Stiner v. State
| Decision Date | 13 August 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. F--75--300,F--75--300 |
| Parties | Ronnie Ken STINER and Larry Griffet, Appellants, v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
The appellants, Ronnie Ken Stiner and Larry Griffet, hereinafter referred to as defendants, were charged, tried and convicted in the District Court, LeFlore County, Case No. CRF--74--110, for the offense of Escape from Penitentiary, in violation of 21 O.S.1971, § 443. The jury fixed the punishment of each defendant at four (4) years' imprisonment, and from each judgment and sentence a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.
At the trial, the first witness for the State was Jesse Tittsworth, Assistant Records Clerk at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. He stated that his job consisted of keeping the records of those incarcerated at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, and explained that the Ouachita Vocational Technical Camp was a satellite facility of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections located in LeFlore County. From the records then in his possession, he identified State's exhibits Nos. 1 and 2 as appropriately certified copies of judgments and sentences under which each defendant was confined on August 7, 1974. Exhibit No. 1 revealed that defendant Stiner was under a two year sentence for Embezzlement by Bailee from Tulsa County, and exhibit No. 2 established that defendant Griffet had received a two year sentence for Second Degree Burglary from Delaware County. He further identified each defendant from identification pictures contained within those records. He testified that neither defendant had been pardoned nor paroled on the above date.
The second witness to testify was Kenneth Ramsay, an employee at the Ouachita Vocational Technical Training Camp located in Hodgens. He identified each defendant as former inmates at that facility, and testified that at about 11:00 a.m. on the above date, they borrowed a state-owned 1965 or 1966 Dodge pickup for the sole purpose of performing some maintenance work for which they had volunteered, and were to return the pickup within thirty minutes. The work was to have been performed upon the compound since an officer was required to accompany inmates working off the compound When the defendants failed to return, he attempted to locate them but was unsuccessful and notified Lt. Cranfield. A head count was then conducted and at about 1:30 p.m. the defendants were discovered missing.
Chester John Cranfield, Sr., Lieutenant of the guards at the correctional facility located in Hodgens, then testified and confirmed the testimony of the above witness regarding the head count and discovery that the defendants were missing. The witness then explained that under the rules and regulations of the facility no inmate is allowed outside the compound unless escorted by an officer. He acknowledged that the defendants had been assigned to the maintenance crew, and further testified that he had never directed an inmate to work outside the compound without being accompanied by an officer.
Warren C. Nuzum, a police officer with the El Reno Police Department, then testified that he and other officers proceeded to a certain residence in El Reno in the afternoon of August 11, 1974, upon information that two escaped convicts were at that location. After other officers approached the front door of the residence, the two defendants proceeded rather rapidly out the back door, but from the back porch then dropped face-down into a prone position when advised of the officers' presence.
The final witness in chief for the State was Hugh Gardenhire, Chief of Security at the Ouachita Vocational Technical Training Center, who testified that when an inmate leaves that compound the officer in charge will always accompany him, especially when an automobile is used. Further, the officer would first proceed to the office, where he would leave such information as the inmate's number, the location to which they were proceeding, their purpose, and the approximate time of return. He also testified that to his knowledge these defendants did not have permission to leave the compound on August 7, 1974, and although he admitted that one of his subordinates could have given such permission, he further asserted that they had no authority to do so.
David Eugene Evans was then called as the first defense witness and testified that he was presently incarcerated at the State Penitentiary at McAlester, and became acquainted with the defendants while incarcerated there. Before defendant Stiner was transferred to Hodgens, he observed some altercation between that defendant and four or five black inmates in the shower, and defendant Stiner subsequently stated that they had tried to sexually molest him. In cross-examination he admitted six prior felony convictions, and that he was not personally familiar with circumstances existing at the facility in Hodgens.
The second defense witness was Dale Thomas Taylor, who testified that he was presently incarcerated at McAlester, but had previously become acquainted with the defendants when incarcerated at Hodgens. He also testified that defendant Stiner had been threatened with sexual assault by black males at the Hodgens facility, and fearing for their lives both defendants had sought his advice as to what to do. In cross-examination he admitted two prior felony convictions.
Defendant Griffet then took the stand as the final defense witness, and testified that while incarcerated at the Hodgens facility five black males, one of whom had a knife, attempted to sexually assault his co-defendant at the water plant, and when he endeavored to assist defendant Stiner they threatened both of their lives. He further testified that the guards were not notified of the situation since to do so would be futile and cause futher reprisal from other inmates. As an alternative the defendants decided to go to El Reno where defendant Stiner had an uncle who worked at the Federal Penitentiary. Their intention was to turn themselves in there in the hope of being imprisoned elsewhere. In cross-examination he testified that they had hitchhiked from Hodgens to El Reno and did not leave in the missing pickup that was later found in Tulsa, and he did not know how defendant Stiner came into possession of the billfold of a Mr. Morris from Sapulpa.
In rebuttal, the State recalled Hugh Gerdenhire, who testified that if an inmate so desired he could at any time walk away from the Hodgens facility, and that he had received no reports of sexual molestation among the inmates there.
In surrebuttal the defense recalled Dale Thomas Taylor, who then testified that defendant Stiner had asked Mr. Gardenhire that he be separated from black inmates in his cell so that he would not be sexually assaulted.
In the first of the four assignments of error, the defendants contend that the trial court erred in overruling their Motion for Severance, which was timely filed and presented. As set forth in Curcie v. State, Okl.Cr., 496 P.2d 387, 388 (1972), we have repeatedly held:
The defendants recognize this rule, but, without otherwise suggesting how they were prejudiced, the defendants assert that the defense of one was necessarily antagonistic and inconsistent with the defense of the other since only defendant Griffet chose to testify. At the hearing upon the Motion for New Trial, defendant Stiner testified that he considered the witnesses Evans and Taylor to be his defense witnesses. Clearly, the purported defense thus offered by each defendant was then that they departed custody involuntarily under duress, due to...
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