Hyde v. State

• Citation: 221 P. 787,26 Okla.Crim. 69
• Decision Date: 26 November 1923
• Docket Number: A-4177.
• Parties: HYDE v. STATE.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

221 P. 787

26 Okla.Crim. 69

HYDE v. STATE.

No. A-4177.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

November 26, 1923

Rehearing Denied Jan. 22, 1924.

Syllabus by the Court.

In a prosecution for rape, evidence reviewed, and held sufficient to sustain conviction of rape in the first degree.

Where objection is made to the competency of a witness to testify on the ground of mental unsoundness, it is the province of the trial court to determine the witness' competency, and its decision will not be disturbed unless a clear abuse of discretion is shown by the record.

Incapacity to give legal consent to the commission of an act of carnal intercourse does not necessarily imply incapacity to thereafter correctly and truthfully narrate the facts constituting the commission of the act.

The fact that the state accuses a defendant of rape in having accomplished an act of sexual intercourse with a female who was at the time of unsound mind and incapable of giving legal consent does not per se establish incompetency of such female to testify against the accused.

In a prosecution for rape, where it is alleged that the female was incapable through unsoundness of mind of giving legal consent, after the court has determined that the prosecutrix is competent to testify as a witness, the credibility of the witness immediately becomes a question to be determined by the jury.

Appeal from District Court, Jefferson County; Cham Jones, Judge.

Frank Hyde was convicted of rape in the first degree, and he appeals. Affirmed.

In the information in this case filed in the district court of Jefferson county on August 6, 1921, Frank Hyde was charged with the crime of rape in the first degree, in that he did in said county, on or about the 3d day of April, 1921, have sexual intercourse with a female, to wit, Floy Parker, then and there not his wife, and then and there being incapable through unsoundness of mind of giving legal consent. Upon his trial the jury found him guilty, and assessed his punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of 15 years. From the judgment rendered on the 12th day of September 1921, and a resulting sentence in accordance with the verdict to imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of 15 years he appealed by filing in this court on January 28, 1922, a petition in error with case-made.

The first witness for the state, Mary Parker, testified that she had lived in Waurika about 12 years, having moved here from Coalgate; that at the date alleged defendant's home was about a mile from her home; that her daughter, Floy, is not bright, and her mental condition was caused by an attack of spinal meningitis when she was six years old; that during the past three years it was her daughter's habit to visit defendant's wife about once each month; that she usually walked, and defendant brought her home twice in a car, once in January, and again on April 3, 1921; that her daughter also visited Mrs. Hyde in May and June this year; that her daughter, Floy, is now pregnant; that, owing to her physical and mental condition, her daughter, Floy, had never attended school and was blind for one year; that her daughter was not able to remember facts and experiences as they happened, but could remember people that she had met; that her daughter was not in the habit of visiting any one except defendant's wife; that she will be 23 years old the 22d of this September.

The state called as its second witness the prosecutrix, Floy Parker, and after she was sworn counsel for the defendant requested to be allowed to inquire into her mental condition to determine whether she was a competent witness, which was allowed, and the jury excused.

Examined by counsel for the defendant, Floy Parker testified:

"My name is Floy Parker. I live in the north part of town. There is a trial going on here now because my papa and mamma told me so; they are trying the case against Frank Hyde. I do not know what it means to take an oath, and I know nothing about the legal or moral obligation of an oath. My papa and mamma told me to tell the truth all the time. I never went to school. I do not know how to tell the time of day, nor the week, month, or year. I do not know what the commission of a crime means, and know nothing about penalties fixed for crimes. I do know there is such a thing as a crime, and I do know that some things are criminal."

Cross-examined by counsel for the state, she stated:

"I am 23 years old the 22d day of this month. I have lived here in Waurika about 15 years. We moved here from Coalgate. I have known Frank Hyde about 5 years. I used to go to his place about once a month. Frank Hyde's wife's name is Daisy. It has been about three months since I last visited there. If I tell a lie the bad man would get me. There is a good man; his name is God. I remember people I meet, and I am able to tell things that happen, and things I see. I know what I am called to testify about, and I will tell the truth."

Dr Maupin testified:

"I have been sitting in court during the examination of Floy Parker, and have observed her, and from this observation of her, and from her answers to questions propounded to her, I would say she was of unsound mind."

Dr. Collins testified to the same state of facts, and that in his judgment she was of unsound mind.

Thereupon counsel for the defendant objected to Floy Parker testifying as being incompetent to testify by reason of her mental condition, which objection was overruled, exception allowed, and the jury recalled.

Against the defendant's objection the witness Floy Parker testified:

"My name is Floy Parker. I live in the north part of town, Rock Island addition to Waurika, with my mamma and papa. I have one sister; she is at home. I have no brothers. I will be 23 years old the 22d day of this month. Before coming to Waurika we lived at Coalgate. I have known Frank Hyde for about 4 years, and I know his father. His wife's name is Daisy Hyde. They live up by the Methodist Church. I have been going over there to visit her about once a month, for 4 years. I usually go on Sunday, because she works in a laundry during the week. The last time I was there was in June. She was living then at Mr. Hyde's, the old man. I visited her before that in May, and I visited her on the 3d day of April, and Frank Hyde brought me home in the car. We got home about 6 o'clock. When I was leaving he said to Daisy, his wife, 'I am going to town, and will carry Floy on home as I go.' After we got into the car he said, 'Floy, I was going out to Dr. Derr's to look at a cow, and if you want to go it will be a nice ride'; so I said, 'All right.' After we got out there and looked at the cows we started home, and came to a log. We got out and talked a while. He told me to lay down, and he got on top of me, and put something in me. Of course I did not know what he was going to do. He tooks his pants down and took my clothes up, and put his privates into my privates. I did not know what he was doing. We got up and got in the car and started home. When we got home about sundown nobody but papa and mamma was there. Nobody ever touched me but Frank Hyde. I didn't want him to do it. I never did tell any one about it. It was the 4th day of July when I told mamma about it. The doctor was there that day, and made an examination. Mamma told me to tell the truth. I know what it is to swear the truth, and I am telling the truth. If I didn't tell the truth the bad man would get me."

On cross-examination she stated:

"I looked on the calendar. It was on the 3d day of April. I can sometimes tell the days and dates on the calendar, and my mamma told me it was on the 3d day of April that Frank Hyde brought me home. We left Frank Hyde's place between 5 and 6 o'clock. He said, 'We will rest a while, and let the engine cool.' We got out and sat down on the log and talked a long time. Then he made me lay down, and he got on top of me. We stayed down about 15 minutes. He told me not to say anything about it. It did not hurt me until I got home. Then it began to hurt me, and has hurt me ever since. As I said before, that man is the only man that ever bothered me. There were two gates to open, and we went through both of them. He said it was Dr. Derr's farm. I don't know what the nature of an oath means. I don't know what this trial is for."

Dr. Ashinhurst testified:

"I have known Floy Parker about 10 years. I examined her the 3d day of this month, and found that she was 4 or 5 months advanced in pregnancy. Dr. Browning assisted me."

R. J. Parker testified:

"I am the father of Floy Parker. She never visited any one by herself except Mrs. Hyde. She seemed to have her mind fixed to visit Mrs. Hyde once each month, usually on Sunday. Frank Hyde brought her home on Sunday, the 3d day of April, about 5:30 p. m. No one was with them. I was in the yard, and my wife went out and assisted Floy out of the car."

Walter Beatty testified:

"I know the defendant, Frank Hyde, and Floy Parker. On Sunday evening, April 3d, I was coming from my father-in-law's, two miles south of town. My wife and Tom Beatty and his mother were in my car. Frank Hyde and Floy Parker passed us in a car going north. It was somewhere about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Dr. Derr's pasture is about 3 miles south of Waurika."

Mrs. Laura Beatty testified:

"I lived across the street from the Parkers'. I was with my husband and son. We were coming from my father's about 5 o'clock Sunday, April 3d, and I saw Floy Parker with a man in a car that passed us, my husband remarked the man was Frank Hyde. The defendant sitting there is the man."

At the close of the evidence counsel for defendant demurred to the evidence on the ground that it is insufficient to warrant a conviction,...