Yates v State

Yates v State
1913 OK CR 374
136 P. 1199
10 Okl.Cr. 666
Case Number: No. A-1845
Decided: 12/16/1913
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals

Appeal from County Court, Payne County; W.H. Wilcox, Judge.

J.E. Yates was convicted of libel, and appeals. Reversed.

P.D. Mitchell and Robt. A. Lowry, for plaintiff in error.

Smith C. Matson and R.E. Gish, Asst. Attys. Gen., for the State.

PER CURIAM. Plaintiff in error, J.E. Yates was convicted in the county court of Payne county in June, 1912, on a charge of libel and his punishment fixed at a fine of $350 and imprisonment in the county jail for a period of three months. Among other grounds for reversal by counsel in this case is the following instruction given by the court: "If you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, each and every material allegation of the information to be true, except the charge in such information that defendant by such publication intended to charge and did charge that R.E. Grant is an adulterer, then you should acquit the defendant, unless you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the article so published contained charges other than adultery concerning the said R.E. Grant which were not true and which were libelous within the definition heretofore given you." This instruction was calculated to confuse the jury and is meaningless.