Ford v. State

• Decision Date: 14 November 1931
• Docket Number: A-8123.
• Citation: 5 P.2d 170,52 Okla.Crim. 321
• Parties: FORD v. STATE.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

5 P.2d 170

52 Okla.Crim. 321

FORD v. STATE.

No. A-8123.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

November 14, 1931

Syllabus by the Court.

The courts take judicial notice of the boundaries of the state and counties therein, and the geographical location of cities and towns within the state.

The venue of a criminal act does not have to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

If the defendant desires special instructions in the trial of a criminal case, he is required by the provisions of our criminal procedure to present in writing to the court the instructions desired, and it is not error for the trial court to omit to instruct upon every possible question under the defendant's theory of the case, when he has not requested such instructions.

Where there is any competent evidence from which the jury may reasonably and logically find the guilt of the defendant, the weight and value of such evidence is for the jury, and its verdict will not be disturbed for insufficiency of the evidence.

Appeal from District Court, Greer County; T. P. Clay, Judge.

Grace Ford was convicted of manslaughter in the first degree, and she appeals.

Affirmed.

Williams & Sasseen, of Mangum, for plaintiff in error.

J Berry King, Atty. Gen., and Smith C. Matson, Asst. Atty Gen., for the State.

DAVENPORT P.J.

The plaintiff in error, for convenience referred to as the defendant, was by information jointly charged with Alice Ford of murder, was tried separately and convicted of manslaughter in the first degree, and sentenced to imprisonment in the state penitentiary for a term of four years. Motion for new trial was filed, considered, overruled, exceptions saved, and the defendant appeals.

Lester Lowe, called on behalf of the state, in substance stated he remembered the occasion of a girl being killed at Mangum on the 29th day of December, 1929; he was acquainted with the defendant Grace Ford and her sister Alice Ford. Mary Johnson called to a negro by the name of Catalac to go home, and he said he was not ready to go home; deceased and Catalac began to quarrel, and Alice Ford said to put them out of the house the defendant said "Yes," a scuffle ensued, and defendant stabbed the deceased in the back with a knife; deceased was then hit by Alice Ford with a poker. The defendant and deceased clinched in a scuffle around the room, and went out of the door and fell on the ground; Alice Ford hit her again with the iron poker; the deceased died a short while after she got out of the house. Witness stated he did not know who hit the first lick.

It was further shown by the state's witness that there were several parties at the home of Alice Ford where the trouble took place; that deceased tried to get Catalac to go home, and he did not want to go; they got to quarreling, and Catalac went on the outside of the house and picked up a brick and tried to get the deceased to come out. The defendant was in the room at the time, and tried to get Frank Morris to put them out; the deceased asked the defendant, "Why don't you put me out?" the defendant asked her who she was talking to, and she said she was talking to the defendant; the defendant and deceased advanced toward each other; the defendant fell over on the bed and got up immediately; they could see the defendant using her hand toward the deceased, but could not see anything in her hand; Frank Morris pushed the defendant and deceased out of the house; Alice Ford hit the deceased with an iron poker.

The defendant, testifying in her own behalf, stated: "I have lived in Mangum since I was three years old; at the time of the trouble I was living at Mrs. Lindsey's; Alice Ford is my sister; I went to Alice's place about three thirty or four o'clock in the afternoon; there wasn't anyone there when I went, later on other parties came; when Alice came home Ella Hollis, Frank Morris, Johnie Brown and myself were at the house; I was playing the Victrola and dancing; Mary came in and asked Catalac for the keys and told him to come on and lets go home, and he said he was not ready to go; they started arguing and he went out of doors and got some bricks and came back up to the step, asked her to come out and she said she would not go out; at that time I asked Alice why she didn't put them out of the house if they were going to fight; the deceased said, you are bad, you put them out; deceased then struck me and before I could turn around struck me again; when she struck me the second time they grabbed her and pulled her back and that gave me a chance to get out from where I was, and I ran to the door, and I struck her with an iron; some one took the iron away from me. She struck me again and I dodged and fell on the bed which was just a little ways from the door; I was kicking and she cut me on the left leg first, and then on the other; when she struck me the second time I got a knife off the bed and was trying to open it and she ran into me and struck me on the neck with the knife; I grabbed her and Frank grabbed us and pulled us out of the door and we both fell; the deceased had her arm around my neck in some way; when we fell I fell on top of her, she wheeled over me and got on top of me and I cut her, cut her twice, the last time she gave up and fell over and somebody pulled her off of me and I got up and leaned up beside the house and called to Alice to come and get me."

Other witnesses testified in behalf of the defendant, whose testimony was in substance the same as the defendants.

The defendant has assigned seven errors as grounds for reversal of this case. The first question argued by the defendant is error of the court in overruling the demurrer to the evidence. Under this assignment the defendant insists that the evidence is insufficient to establish the venue. The testimony of Lester Lowe shows that he remembered when Mary Johnson was killed in Mangum, in December, 1929; witness stated he did not know the name of the street, but it was down there in the colored section of the town in a rooming house back of the Cameron Lumber Company. Other witnesses testifying saw the defendant and deceased in the city...