Quarles v. State
| Decision Date | 01 November 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 30644,30644 |
| Citation | 211 N.E.2d 167,247 Ind. 32 |
| Parties | James Reginald QUARLES, Sie Lee Edwards, Appellants, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
John G. Bunner, Evansville, for appellants.
Edwin K. Steers, Atty. Gen., David S. Wedding, Deputy Atty. Gen., for appellee.
This is an appeal from a judgment of the Vanderburgh Circuit Court convicting appellants of the crime of rape. Appellants were tried by jury commencing April 15, 1964. On April 16, 1964, a verdict was returned finding each appellant guilty of rape as charged in the affidavit. They were both sentenced to the Indiana State Reformatory for not less than two years nor more than twenty-one years. A motion for new trial was filed which was overruled on June 17, 1964. This appeal followed.
It appears from the evidence most favorable to appellee that on or about November 5, 1963, the victim, a girl twenty-four years of age, had been bowling. She stopped to visit a girl friend afterward, leaving around 11:30 p. m. On the way home, which was in the vicinity of Evansville, Indiana, she was followed by appellants in their car. She tried to outrun them, but was unsuccessful. They pulled her out of her car when it stalled on a curve in the highway. Appellant Edwards struck her several times, then dragged her into his car, drove off the main highway, and raped her. Later, appellant Quarles, having followed them in the victim's car, climbed into the rear seat of their car and performed the same act. They then pushed her back in her own car and left without giving her the keys. She finally managed to walk back to her home, three to four miles away, where the matter was reported to her parents who called the authorities. Appellant Quarles was apprehended the next day. At that time he made a statement before police officers which implicated both appellants in the commission of the crime. Appellant Edwards was not present, but was picked up on December 12, 1963, in Fresno, California, and brought back for arraignment and trial in Evansville. They were represented by pauper counsel, a very able attorney of Evansville. Later, appellant Quarles, on January 2, 1964, made another statement before police officials which was very similar to the one he had signed on November 7, 1963.
The assignment of errors is based upon the overruling of the motion for new trial. The specifications of error therein are predicated on the grounds that the verdict of the jury was contrary to law and not sustained by sufficient evidence; that there were errors at law which occurred at the trial with reference to the admission of appellant Quarles' two statements; that there was error in overruling appellants' motion for a finding of not guilty at the conclusion of State's evidence; that there was error in refusing to give to the jury certain instructions tendered by appellants.
The bulk of appellants' argument in their brief pertains to appellant Quarles. Appellee admits that the trial court committed a fatal error when it refused, over objections, to hear any evidence whatsoever outside the presence of the jury upon the issue of whether appellant Quarles' confessions were competent so as to be admissible in evidence. Brown v. State (1880), 71 Ind. 470; Palmer v. State (1894), 136 Ind. 393, 36 N.E. 130; Marshall v. State (1949), 227 Ind. 1, 83 N.E.2d 763; Wallace v. State (1956), 235 Ind. 538, 135 N.E.2d 512; Gennaitte v. State (1963), 243 Ind. 532, 188 N.E.2d 412. Appellee, therefore, has confessed error as to appellant Quarles which takes him out of the purview of this appeal.
As to appellant Edwards, we find that there is only one significant question of error which is argued. He does not go into the matter of the verdict being contrary to law or not sustained by sufficient evidence. Nor does he argue error in the overruling of appellant's motion for a finding of not guilty at the conclusion of State's evidence except as to interject, in connection with this motion, some remarks by the court which he alleged were highly prejudicial and invaded the province of the jury, and that thus constituted reversible error. But these were never inserted in the motion for new trial. Furthermore, the particular motion, which was oral, was not supplemented by any reasons or written memorandum therefor. The oral motion as presented reads as follows:
'Mr. Bunner: I have a motion, I would like to file.
'Defendants file motion for finding of not guilty.
'Court: This motion will be denied.
'Mr. Bunner: The defendants Rest.'
As grounds for error, they are waived. Supreme Court Rule 2-17(f).
Appellants tendered two instructions which were refused by the court. It is claimed this is error. These tendered instructions read as follows:
It is obvious that these instructions refer only to appellant Quarles and are not pertinent to appellant Edwards. Therefore, error cannot be claimed by appellant Edwards for the court's refusal to submit them to the jury.
The only questions presented pertain to the admission into evidence of the two statements made by appellant Quarles. (State's Exhibits 7 and 9.) They detail the events which occurred the night of November 5, 1963. Both of these statements were made outside the presence of appellant Edwards. When the first of the two statements (Exhibit 7) was offered into evidence, no objection was made. It was therefore admitted and read to the jury. Appellant Edwards then moved that the exhibit be stricken in so far as he was concerned and the jury be admonished not to consider it as evidence against him because he was not present at the time Quarles' statement was made. This the court refused to do.
Error is claimed on the basis of the general principle of law that an extra-judicial confession made by one codefendant not in the presence of the other defendant is not admissible in evidence as against the codefendant not present when the statement was made. Indiana has long upheld this general rule. Patton, Nickelson v. State (1961), 241 Ind. 645, 175 N.E.2d 11; Knopp v. State (1954), 233 Ind. 435, 120 N.E.2d 268; Diblee v. State (1931), 202 Ind. 571, 177 N.E. 261.
However, it has been held by this court that where evidence upon a material point has been admitted without objection, a subsequent motion to strike it out comes too late. Brown v. Owen (1884), 94 Ind. 31; Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Ry. Co. v. Wynant (1893), 134 Ind. 681, 34 N.E. 569; Ginn v. State (1903), 161 Ind. 292, 68 N.E. 294; Epperson v. State (1937), 211 Ind. 237, 6 N.E.2d 538. Having permitted the State to read the first part of Quarles' statement to the jury without objection, appellant's (Edwards) motion to strike came too late. There was no error in...
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Ortiz v. State
...right to confront witnesses against him. He also contends that admission of the confession was erroneous under Quarles v. State, (1965) 247 Ind. 32, 211 N.E.2d 167. Ortiz denies that excision of his name only was sufficient to prevent the jury from realizing that Ortiz was inculpated by the......
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State v. Beachum
...having raised the issue before the trial court, the claimed error is deemed waived. State v. Kidd, 24 N.M. 572, 175 P. 772; Quarles v. State (Ind.) 211 N.E.2d 167; Commonwealth v. Kiernan, 348 Mass. 29, 201 N.E.2d 504, cert. den. 380 U.S. 913, 85 S.Ct. 901, 13 L.Ed.2d 800; Freeman v. State ......
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Sims v. State
...the other defendant is not admissible in evidence as against the codefendant not present when the statement was made. Quarles v. State (1965), 247 Ind. 32, 211 N.E.2d 167. Should it be shown that the statement or admission was made by a coconspirator within the scope of the conspiracy, this......