Stone v. Oklahoma Real Estate Commission, 39228
| Decision Date | 06 March 1962 |
| Docket Number | No. 39228,39228 |
| Parties | Seth W. STONE, Plaintiff in Error, v. OKLAHOMA REAL ESTATE COMMISSION, Defendant in Error. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. Where an application is made to the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission to take the examination to become a real estate broker or salesman under Sections 831 to 857, 59 O.S.1961, and the application is denied under Section 847, 59 O.S.1961, and appeal is taken to the District Court and the matter tried de novo and upon the trial de novo the judge affirms the action of the Real Estate Commission and to sustain such judgment there was sufficient evidence, this Court will affirm the District Court.
2. A full and complete pardon, granted after conviction, removes all penalties and legal disabilities, and restores the defendant to all his civil rights but does not in itself give such a person a good reputation for honesty, integrity and fair dealing.
Appeal from District Court of Oklahoma County; Clarence Mills, Judge.
Appeal by petitioner from a judgment rendered by the district court on trial de novo, denying petitioner's application originally made to the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission to take the required examination for real estate broker's and salesman's license and to obtain such license. Affirmed.
Carroll Samara, Oklahoma City, for plaintiff in error.
Lytle, Johnson & Soule, Oklahoma City, for defendant in error.
Seth W. Stone made application to the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission for permission to take the examination required of those seeking a real estate broker's or salesman's license. After a hearing upon the application before the Commission this application was denied upon the grounds that Mr. Stone had been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude. This action was taken under the Real Estate License Act passed by the Legislature of Oklahoma in 1949 and amended in 1953. This Act is shown as 59 O.S.1961 Section 831 to and including Section 857.
Under Section 851 of said Act the applicant appealed to the District Court of Oklahoma County. From an adverse judgment in that court he has appealed to this Court.
Section 847, 59 O.S.1961, provides as follows:
'With due regard to the paramount interests of the public, a license, either as a broker or salesman, shall be granted only to persons who bear, and to corporations or associations whose officers bear a good reputation for honesty, integrity and fair dealing.'
The question in this case appears to be 'Did Seth W. Stone bear a good reputation for honesty, integrity and fair dealing when he made application for a real estate broker's or real estate salesman's license?'
From the record in the trial de novo on appeal to the district Court it appears that the applicant was 59 years of age at the time of trial which was March 29, 1960. His own testimony showed he served time in the Federal Penitentiary and also, the Oklahoma Penitentiary. The applicant's testimony on cross-examination is somewhat evasive but he did admit that he was charged with robbery in 1921 and tried in 1923 and given five years in the penitentiary at McAlester. He was paroled on that charge after serving the minimum time. There appears no pardon on this conviction. In 1923 he was arrested and charged with the possession and attempted sale of stolen Liberty Bonds. He was convicted on this charge and sentenced to two and one-half years in the Oklahoma Penitentiary. The testimony is not clear but it appears that Stone was arrested on December 11, 1935, tried and convicted and sentenced on March 1, 1937, to three years in the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. After serving the sentence on the Federal charge he was turned over to the Oklahoma law enforcement officers, and taken to Tulsa where he plead guilty to the charge of stealing an automobile and sentenced to eleven years and one month at the State Penitentiary at McAlester. He was paroled from the penitentiary on this conviction in 1940. On July 10, 1942, Stone was pardoned for the eleven years and one month sentence and the two and one-half year sentence on the stolen Liberty Bond conviction by the Governor of Oklahoma, Leon C. Phillips, and his full rights of citizenship were restored.
Although the applicant was not charged or convicted of any felonies after his pardon in 1942, he was arrested and paid fines for offenses involving the liquor laws of this State up to 1955. When asked the following question, he gave the following answer:
There seems to be no doubt but that the applicant was a law violator from 1921 to 1955.
It may be said for the applicant that at the hearing in the District Court he had witnesses that testified as to his good reputation for honesty, integrity and fair dealing. He also had letters from prominent business and professional men to the same effect.
The trial judge in this case went to great pains to make his position clear and in the journal entry of judgment set out his reasons for denying Stone's application and affirming the action of the Real Estate Commission. We quote from it as follows:
'That applicant admits numerous felony convictions in the Federal Court and the Courts of the State of Oklahoma, and some thirty or more arrests and several convictions for misdemeanors growing out of illegal liquor traffic, operating gambling game, and possession of gambling paraphernalia and the serving of jail and pentitentiary sentences resulting from such convictions; that the Governor of the State of Oklahoma granted to applicant a pardon as to the last two convictions under the laws of the State of Oklahoma.
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