Layton v. State
| Decision Date | 18 June 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. F--75--458,F--75--458 |
| Citation | 551 P.2d 270 |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
| Parties | Dorothy Marie LAYTON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee. |
Appellant, Dorothy Marie Layton, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged, tried and convicted in the District Court, Tulsa County, Case No. CRF--74--2636, for the offense of Murder in the Second Degree in violation of 21 O.S.1973 Supp., § 701.2. Her punishment was fixed at a term of fifty (50) years to life imprisonment and from said judgment and sentence a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.
We do not deem it necessary to give a detailed statement of facts inasmuch as this cause must be reversed because of an accumulation of errors. Defendant, age sixteen with a reduced ability to comprehend of that of a third or fourth grader, was charged with one David Walter Campbell with strangling Campbell's wife Sharon. The State of Oklahoma relied primarily on a confession given by the defendant. Defendant was taken to the police station and held approximately one hour prior to the arrival of her mother. The record reflects that both the defendant and her mother executed Waiver of Right forms. The record does not reflect that defendant was given the opportunity for private discussion with her mother concerning the ramifications of executing the rights waiver.
Defendant timely filed a Motion to Suppress and a lengthy hearing was held immediately prior to the trial. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court overruled the Motion. The trial court failed to set forth in the record with clarity his reasons for so ruling. See Sims v. Georgia, 835 U.S. 538, 87 S.Ct. 639, 17 L.Ed.2d 593, and Tice v. State, Okl.Cr., 497 P.2d 444.
The record further reflects that the question of the voluntariness of the confession was not thereafter submitted to the jury by proper instruction. See Tice v. State, Okl.Cr., 478 P.2d 916.
We next observe that the District Attorney improperly commented on defendant's failure to testify, in his closing argument. The record reflects that the District Attorney stated:
See Garner v. State, Okl.Cr., 500 P.2d 865.
We lastly observe that...
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v. W.B., Matter of
...offered an opportunity to confer with his mother regarding the possibility of prosecution as an adult is not persuasive. Layton v. State, 551 P.2d 270 (Okl.Cr.1976), is distinguishable. Appellant and his mother were requested to come to Mr. Johnson's office and had ample opportunity to conf......
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C. G. H. v. State, J-77-746
...his waiver. Nor, any evidence showing the ability of his mother or legal custodian to properly advise him." Similarly, in Layton v. State, Okl.Cr., 551 P.2d 270 (1976), this Court reversed a conviction because of an accumulation of errors, one of which was that, "The record does not reflect......
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K.J.M. v. State, J-90-0123
...requested to speak to her son on two different occasions prior to the start of the interrogation but was refused. He cites Layton v. State, 551 P.2d 270 (Okl.Cr.1976), a case which does not involve a juvenile proceeding, in support of his proposition that his mother's inability to speak to ......
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Wood v. State, F--76--295
...tunc corrected its judgment and sentence to a term of from ten (10) years to life pursuant to 21 O.S.1975 Supp., § 701.4 and Layton v. State, Okl.Cr., 551 P.2d 270. Briefly stated the evidence adduced at trial is as follows: Pathologist Dr. Leo Lowbeer testified that on June 5, 1975, he per......