Spears v. State

• Decision Date: 28 September 1929
• Docket Number: A-6800.
• Citation: 281 P. 167,44 Okla.Crim. 406
• Parties: SPEARS v. STATE.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

281 P. 167

44 Okla.Crim. 406

SPEARS v. STATE.

No. A-6800.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

September 28, 1929

Syllabus by the Court.

The jury are the exclusive judges of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony. This court will not reverse a conviction where there is any competent evidence in the record from which the jury could legitimately find the defendant guilty.

Additional Syllabus by Editorial Staff.

Evidence held sufficient to warrant conviction for carrying a pistol into a public gathering, in violation of Comp. St 1921, § 1997.

Appeal from County Court, Oklahoma County; C. C. Christison, Judge.

Otis Spears was convicted of carrying firearms at a public gathering, and he appeals. Affirmed.

Freeling & Box, of Oklahoma City, for plaintiff in error.

Edwin Dabney, Atty. Gen., and Smith C. Matson, Asst. Atty. Gen for the State.

CHAPPELL J.

Otis Spears was convicted in the county court of Oklahoma county of the offense of carrying firearms at a public gathering and sentenced to pay a fine of $50 and to be imprisoned in the county jail for a period of three months.

The prosecution is based on section 1997, Compiled Oklahoma Statutes 1921. The sole contention urged in this case is that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the conviction. In the trial court the defendant moved for a directed verdict which motion was overruled, and exceptions reserved.

It appears that Otis Spears is a negro, and that on the 25th day of January, 1927, he carried a pistol to a public gathering, to wit, a public dance which was being held in a place known as Slaughter's Dance Hall, located at the intersection of East Second and Stiles streets in Oklahoma City.

It is admitted that Spears carried this gun up to that place. The defense interposed is purely technical; it being urged that the evidence discloses only the fact that he carried the pistol into the vestibule leading into the dance hall and not into the dance hall proper. The evidence shows that this vestibule was a small room where the person stayed who took the tickets of entrants into the room where the dancing was engaged in, and that it was adjoining such room with the door open between them and used as a part of said hall.

J. K. Wright testified as follows for the state:

"Q. Did he tell you that he went into the dance hall with his gun? A. Yes sir, and that the negro didn't attack him."

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