Rhine v. State

• Decision Date: 03 December 1958
• Docket Number: No. A-12611,A-12611
• Parties: John Richard RHINE, Plaintiff in Error, v. STATE of Oklahoma, Defendant in Error.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

Page 913

336 P.2d 913

John Richard RHINE, Plaintiff in Error, v. STATE of Oklahoma, Defendant in Error.

No. A-12611.

Criminal Court of Appeals of Oklahoma.

Dec. 3, 1958.

Rehearing Denied March 18, 1959.

Syllabus by the Court

1. As a general rule, in the prosecution of one accused of a particular offense, evidence showing or tending to show the commission by accused of another crime or crimes entirely distinct and independent of that for which he is on trial, even though it be a crime of the same class, is neither relevant nor admissible.

2. An exception to the general rule exists when the evidence of similar offenses tends to show a system, plan, or scheme embracing the commission of two or more crimes so related to each other that the proof of one tends to estalished the other.

3. In a prosecution for rape, evidence of similar offenses which shows that in the commission of the offense the accused used a system or plan characterized by a peculiar method of operation tends to establish the offense charged and is admissible on that basis.

Appeal from District Court, Tulsa County; Leslie Webb, Judge.

W. C. Henneberry, Robert L. Wheeler, Tulsa, for plaintiff in error.

Mac Q. Williamson, Atty. Gen., Sam N. Lattimore, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.

BRETT, Presiding Judge.

Plaintiff in error Dr. John Richard Rhine, a licensed physician, defendant below, was charged by information in the District Court of Tulsa County, Oklahoma, with the crime of rape in the second degree, allegedly committed against Flora Jo Moore, a married woman, on or about July 27, 1956. The defendant was tried by a jury, convicted, his punishment fixed at two years in the state penitentiary. Judgment and sentence were entered accordingly, from which this appeal has been perfected.

Dr. Rhine was charged in the information with the second degree rape of Mrs. Flora Jo Moore, overpowering her will by intravenous injections of an intoxicating narcotic and anesthetic agent which left her dazed and without power of resistance. In support thereof, the state's first witness, Mrs. Landrith Jordan, testified that she acted as Dr. Rhine's unregistered nurse for about two years, after he took over a Dr. Devine's practice, for whom she had acted in like capacity prior thereto. She testified that Dr. Rhine always had nembutal in each of his examination rooms; that while she gave intramuscular shots, Dr. Rhine gave the intravenous shots; that he frequently gave the nembutal shots to female patients but never to male patients; that she was acquainted with Mrs. Flora Jo Moore, a patient of Dr. Rhine, and she also was acquainted with Mrs. June Coffey, Mrs. M. T. Chrysler, and Mrs. John Flies, whom she had met in like capacity; that she had seen the Doctor give nembutal shots to women on several occasions. She remembered Mrs. Flies being in the office on two occasions; she remembered that when Mrs. Flies came into the office about closing time that the Doctor and Mrs. Flies were alone in the office, Alice Moore, the receptionist, having preceded her in leaving. She said Alice Moore, before her departure, was told by the Doctor to tell Mr. Flies to leave and take the children home. Mrs. Jordan stated that on numerous occasions she had put nembutal in his medical bag for his use in making home calls. She stated Mrs. Flora Jo Moore came in late one evening but she never came back after that occasion. She also recalled Mrs. Chrysler was a patient of Dr. Rhine and he made a house call on her. She never knew that Mrs. Coffey was a house patient of Dr. Rhine.

The complainant, a woman without children, testified that the unusual attack by Dr. Rhine upon her occurred on July 27, 1956. She related that on the day in question she had gone to the Doctor's office for treatment for a severe sinus headache. She had arranged an appointment for five o'clock in the afternoon and was accompanied by her husband. Upon their arrival, the Doctor gave her a shot that relaxed her and relieved her headache. Then, she got up and almost fell. The Doctor told the nurse to put her back on the table and then to fix two cc's of nembutal which he gave her in the vein. She related it left her weak, she had no strength, could not walk, and was so weak her husband carried her from the office to the car and then took her home. She slept until seven or eight o'clock when it was beginning to get dark. She fell asleep again and her husband awakened her and said the Doctor was coming over. The weather was quite hot, but they had a water cooled air conditioner which made the room very cool. When the Doctor arrived, he suggested he would call in a prescription to a drug store. The record shows this drug store was so far away that it took Mr. Moore thirty five or forty minutes to go there and return, although there were other nearer drug stores in the vicinity. Just before her husband left, the Doctor said he would give her another shot so she could rest, which he did in the vein in the center of her right arm. The effect was the same as the shot he had previously given her in his office. She became weaker and was just barely able to maintain consciousness. The Doctor pulled a chair up to the bed and kept rubbing her arm. Momentarily, she became completely unconscious. When she awoke, the Doctor was disrobed, moved her on her back, got in bed with her, and had intercourse with her. She related although she was conscious of all that went on, she had on power of resistance. She stated she was both scared and paralyzed. The Doctor then took his clothes and went to the bathroom, she said. The record discloses when Mr. Moore returned from the drug store, the Doctor had his shirt off and was on the back porch with the screen latched, sweating profusely. The next day after the attack, the Doctor called and asked her if she had had any nightmares. She told the Doctor he knew 'what happened just as well as I do.' The Doctor replied, 'Well, Jo, you know I wouldn't do anything like that to you.'

Mrs. Moore did not report the attack to her husband until sometime in July, 1957. She never went back to Dr. Rhine for treatment, but her husband did during the interim of a year. Mr. Moore corroborated her testimony concerning the details in which he figured, especially as to going for the prescription and returning to find the Doctor partially disrobed.

The state also offered the testimony of Mrs. June Coffey, a divorcee, the mother of two young sons, five and eleven years of age. She related she had known Dr. Rhine for about two years. He had treated her for colds and lung trouble. She was attended both in the Doctor's office and at her home. The Doctor gave her shots both in the muscle and in the vein. The last time she was attended by the defendant was on January 29 or 30, 1957. She was ill and had tried to get Dr. Rhine all day. About 11:00 p. m., she said, he called stating if needed, he would come out then. He came shortly thereafter and seeing the two little boys with her, sent them to bed. The Doctor gave her a shot of adrenalin for her asthma, then told her she should be knocked out so she could get plenty of rest. He then gave her a shot in the vein. She fell asleep, she said, and when she awoke, he was on top of her, having intercourse with her. She was lifeless, she said. When she awoke, her pajama pants had been removed, her Kotex her period being on, lay on the floor, and a bloody man's handkerchief was beside her bed. The first thing she did was to call her priest, she asserted. She said she objected to being treated that way. It is apparent she did so in calling her priest and in calling the matter to the county attorney's attention.

Mrs. Norma Chrysler, married, the mother of two little girls ages sixteen months and three and one-half years, was called by the state. She testified that Dr. Rhine had been treating her for a kidney infection and other ailments since about November, 1955. In October, 1956, the Doctor was called, she having a high fever. Dr. Rhine answered about 9:00 a. m. He examined her, she said, and believing it was a nasal infection, sent her husband to the prescription shop to get a nasal spray. Before her husband left, she related, the Doctor gave her a shot in the vein and also one in the hip. The vein shot made her sleepy and light headed and weak. She said, 'I couldn't move my limbs like you might want to.' 'As soon as my husband left he came to the bed and made improper advances.' He put his hands on her breast and below, too, she related. The trial court rejected the state's offer to show that at a later time she accused the Doctor of the improper advances, and to prove what was said. She made two visits subsequent to this incident to the Doctor, one the day after this incident and another the day after that. On these visits it appears she only saw the nurse. She told her husband about the immoral proposal after the second visit to his office, but has not been back since.

Mrs. John Flies, twenty three years of age, was the next witness for the state. She stated she was the mother of three children of the ages of three, five, and six years. She was a patient of Doctor Rhine, having been in a wreck and being unable to open her jaw. She testified that on July 3, 1956, she went to the Doctor's office accompanied by her husband and the children. The Doctor said this treatment would take some time and sent Mr. Flies home with the children. It was late in the day and the nurse had apparently left because Mrs. Flies never saw her after she prepared her for examination on the table in the examining room. No one else was there after that but she and the Doctor. The Doctor came into the room and said he was going to give her a little shot in the vein. She lost her sense of feeling, 'just felt numb.' The Doctor waited until she 'didn't want to move,' then he removed her pants, took an instrument off the wall, and used it on her private parts. Then, he started...