Leasure v. State, A-12038

• Decision Date: 06 October 1954
• Docket Number: No. A-12038,A-12038
• Parties: Raymond D. LEASURE, Plaintiff 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 344

275 P.2d 344

Raymond D. LEASURE, Plaintiff in Error, v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Defendant in Error.

No. A-12038.

Criminal Court of Appeals of Oklahoma.

Oct. 6, 1954.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. By provision of Tit. 21 O.S.1951 § 200, 'Every person who, at the time of requesting his name to be registered as that of a qualified voter, upon any registry of voters authorized by law to be kept in any city, town or election district, or at the time of offering his vote at any election, knowingly makes any false statement or employs any false representation or false pretense or token to procure his name to be registered, or his vote to be received, is guilty of a misdemeanor.'

2. The word 'reside' as used in Tit. 26 O.S.1951 § 61, specifying the qualifications of electors to be entitled to vote, means to be in residence, one's place of abode, as distinguished from a place where one is employed or an office or place devoted strictly to commercial enterprise.

3. Information examined. Held: that it is sufficiently worded that the accused might know with reasonable particularity from the allegations what facts the prosecution considered as sufficient to render him guilty of the offense charged, so as to enable him to make his defense thereto, and that the information charges essential facts so specifically that a judgment in the case would be a complete defense to any subsequent prosecution for the same offense. Tit. 22 O.S.1951 §§ 401, 402, 409(6); Okl. Const., Art. II, § 20.

4. The granting or refusal of suspended sentence being discretionary with the trial court, this court will not interfere with the exercise of that discretion. Tit. 22 O.S.1951 §§ 991, 992.

5. Where there are facts revealed by the record that in the interest of fairness and uniformity in assessment of punishment for criminal convictions impel consideration and review, and where such a consideration appeals to the conscience of this court, it may modify the judgment appealed from. Tit. 22 O.S.1951 § 1066.

Claud Briggs, Oklahoma City, Paul Harkey, Idabel, for plaintiff in error.

Mac Q. Williamson, Atty. Gen., James P. Garrett, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.

POWELL, Presiding Judge.

The plaintiff in error, Raymond C. Leasure, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged by amended information filed in the court of common pleas of Oklahoma county with the offense of making false statements upon registration to vote, in violation of the provisions of Tit. 21 O.S.1951 § 200. Defendant entered a plea of not guilty to the amended information, and thereafter filed a demurrer, but the record fails to show that the trial court ever ruled on the demurrer, but shows that the defendant withdrew his plea of not guilty, and entered a plea of guilty, and the court entered judgment accordingly, and fixed the punishment at ten days in the county jail, and a fine of $250.

Defendant excepted to the action of the court and duly gave notice of appeal, but on the same day filed a motion to set aside the judgment and for new trial, which was overruled and appeal has been perfected to this court. An appeal, of course, may be made from a judgment entered on a plea of guilty. Hardy v. State, 35 Okl.Cr. 75, 248 P. 846; Roberto v. U. S., 7 Cir., 60 F.2d 774.

The pertinent portion of the amended information reads as follows 'On the 20th day of March, A. D. 1953, in Oklahoma County, State of Oklahoma, Raymond C. Leasure, whose more full and correct name is to your informant unknown, then and there being, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and wrongfully commit the crime of Making False Statement upon Registration in the manner and form as follows, to-wit:

'That is to say, the said defendant, in the county and state aforesaid, and on the day and year aforesaid, then and there being, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and wrongfully make a false statement and representation to procure his name to be entered upon the precinct registration book of Precinct 5 of Ward 3, Oklahoma City, said county and state, the same being a registry of voters authorized by law to be kept in said election district, which said false statement and representation was as follows, to-wit: That he, the said defendant, was and had been a continuous resident within Precinct 5 of Ward 3, Oklahoma City, said County and State, for thirty days next preceding the Municipal Election held on April 7, 1953, when in truth and in fact the said defendant was not a resident of said district as represented, all of which he, the said defendant, well knew, and the said defendant knowingly made the false statement and representation with the unlawful, wilful, wrongful, and fraudulent intent to procure his illegal registration as a qualified voter of said election district, contrary to Section 200, Title 21 of Oklahoma Statutes 1951, and contrary to the form of the statutes in such cases made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the State of Oklahoma.'

Section 200 of Title 21, O.S.1951, forming the basis for the prosecution, reads:

'Every person who, at the time of requesting his name to be registered as that of a qualified voter, upon any registry of voters authorized by law to be kept in any city, town, or election district, or at the time of offering his vote at any election, knowingly makes any false statement or employs any false representation or false pretense or token, to procure his name to be registered, or his vote to be received, is guilty of a misdemeanor.'

For reversal defendant advances two propositions: First, that the amended information does not allege facts sufficient to constitute an offense; and, Second, error on the part of the trial court in refusing to suspend the sentence imposed in view of the...