Frye v. State

• Citation: 219 P. 722,25 Okla.Crim. 273
• Decision Date: 20 June 1923
• Docket Number: A-3979.
• Parties: FRYE ET AL. v. STATE.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

219 P. 722

25 Okla.Crim. 273

FRYE ET AL. v. STATE.

No. A-3979.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

June 20, 1923

Rehearing Denied Nov. 24, 1923.

Syllabus by the Court.

In a prosecution for grand larceny, evidence held to sustain a conviction for grand larceny in the nighttime from the person of another.

The "corpus delicti" means, when applied to any particular offense, the actual commission by some one of the particular offense charged.

It is not essential that the corpus delicti should be established by evidence independent of that which tends to connect the accused with its perpetration. The same evidence which tends to prove one may also tend to prove the other, so that the existence of the crime and the guilt of the defendant may stand together inseparable on one foundation of circumstantial evidence.

The deliberations of the jury are secret, and ordinarily cannot be shown by the affidavits or oral testimony of the jurors.

A verdict in a criminal case, assessing the punishment at a certain number of years' imprisonment, will not be set aside upon proof that each member of the jury wrote down the number of years which he thought proper, and that the several numbers thus written down were added up and the sum divided by 12, where there is no proof that the jurors agreed beforehand to be bound by the result thus obtained.

Appeal from District Court, Carter County; Thos. W. Champion, Judge.

Homer Frye and another were convicted of grand larceny, and they appeal. Affirmed.

Charles A. Coakley, Thos. Norman, and James H. Mathers, all of Ardmore, for plaintiffs in error.

George F. Short, Atty. Gen., and N.W. Gore, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

DOYLE J.

The information in this case charges that the defendants, Homer Frye and Charlie Burton, did in Carter county, on or about the 20th day of March, 1920, commit the crime of grand larceny, in that by stealth and fraud, and without the consent of the owner, during the nighttime, they did take steal, and carry away from the person of G. B. Peel the sum of $700. Upon their trial the jury found them guilty and assessed their punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of five years. From the judgments rendered on the verdict they appeal.

It is contended that the verdict of the jury in this case is not supported by sufficient evidence.

There is little, if any, conflict in the testimony as to the following facts:

The defendant Frye was running a pool hall on Caddo street, in Ardmore, and the defendant Burton was an employee at a place called the Mint. On the date alleged, G. B. Peel representing a Root Beer Barrel Company, went to Ardmore and met Frye in his pool room. After talking over the root beer business they went to the Mint, a gambling house, where corn liquor was sold. Frye introduced Peel to Burton. After taking two or three drinks, Frye and Peel spent the afternoon visiting other joints and gambling houses, including a second visit to the Mint. Peel then went to his hotel, and after supper met Frye again. Later they met Burton, and all three went to Burton's room at the Randol and there spent most of the night drinking whisky and gambling. That Peel had been drinking to excess is conceded by all, and he was found the next morning in a dazed condition in the lobby of the Randol Hotel. All his money was gone, also his diamond ring. A policeman and a deputy sheriff searched Burton's room the next morning while he was in bed and found 13 $20 bills in his clothes. Later they arrested Frye, and he had one $20 bill and some small change.

It is argued by counsel for appellants:

"That in the absence of direct testimony of any one taking the money, the state cannot claim to have proved the corpus delicti, unless the money found on the defendants the next day is identified as having been the property of Peel."

G. B Peel testified:

"After supper I met Frye again, and later we met Burton on Main street. He went and got a pint of whisky. He said it cost $10, and I gave him $5. He suggested that we go to his rooms in the Randol Hotel. They gave me some kind of knock-out drops and relieved me of $700 and some odd dollars, also my diamond ring. The $700 was all in $20 bills. The last I remember, Burton and Frye and two women were in the room. I woke up in the lobby the next morning. All my money was gone, also my diamond ring."

Mrs. McIver testified:

"I was stopping at the Randol Hotel. That night about 9 o'clock, I met Mr. Burton, and he invited me to come to his room. Later I went in. Mr. Peel, Mr. Frye, Mr. Burton, and two girls were in the room. The men were drinking whisky and gambling. Mr. Peel had a great big roll of $20 bills in his hand. Mr. Burton said if they could not get his money gambling they had something else they were sure they could get it with. He was talking to us girls. While I was there they drank a pint, maybe a quart, of whisky, and they insisted on us girls not leaving, because they said they were going to get Peel's money, and they would split it with us if we would stay. Mr. Peel was well filled up, and so was Mr. Burton; but Mr. Frye did not drink very much. Mr. Frye insisted that I should not leave and suggested that they would split the money with me if I stayed."

Cecil Crosby testified:

"As an officer I assisted in the investigation. I found Georgia Ray in the depot at Berwyn between 11 and 12 o'clock the next night. I searched her and found a diamond ring and $17 in money. She said Peel gave her the ring; that she had a man drive her from Ardmore to Berwyn." The defendant Frye testified:

"About 11 o'clock Peel came back to my place and said he wanted me to walk around with him a little while. Mr. Burton came in a little later. Peel said: 'Burton has a room at the Randol Hotel. Suppose we go up there and meet some girls.' It was then about 12 o'clock. We went to Mr. Burton's room and took a few drinks and played cards. The girls came in while we were there. Mr. Peel had some whisky in his pocket and took it out and set it on the dresser and said, 'Everybody help yourselves.' I guess I was there an hour and a half. Mr. Jones came up there hunting Arthur Gill, and Mr. Peel invited him to have a drink. Jones took one or two drinks. We talked for 10 or 15 minutes, and when we got through talking only me and Jones were in the room. I said, 'I believe I will go home,' and Mr. Jones and I walked down the hall and saw Mr. Peel talking with a man in his shirt sleeves. Mr. Peel had some money in his hand when Jones came in. One of the girls took his ring and said, 'Honey, I believe I will keep this ring.' Peel said, 'Yes, you can have it, you can have anything I got,' and he waived the money in his hand at this girl."

Witness denied making the statement if he could not get Peel's money gambling he would get it some other way.

The defendant Burton testified:

"The first time I met Peel was at the Mint. He and Mr. Frye came in. I think they came in the second time, about 11:30 that night. I met them again at Mr. Frye's place. Peel wanted to go somewhere to buy whisky. I told him all the places in Ardmore closed about

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