Norman v. State
| Decision Date | 11 July 1945 |
| Docket Number | A-10547. |
| Citation | 160 P.2d 739,81 Okla.Crim. 78 |
| Parties | NORMAN v. STATE. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
Appeal from District Court, Murray County; J. I. Goins, Judge.
Cliff Thomas Norman was convicted of rape in the first degree, and he appeals.
Affirmed.
Syllabus by the Court.
1. A waiver is ordinarily an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege. The determination of whether there has been an intelligent waiver of a constitutional or statutory right must depend, in each case upon the particular facts and circumstances surrounding that case, including the background, experience and conduct of the accused.
2. A conviction of crime may be had in three ways: By the verdict of a jury; by findings of fact by the judge where a jury is waived; or by a plea of guilty.
3. Where a defendant who is indicted or informed against for a capital crime in a court of competent jurisdiction pleads guilty, the court is authorized to pronounce judgment and sentence against such defendant according to law.
4. Where one enters a plea of guilty there is no issue to be submitted to a jury. All that the court is required to do is to render judgment and sentence imposing punishment as prescribed by law, for the crime committed.
5. A plea of guilty should be entirely voluntary, and should be made by one competent to know the consequences thereof, and should not be accepted until after the defendant has been fully advised by the court of his rights and the consequences of his plea. It is the better practice that no undue haste be taken in pronouncing sentence upon a plea of guilty.
6. The constitutional provisions guaranteeing to every person in a criminal action certain rights are: First, those in which the public generally, and as a community, is interested, as well as the accused, and which are jurisdictional as affecting the power of the court to try the cause; second, those more in the nature of privileges which are for the benefit of the accused alone, and do not affect the general public. The former may not be waived, the latter may.
7. The right to have 24 hours in which to plead and 48 hours to have sentence pronounced against him after a plea of guilty was entered are among those rights that may be waived by one charged with a crime.
8. This waiver may be shown by a plea of guilty where one is represented by competent counsel at every stage of the proceedings against him.
9. This is a capital case. Defendant entered a plea of guilty to a charge of rape in the first degree, and was sentenced to death by electrocution in the manner provided by law. Record examined and found that defendant had a fair and impartial hearing. That he was not deprived of any statutory or constitutional right. We find no error in the record that would justify this court in interfering with the sentence imposed in this case.
George B. Forrester, of McAlester, and R. B. Drake, of Sulphur, for plaintiff in error.
Randell S. Cobb, Atty. Gen., Jess L. Pullen, Asst. Atty. Gen., and H W. Broadbent, Co. Atty., and Holmes H. Colbert, both of Sulphur, for defendant in error.
Defendant, Cliff Thomas Norman, was charged in the District Court of Murray County with the crime of rape in the first degree, and on his plea of guilty and testimony taken was sentenced to die by electrocution, in the manner prescribed by law. From this judgment and sentence he has appealed.
The information charging defendant with rape in the first degree was filed by the County Attorney of Murray County on April 11, 1944, and the charging part was as follows: 'That Cliff Thomas Norman in said County and State aforesaid, on the day and year aforesaid, did, unlawfully, willfully, wrongfully, forcibly, violently and feloniously make an assault in and upon one Kathleen Bowser, a female not the wife of him, the said Cliff Thomas Norman, and did then and there unlawfully, wrongfully, without her consent and against her will, by means of force and violence, overcoming her resistance rape, ravish and carnally know her, the said Kathleen Bowser, contrary to the form of the statutes in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State.'
The crime of which defendant was charged was committed in the early morning of April 7, 1944. A preliminary complaint before a justice of the peace of Murray County was filed on the same day, and on the 10th day of April, 1944, a hearing was had on the preliminary complaint. Defendant entered a plea of guilty, and was held without bond to the District Court of Murray County. An information, as above stated, was filed on April 11, 1944. Defendant was arraigned in the District Court on April 12, 1944, and on this day two attorneys of the Murray County bar, George B. Forrester and R. B. Drake, were appointed by the court to represent the defendant.
The record reveals the following proceedings.
'Now on this the 12th day of April, 1944, the Court regularly opened pursuant to law, the Honorable J. I. Goins, District Judge, presiding, Marvin Stephens, Sheriff, and J. H. Samples, Court Clerk and after Court was regularly opened, the following proceedings were had herein: (Among other things)
'By the Court: What have we this morning?
'By Mr. Colbert, County Attorney: If the Court please, we have a defendant present at this time charged with rape in the first degree.
'By the Court: What is your name?
'By the Defendant: Cliff Thomas Norman.
'By the Court: Are you represented by counsel, do you have an attorney?
'By Defendant: No, I do not.
'By the Court: Very well, I am going to appoint Mr. George B. Forrester and Mr. R. B. Drake to represent you.
'By Mr. Forrester: If the Court please, I will accept the responsibility, so far as I am concerned, and will ask permission at this time to confer with the defendant, and if you have no objection we will go to your private office.
'By the Court: Very well.
'(Whereupon Mr. George B. Forrester and Mr. R. B. Drake, together with the defendant, Cliff Thomas Norman and the Sheriff retired to the chambers of the District Judge and conferred with the defendant for some twenty or more minutes, after which they all returned to the court room.)
'By Mr. Forrester: If the Court please, we have conferred with the defendant at some length and explained to him what the consequences would probably be if he should enter a plea of guilty in this case, and we have also investigated his background and history and I will inform the Court that we find no evidence of any mental trouble heretofore and none now, and as I said we have advised him of the consequences of his act and he informs us that he is guilty of this crime and desires to enter a plea of guilty in this case.
'By the Court: Mr. County Attorney, will you please read the information to the defendant in open court.
'(Whereupon the County Attorney, Mr. Holmes H. Colbert, read in open court the information filed herein on the 11th day of April, 1944, and as shown on page 10 of this transcript, together with a list of the witnesses endorsed on said information.)
'By the Court: Now your name, you say, is Cliff Thomas Norman?
'By the Defendant: Yes sir.
'By the Court: You have a right, as do all defendant in a criminal case, to be represented by counsel, and I have appointed you counsel here this morning to represent you and they have advised with you at some length, you also have a right to withhold your plea for twenty-four hours if you desire.
'By Mr. Forrester: If the Court please, we have advised the defendant, our client, as to all of those matters and he desires to enter his plea at this time.
'By the Court: Is that your desire?
'By the Defendant: Yes sir.
'By the Court: You mean by that you are waiving the twenty-four hours you have to enter your plea of guilty and desire to enter it at this time?
'By the Defendant: Yes sir.
'By the Court: You know what you are doing, and you are fully satisfied as to what you are doing, is that right?
'By the Defendant: Yes sir.
'By the Court: No one has made any promises to you to get you to plead guilty to this case?
'By the Defendant: No, they have not.
'By the Court: Now that is right, it it? 'By the Defendant: Yes, sir, that is right.
By the Court: And what is your plea at this time?
'By the Defendant: I enter a plea of guilty.
'By the Court: You enter a plea of guilty to the charge against you in this case, which is rape in the first degree, because you are guilty of that crime, is that it?
'By the Defendant: Yes sir.
'By the Court: You are guilty?
'By the Defendant: Yes sir.
'By the court: Mr. County Attorney, what do you have to say?
'By Mr. Holmes Colbert, County Attorney: If the court please, this is a very aggravated case and we would like to offer some proof as to the crime that was committed.
Evidence was then offered by the State, which developed the following:
Kathleen Bowser, whose husband was overseas in the Army, was working at the 77 Cafe, in the city of Davis, Murray County, on April 7, 1944. Some time after midnight, the cafe was closed, and Mrs. Bowser started walking to her home. She was attacked, assaulted, raped, cut with a knife, robbed of $46, and finally shot in the mouth.
The evidence revealed that King Crippen, the city marshal of Davis, was called from his home about 3:30 on the morning of April 7, 1944. He immediately went to the home of Luther Greer, who had called him, and ...
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