In re Watkins
| Decision Date | 18 March 1922 |
| Docket Number | A-4252. |
| Citation | 205 P. 191,21 Okla.Crim. 95 |
| Parties | IN RE WATKINS. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
Syllabus by Editorial Staff.
Where the information sufficiently charged murder and upon arraignment the defendant informed the court that he did not desire counsel and was not permitted to enter his plea of guilty until after he had been informed of all his constitutional and statutory rights and he was fully cognizant of the consequences of his plea of guilty before it was accepted and judgment and sentence pronounced held, that the conviction and death sentence were in accordance with law in view of Rev. Laws 1910, § 5968.
The trial court upon plea of guilty to the crime of murder is authorized to assess punishment by death, and the statute therefor is constitutional and valid.
After defendant had pleaded guilty to murder, the procedure followed by the trial judge in hearing the testimony of witnesses as to the enormity of the crime before assessing the death penalty held proper in view of Rev. Laws 1910,§ 5954.
Sam Watkins was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by electrocution. On the request of Governor J. B. A. Robertson for an OPINION of Criminal Appeals as to the validity of the conviction, the conviction and sentence held to accord with the law.
The trial court upon plea of guilty to the crime of murder is authorized to assess punishment by death, and the statute therefor is constitutional and valid.
MATSON J., delivering the following opinion:
Hon. J B. A. Robertson, Governor of the State of Oklahoma--Sir Responding to your official communication presenting for the consideration of the judges of this court the record of the conviction of Sam Watkins on the 13th day of February, 1922, in the district court of Atoka county to suffer death by electrocution for the murder of one Cora Jones, in said county, on or about the 8th day of February, 1922, and fixing May 5, 1922, as the date of execution, the following opinion is respectfully submitted:
Attached to your communication is a duly certified transcript and case-made containing all the proceedings leading up to the conviction and judgment sentencing the said Sam Watkins to death by electrocution, and the same is found to fully comply with the requirements of section 5968, Revised Laws of 1910.
Such record shows that Ira J. Banta, the county attorney of Atoka county, after defendant had waived preliminary examination and had been held to answer said charge, filed an information in the district court of said county on the 13th day of February, 1922, charging the said Sam Watkins with the murder of one Cora Jones, alleged to have been committed in said county on or about the 8th day of February, 1922; and on the 13th of February the defendant, Sam Watkins, was present in person in open court, was duly arraigned upon the said charge of murder, was informed of his right to counsel before a plea was accepted, and upon being so informed announced to the court that he did not desire counsel, but desired to plead guilty to the charge, and thereupon in open court entered his plea of guilty to the crime of murder as charged in the information.
Thereupon the court had sworn and heard the testimony of four witnesses for the purpose of determining the punishment to be assessed against the defendant. These witnesses had examined the premises where the homicide took place shortly thereafter and gave detailed descriptions of evidence of a prolonged struggle by the deceased in defense of her life. The deceased had been killed at her residence on a farm, and there were spots of blood discovered in certain parts of the house and in a shed room that was there. The body was found out of doors near the shed. The scalp was practically all gone, and also the left side of the face and part of the fingers on the left hand, and there was some testimony that hogs had been eating on the body before it was found. The defendant confessed the killing and said that he had gone to the deceased's house...
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