'Haver by false pretenses and, in the second count, of forgery in uttering, publishing, and passing a counterfeit and forged document with intent to damage and defraud Mrs. O'Haver. The jury was instructed that it could find the defendant guilty on only one count. No question is raised as to this instruction or as to the information itself.
At the conclusion of the trial, the jury was handed appropriate forms of verdict as to each count separately and returned a verdict of finding him guilty of forgery. He presents seven assignments of error.
We may dispose of the first three assignments together. He first assigns error in the court's denial of his motion to suppress certain evidence. This evidence consisted of the marked bills with which Mrs. O'Haver paid the fee and costs in the divorce action. The ground of his motion was that the evidence had been unlawfully obtained because he had been unlawfully arrested without a warrant and not under the statutory circumstances justifying his arrest without a warrant. The second assignment is that the court improperly commented on the testimony of Mrs. O'Haver. The third is that appellant was unduly limited as to the time within which he could recall a witness. A careful examination of the record indicates that these three essignments had to do with the charge of obtaining money under false pretenses. As he was not convicted of this crime, the rulings were without prejudice. We should add, however, that notwithstanding such conclusion, careful attention has been given to the record and the briefs with reference to these three assignments, and we find them in any event without merit.
The fourth assignment of error is the denial of appellant's motion for new trial made on the ground of newly discovered evidence, namely, the evidence appearing from affidavits of two members of the jury stating that they based their verdict entirely upon instruction No. 23 and without regard to the other instructions--38 in all. Instruction No. 23 gives the statutory definition of forgery. The affidavits evidence nothing more than a lame attempt of the two jurors to impeach their own verdict, which they will not be heard to do. Pinana v. State, 76 Nev. 274, 352 P.2d 824. It should be noted that the jury received the regular instruction that the instructions should be regarded as a whole and not disconnectedly and that each instruction is equally as binding as any other.
Appellant's fifth assignment asserts that the...
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Garner v. State
...a general rule, the failure to object, assign misconduct, or request an instruction, will preclude appellate consideration. Cook v. State, 77 Nev. 83, 359 P.2d 483; O'Briant v. State, 72 Nev. 100, 295 P.2d 396; Kelley v. State, 76 Nev. 65, 348 P.2d 966; State v. Moore, 48 Nev. 405, 233 P. 5......
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...on appeal. Hayden v. State, 91 Nev. 474, 538 P.2d 583 (1975); Bonnenfant v. State, 86 Nev. 393, 469 P.2d 401 (1970); Cook v. State, 77 Nev. 83, 359 P.2d 483 (1961). Appellant argues that his counsel was ineffective and inadequate because he was (1) unsuccessful in obtaining a change of venu......
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...was properly and fully treated. Hence, the refusal was not error. Cranford v. State, 76 Nev. 113, 349 P.2d 1051 (1960); Cook v. State, 77 Nev. 83, 359 P.2d 483 (1961); Kuk v. State, 80 Nev. 291, 392 P.2d 630 (1964); Beasley v. State, 81 Nev. 431, 404 P.2d 911 Affirmed. THOMPSON, C.J., and C......
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Mathis v. State
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