Source: http://academy.lawofselfdefense.com/law_case/lott-v-state-223-p-2d-147-ok-ct-civ-app-1950/
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 16:38:07+00:00

Document:
Criminal Court of Appeals of Oklahoma.
Shockley T. Shoemake and Carl C. Wever, Pawhuska, and Walter Mathews, Cushing, for plaintiff in error.
Mac Q. Williamson, Atty. Gen., and Sam H. Lattimore, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.
The plaintiff in error, Homer Lott, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged by information filed in the district court of Osage county with the crime of assault with a dangerous weapon, was tried, convicted, and sentenced to serve a term of 18 months in the State Penitentiary. Appeal has been duly perfected to this court.
“That is to say that said defendant, Homer Lott, then and there being and within the jurisdiction of this court, did on or about the 15th day of September, 1948, unlawfully, wrongfully and feloniously commit an assault and battery upon the persons named as follows, to-wit: Francis E. Cooper, Joe Benton Allen, William Clarence DeVoy, and Thomas Smith Mathes, by means of such force as likely to produce great bodily harm and injury or death; that is to say that the said defendant was then and there driving and propelling a 1941 Dodge Pickup automobile in a dangerous and reckless manner while under the influence of intoxicating liquor; and while so driving on East Main Street, being a public highway at all times herein mentioned, and at a point on said street approximately sixty (60) feet west of Revard Avenue intersecting said street in the city of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, did then and there propel said automobile over and against another automobile on the same highway being driven by Francis E. Cooper, then and there and thereby causing a collision between said automobiles, and throwing the occupants of the said automobile being driven by the said Francis E. Cooper and himself from their normal seats in and about the said automobile in which they were riding, and propelling and hurling them by force against the body of the automobile in which they were riding, cutting them with shattered glass and otherwise injuring them to the following extent, to-wit: the said Francis E. Cooper being cut and lacerated about the head and face and body; * * * with the unlawful and felonious intent * * *” etc.
The undisputed evidence in this case discloses that around midnight on September 15, 1948, the defendant drove his 1941 Dodge Pickup automobile west along Main street in the city of Pawhuska at a high and reckless rate of speed; that one Bill Fish was in the front seat with the driver and that a young man, Thomas Mathes, whom Fish had invited to ride, was in the bed of the pickup; that defendant was driving from the county fair, which was being held three and one-half miles south of Pawhuska; defendant had stopped at the stop sign where he turned into Main street, but speeded up his car and was driving at a terrific rate of speed down Main street and at a point close to the Rock Apartments in the business part of the city he left the north side of the street as he drove west and crashed into a Ford Tudor car being driven east at a slow rate of speed by Francis Cooper, and in which car were two A. & M. College students, William Clarence DeVoy and Joe Benton Allen. There was a terrific impact between the pickup and the Cooper car and all occupants of the Ford car were seriously injured and two of the boys were knocked unconscious; the two passengers in the defendant’s car were seriously injured, but the defendant was the least injured of all. The undisputed and conclusive evidence developed that defendant was drunk at the time he drove his car into the Ford car and had been observed at the county fair by the driver of the Ford car and by other witnesses a few minutes prior to the collision, and in a drunken condition. At the hospital the physician had to obtain the aid of officers to quiet defendant, who was using obscene language, was resisting being ministered to by the medical attendants.
The defendant testified, and did not deny any of the testimony of witnesses for the state, but, on the other hand, in an apparent effort to overcome the allegations in the information and possible deductions to be drawn from the victim, Cooper having observed the way in which he had shortly prior to the collision been conducting himself at the fair, and to overcome the allegation in the information of “unlawful and felonious intent,” sought to show by his testimony that he was so drunk at the time he was driving the pickup and collided with the Ford car that he did not know what he was doing, if in fact he was driving his pickup. He did admit, however, that he remembered stopping at the stop sign on Main street and observed a “scooter” that he passed just prior to driving into the car being driven by Francis E. Cooper. However that may be, there is no evidence in the record tending to prove actual and conscious intent on the part of the defendant to run his pickup into the Cooper car other than might be inferred from the fact that he did actually drive his pickup from the north side of Main street over about three feet past the center of the street and into the Cooper car, and there was no evidence of defendant having any mechanical or other trouble with his car that could have placed it out of control. On the other hand, the evidence conclusively indicated that defendant had complete control of his car, from a mechanical standpoint; indicated drunkenness, reckless driving and a wanton disregard for the safety of other motorists as well as pedestrians along Main street in Pawhuska.
The argument of counsel is interesting and in fact is an ingenious one. But this court in the past has sought to ascertain the legislative intent in situations as in the instant case where the assault did not produce death, and the distinction here urged was not recognized.
Also, in a comprehensive opinion by Judge Jones in Beck v. State, 1941, 73 Okla. Cr. 229, 119 P.2d 865, the rule announced in the Winkler case was again affirmed. In the Beck case a pedestrian in the city of Tulsa was knocked down and injured by being struck by an automobile being driven by an intoxicated driver.
The thought is impelling that the correct conclusion was reached in Winkler v. State, supra. At any rate, the rule of law there announced and approved by this court in the Lamb and Beck cases, each involving a misdemeanor and where the prosecution was conducted under the same provision of the statutes as here, is now the settled rule of law in this state, and by reason of what we have stated, the doctrine of stare decisis will be followed.
We have considered the instructions, and as a whole, and so considered in connection with the evidence of the case, find that they fairly state the law applicable to the case, and that they are sufficient, particularly in definition of culpable negligence and concerning the question of intent.
Where no exceptions to any of the instructions given by the court are taken, and no further instructions are requested by the accused, the accused as a matter of right has no cause for complaint against the instructions given, unless they appear to be fundamentally wrong and prejudicial to the rights of the accused. McCollom v. State, 22 Okla. Cr. 46, 209 P. 781; Inman v. State, 22 Okla. Cr. 161, 210 P. 742; Russell v. State, 17 Okla. Cr. 164, 194 P. 242; Green v. State, 70 Okla. Cr. 228, 105 P.2d 795.
JONES, P.J., and BRETT, J., concur.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.