Tahdooahnippah v. State
| Decision Date | 10 January 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. F-78-602,F-78-602 |
| Citation | 610 P.2d 808 |
| Parties | Cornell TAHDOOAHNIPPAH, Appellant, v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
The appellant, Cornell Tahdooahnippah, was convicted in the District Court of Kiowa County, Case No. CRF-76-34, of Murder in the Second Degree. Punishment was set at ten (10) years' imprisonment. This conviction was obtained in a third trial after the juries in the two previous trials were unable to reach a verdict.
On August 4, 1976, in the home of Arthur Geimausaddle, Darrell Onco, the appellant's half brother, and Melvin N. Prentiss had a fight over Darrell's paint sniffing, in which Darrell sustained a cut over his eye. After the fight, Darrell went home and the appellant cleaned the wound. The appellant left the room briefly and when he returned a moment later, Darrell was not there. The appellant could not find Darrell in the house so he went outside to search for him. Hearing voices, he headed in the direction of the Geimausaddle house.
At this point, testimony about the events becomes conflicting. Donna Prentiss, Melvin's wife, testified that shortly after Darrell Onco left, she and Prentiss heard voices in the backyard. Prentiss grabbed a butcher knife, which she wrestled from him. When she and Prentiss went outside, she saw Darrell and the appellant, who was holding a rifle. Mrs. Prentiss said the appellant threatened to shoot Prentiss. A shot was then fired and the appellant told Mrs. Prentiss to get out of the way. She and Melvin Prentiss started toward the house and four other shots rang out. Prentiss fell to the ground, and Donna Prentiss saw Darrell and the appellant, still in possession of the rifle, run out of the backyard.
The appellant testified that, upon entering the Geimausaddle backyard, he found his .22 rifle propped against a trailer and carried it into the backyard where he placed it behind him. He then asked Prentiss if he was the "punk that got into the fight." At this time, he heard shots come from behind him and upon turning around he saw Darrell fumbling with the gun. After grabbing the gun he and Darrell started home.
It is unquestioned that at the hospital in Hobart, Oklahoma, Donna Prentiss shouted at Darrell, "You're the cause of all this." Further testimony by Mrs. Onco, the appellant's and Darrell's mother, indicated that Darrell Onco told the sheriff, "I did it." But the sheriff testified that Darrell said only that he had "caused" it.
In his first assignment of error, the appellant contends that the trial court improperly sustained the State's motion in limine which excluded testimony of an incident with a similar fact situation involving Darrell Onco approximately 13 months after the crime with which the appellant was charged. The appellant asserts that this subsequent incident, in which Darrell got into a fight while sniffing paint and tried to shoot the other party, was relevant to his defense and should not have been excluded by the motion in limine.
This Court has previously recognized the motion in limine as a procedural device for use in Oklahoma. Haury v. State, Okl.Cr., 533 P.2d 991 (1975). A motion in limine is a pretrial written motion used to preclude prejudicial statements and questions which have no proper bearing on the issues in the case and which if heard by the jury would interfere with a fair and impartial trial. However, in Teegarden v. State,...
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Romano v. State
...rather than the accused. See also Case v. State, 555 P.2d 619, 623 (Okl.Cr.1976). We addressed this issue again in Tahdooahnippah v. State, 610 P.2d 808, 810 (Okl.Cr.1980), and stated that it was not enough to show a possible motive on the part of another; the evidence must show an overt ac......
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Woodruff v. State
...rather than the accused. See also Case v. State, 555 P.2d 619, 623 (Okl.Cr.1976). We addressed this issue again in Tahdooahnippah v. State, 610 P.2d 808, 810 (Okl.Cr.1980), and stated that it was not enough to show a possible motive on the part of another; the evidence must show an overt ac......
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Daly v. State
...not occur until the matter arises during trial and the court permits introduction of the contested evidence. See Tahdooahnippah v. State, 610 P.2d 808, 810 (Okl.Cr.App.1980). The making of the motion in limine, without further objection, is not enough in such circumstances to preserve the i......
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Braden v. Hendricks
...adverse party; and no judgment shall be reversed or affected by reason of such error or defect." [emphasis ours]10 Tahdooahnippah v. State, Okl.Cr., 610 P.2d 808, 810 [1980]; Nealy v. State, Okl.Cr., 636 P.2d 378, 381 [1981]; Teegarden v. State, Okl.Cr., 563 P.2d 660, 662 [1977]; Bowman v. ......