Jones v State

Jones v State
1933 OK CR 131
27 P.2d 869
55 Okl.Cr. 190
Decided: 12/22/1933
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals

Appeal from District Court, Blaine County; E.L. Mitchell, Judge.

Page 191

Andy Jones was convicted of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon without intent to kill, and he appeals. Judgment modified, and, as so modified, affirmed.

A.M. Beets and Allan Falkenstine (Wm. J. Zeman, on the brief), for plaintiff in error.

J. Berry King, Atty. Gen., and Smith C. Matson, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

CHAPPELL, J. Plaintiff in error, hereinafter called defendant, was convicted in the district court of Blaine county of the crime of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, without intent to kill, and his punishment fixed by the jury at imprisonment in the state penitentiary for a period of five years.

The evidence of the state was that defendant committed an unprovoked assault upon R.L. Fisher by cutting him with a knife; that both of these parties were negroes. The undisputed evidence of the state, given by eyewitnesses, was that defendant was the aggressor and that the cause of the assault was an indebtedness of 60 cents which defendant was attempting to collect from Fisher.

Defendant, testifying for himself, claimed he acted in self-defense, but he is not corroborated by any of the eyewitnesses to the assault.

Several alleged errors are urged by defendant as grounds for reversal, but none of them have any substantial merit, except complaint is made that the court permitted too great latitude in the cross-examination of defendant, which tended to prejudice the jury against him.

For the purpose of this opinion it is not necessary to set out the questions and answers and the record made,

Page 192

but it is sufficient to say that the county attorney asked some improper questions and the court did permit too wide a latitude in the cross-examination of defendant, but the error is not sufficient to require a reversal of the case.