Hatfield v. State, A-12575

• Decision Date: 23 April 1958
• Docket Number: No. A-12575,A-12575
• Citation: 325 P.2d 972
• Parties: Wayne HATFIELD and Taylor Hatfield, Plaintiffs in Error, v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Defendant in Error.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

Page 972

325 P.2d 972

Wayne HATFIELD and Taylor Hatfield, Plaintiffs in Error, v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Defendant in Error.

No. A-12575.

Criminal Court of Appeals of Oklahoma.

April 23, 1958.

Rehearing Denied May 28, 1958.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Where defendants burst into laughter when prosecuting witness is being cross-examined, and court admonishes defendants, Criminal Court of Appeals will study remarks of trial judge to determine whether or not it committed reversible error in the admonishment made. Remarks found not to constitute reversible error.

2. Where the evidence is conflicting, the weight of the evidence and credibility of the witnesses is for the jury, and Criminal Court of Appeals will not substitute its judgment for that of the jury where there is evidence reasonably tending to support the conclusions reached by the jury.

Appeal from the County Court of Grant County; John L. Pollard, J.

Wayne Hatfield and Taylor Hatfield were convicted of the crime of assault and battery, and appeal. Affirmed.

Thad L. Klutts, Oklahoma City, for plaintiffs in error.

Mac Q. Williamson, Atty. Gen., Lewis A. Wallace, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.

POWELL, Judge.

Wayne Hatfield and Taylor Hatfield have appealed from a judgment entered by the county court of Grant County wherein they were jointly tried before a jury on a charge of assault and battery on one Clarence Aebi, were found guilty, but the jury being unable to agree upon the penalty, left that to the court, who fixed punishment for each defendant at fifteen days imprisonment in the county jail, and to pay a fine of $50.

Plaintiffs in error, hereinafter referred to as defendants, had been together with their father, Burns Hatfield, jointly charged with the offense in question, and Burns Hatfield had also been found guilty and the court had assessed his punishment at thirty days imprisonment and to pay a fine of $50, but had suspended the sentence, and Burns Hatfield is not a party to this appeal.

The charging part of the information reads:

'* * * that on or about the 14th day of August A.D. 1957, in said county of Grant and state of Oklahoma, one Burns Hartfield, Wayne Hatfield and Taylor Hatfield did then and there, unlawfully, wrongfully, and intentionally make an assault in and upon one Clarence Aebi with their fists and did then and there and thereby beat, bruise, wound and injure the said Clarence Aebi with the unlawful and wrongful intent to do bodily harm and injury to him, the said Clarence Aebi.'

For reversal, counsel in brief sets forth two propositions: (1) That the judgment is excessive and contrary to the law and the evidence; and (2) That there were prejudicial errors occurring during the course of the trial which affected materially the rights of the defendants.

It will be necessary to summarize pertinent evidence of both the State and the defendants.

Clarence Aebi, the prosecuting witness, testified that he was a farmer and lived ten miles west and three miles south of Medford, and had lived in the vicinity since 1943. He said that on the morning of August 14, 1957, he was working on his tractor, which was partly in the road that ran east and west in front of his home; that the front end of the tractor was in the bar ditch on the south side of the road and the rear end extended to near the center of the road. He said there was twelve to fifteen feet space between the rear of his tractor and the bar ditch on the north side of the road. He said that the main frame of his tractor had broken and he had to leave the tractor at the point in question and the day before he had the frame welded together, and on the 14th he and a young son and nephew were bolting the parts on the tractor.

Witness said there had been no traffic on the road the morning of August 14, except that the defendant Taylor Hatfield had passed in a car driving west, and after a time came back driving east; that he did not appear to have any difficulty in driving past the tractor of witness. A few minutes after this, while witness and his help were busy putting the tractor together, he said that he looked up and saw Mr. Burns Hatfield and one of his sons, Wayne, in a pickup, and following the pickup he saw the other son, Taylor, driving a tractor. He said that Burns Hatfield got out of the pickup and rushed up to where witness was working on the tractor and said, 'This is going to cost you', and said 'You're blocking the road', and that he told Burns, 'I'm broke down', and that Burns said, 'We're going to move this tractor', and that witness advised the defendants that he would call the sheriff, and asked his wife to go in the house and phone the sheriff; that she could not get the sheriff the first time as the line was busy, but did eventually get him. He asked the defendants not to touch his property until the sheriff arrived, but Burns Hatfield started to throwing things into the weeds. Said witness:

'I had a pan of bolts and stuff setting back of the tractor--small parts and stuff. He picked that up and started to throw it, and I asked him not to throw it. I told him there was stuff in there I couldn't find to put the tractor back together with and he carried it on around and by that time I thought we'd go around and get it. I walked around to have him--I thought instead of him throwing it, I'd just let him hand it to me. I walked around the tractor back on the other side and by the time I got over there, he just up and heaved it. And I said, 'No, don't throw that--give it to me.' He just up and throwed it. And I was about to step around behind him at that time when the turned around why--he started coming at me this way. I grabbed a-hold of him to keep him off of me, and then gave him a push. He stumbled over this pipe that I had through the tractor and he went down. From then on, that was it. * * *

'A. Well, I reached up to stop him from getting a-hold of me--that's what I thought he was going to do anyhow, he come back clawing at me and when I pushed him down, his boy Taylor came up on the tractor in the meantime--he hadn't gotten there yet when this first started and the first thing I knowed I was on the ground with all three people on top of me. Q. You say all three people. Now what three people? A. Burns, Wayne and Taylor Hatfield. Q. The what occurred? You were on the ground. They were on top of you. Then what occurred, Clarence? A. Well, I was trying to get up from there some way, and I didn't know how I was going to do it.'

Witness further testified that both Wayne and Taylor Hatfield jumped on him, that one had him by the feet and one by the neck, choking him, and one hit him, and that he was jerked down. He said they finally let him go, but that he just lay there for a while trying to get his breath. He said that the side of his face had been scratched and skinned, and that the left side of his jaw was very sore and badly swollen; that he had a blood clot on the jaw and that he had to go to a doctor who gave him a shot of some kind to reduce the clot.

Witness said that he had nothing in his hands when the altercation started, but when pulled to the ground that he started to lift a jack handle to protect himself, and the defendants took the jack handle away from him and threw it away. He said that Taylor Hatfield hit him at the time they took the jack handle. Said he: 'I looked like I had an egg on both sides of my face. It was very sore. I couldn't open my jaw--could barely open my mouth, it hurt to that effect.'

Alberta Aebi, wife of Clarence Aebi, testified that she was a housewife and school teacher, and testified substantially as her husband, and said that she had known Burns Hatfield since she was a small girl, and tried to reason with him but that he would not listen and that the defendant Taylor Hatfield called her a vile name, which we omit, and told her to go back into the house.

Harry Aebi, fourteen year old nephew of Clarence Aebi, testified that he was helping his uncle put a broken-down tractor together on August 14, 1957, and testified substantially as his uncle as to early events. As to the altercation, he testified:

'A. They came back with this pickup and tractor and Burns jumped out of the pickup towards us before the truck stopped and run over to the tractor and said he was going to move it out of the way, and they went to--Clarence told them he was going to call the sheriff and they wanted it that way. And they started throwing parts around and Clarence told him not to throw them around, and he tried to stop him, and they got in a fight. * * * Well, Clarence grabbed hold Burns and pushed him back and he tripped over a pipe and the two boys jumped on Clarence. That's when the fight started--all of them piled on Clarence. * * * Well, one was a-holding his feet down, one of them was a-hold of his neck and one of them was a-hitting him.'

He said defendants had Clarence down on the ground twice. That Mrs. Aebi finally got the sheriff but that defendants left before the sheriff arrived.

Frank Aebi, fourteen year old son of Clarence Aebi, testified that he was helping his father put his tractor together on August 14, 1957 when the Hatfields got in a fight with his father. His testimony was substantially as that of his father. As to his father's injuries, he said:

'Well, he had blood all over his clothes and on his shirt especially and on his face, and he had a big blood clot--that's what the doctor called it--on his face here, and he had some scratches here and something was the matter with his neck. I don't know what that was--I think it was throwed out of place.'

On cross-examination Frank said that they began work on the tractor about 6:30 in the morning.

Lauren Mills, Sheriff of Grant County, testified to being called out to the Aebi home on August 14, 1957 concerning a disturbance that occurred in the roadway about 50 or 60 feet from the driveway of the home. He said that he found a tractor sitting...