Smith v State

Smith v State
1933 OK CR 70
23 P.2d 506
54 Okl.Cr. 452
Decided: 06/30/1933
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals

(Syllabus.)

Homicide Conviction for First-Degree Manslaughter Sustained.

Page 453

Appeal from District Court, Grady County; Will Linn, Judge.

W.M. Smith was convicted of the crime of manslaughter in the first degree, and he appeals. Affirmed.

Anglin & Stevenson and Melton & Melton, for plaintiff in error.

J. Berry King, Atty. Gen., for the State.

EDWARDS, P.J. The plaintiff in error, hereinafter called defendant, was convicted in the district court of Grady county of manslaughter in the first degree, and was sentenced to serve a term of four years in the state penitentiary.

The homicide occurred in August, 1931. Trial was in May, 1932. The appeal was lodged in this court in October, 1932. No briefs in support of the appeal have been filed.

We have read the record with care. The evidence discloses that, at the time charged, defendant, with a pistol, shot and killed one Edith Jones, who was the wife of Mays Jones, companion of defendant at the time. It appears they were pursuing Neal Parnell, who was joy-riding with Edith Jones. Defendant, it appears, took it upon himself to avenge a real or apparent marital wrong done Mays Jones, and shot at Neal Parnell, and in doing so killed Edith Jones. He defended on the ground of self-defense. The jury evidently did not believe the defense. The evidence fully sustains the judgment. The punishment assessed is lenient. No error of any consequence occurred at the trial.