Title: State v. Floyd
Citation: 210 Kan. 383, 502 P.2d 744
Docket Number: 46,586
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: November 4, 1972

210 Kan. 383 (1972)
502 P.2d 744
STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,
v.
LONNIE RAY FLOYD, Appellant.
No. 46,586

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed November 4, 1972.
A.J. Focht, of Smith, Shay, Farmer &amp; Wetta, of Wichita, argued the cause and was on the brief for appellant.
Reese Jones, assistant county attorney, argued the cause, and Vern Miller, attorney general, Keith Sanborn, county attorney, Larry Kirby, deputy county attorney, and Frank H. Jenkins, Jr., deputy county attorney, were with him on the brief for appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
FATZER, C.J.:
This in an appeal from a conviction of felonious wounding as defined by K.S.A. 21-435. The material facts as disclosed by the record are not in serious dispute and are presented in their chronological order.
The defendant, Lonnie Ray Floyd, was married and moved to Illinois January 28, 1967. While there he was employed as assistant manager for General Electric Credit Corporation in Mount Prospect, Illinois. He moved back to Wichita, Kansas, in July or August, 1969. He stayed with his father for a time on Douglas Avenue and then moved to 1502 Jump Street, Wichita, where he was living at the time of the occurrence in question. His household goods had not been unpacked. He and his wife were having marital trouble and her whereabouts does not appear in the record.
On Saturday evening, August 16, 1969, Floyd returned to his home at approximately 5:00 o'clock after one or two interviews for employment. He worked on some resumes for a time, purchased some food and later that evening went to his father's home. There was no one at home so he went in and read the paper.
*384 He started home about 12:00 o'clock midnight, but decided to stop at Sunset Lounge, where he had a membership, to have a drink. He had two or three drinks during the evening and played some pool.
At about 12:30 a.m. the complainant, Kenneth Campbell, and Vernon Berry and Thomas Lowe, having finished work at the Cessna Air Craft Company, came to the Sunset Lounge to buy two cases of beer which they intended to take to a friend's house. While they were at the Lounge, Campbell, who did not know Floyd, challenged him to a game of pool. They played two games for $1 a game and Campbell won and Floyd paid him. They then played two games for $5 each and Campbell won both games. Floyd did not have the money to pay Campbell. Floyd suggested he would go out to his car and get a check. Campbell accompanied him. No checks were found. Campbell then took Floyd's pool cue, which was in a broken-down position. Floyd suggested they go to an all-night filling station where he traded and he would cash a check. Campbell kept Floyd's cue in his hand. Campbell rode in the car with Floyd and told Berry and Lowe to drive his car and follow them. When they reached the filling station, Campbell grabbed the keys out of Floyd's car and followed him into the station still holding Floyd's cue. The filling station did not have a blank check. Floyd then suggested they go to another station a mile or two west. When they arrived, the station was closed. Campbell took the keys from Floyd's car and, still carrying the pool cue, went back and talked to his friends. He then returned and told Floyd that his time was up  that he had one more stop, and he had better have the money. Floyd was frightened and while pretending to look for an open filling station, was looking for a police car. Not finding a police car, he proceeded to a place on Luther Street, which was two blocks across the area south from his home on Jump Street  he did not want Campbell and his friends to know where he lived. Floyd was becoming more frightened all the time  Campbell and his friends were talking in loud voices to the effect that his time was up and he better produce a check or they would take his watch and rings. Campbell said the last time a man tried to run out on him, "I split his head open." Before crossing the area between the houses to his residence, Floyd unlocked the trunk of his car and put his house keys in a sack where he had a small caliber gun. He had purchased the gun in Chicago where he *385 experienced difficulty in a riot and when someone tried to enter his home. Floyd took the sack from the trunk and as he started north to his residence, Campbell said, "If you're not back in five minutes, we're going to get you." Floyd ran to his home  jumping fences  and got a check on a bank in Illinois where he kept an account and also a check on a bank in Kansas City where he had an account while working there after leaving Illinois.
Floyd then came back to the car with the checks and the gun in his pocket. When he arrived at the car, Campbell demanded that he make the check out for $20. Floyd protested, but at Campbell's insistence he made out the check for $20 because he was afraid. Campbell then asked Floyd for some identification. At this point, the testimony of Campbell and Floyd is in conflict, and the record states Campbell testified:
Floyd testified:
Campbell's friends helped him into his car, and Floyd testified:
Floyd further testified that as he drove home he passed Campbell's car where it had stopped to call an ambulance. He was scared and does not remember what he did for awhile. He stated,
Floyd called his attorney that same morning. His attorney told him to stay in the house and do nothing. The attorney called back and said he had talked to Detective Moreland and had arranged for a meeting of the three of them Monday morning at 9:30 o'clock. Floyd dressed and went to church and then decided to go to the races. He was about two blocks from home when he started to return for his rings and watch which he had forgotten. He was then arrested by Detective Moreland. The arrangement for the Monday morning meeting with the police was not disputed.
Floyd was asked and he answered the following questions:
"A. Yes.
"A. Yes."
*387 Floyd was charged with felonious assault as defined by K.S.A. 21-431. He was convicted of the lesser offense of felonious wounding as defined by K.S.A. 21-435. He was sentenced to one year in the Sedgwick County jail and placed on probation. The defendant then perfected this appeal.
Appellant's statement of points raise thirteen claims of trial errors. Point No. 6 reads:
If the appellant is correct in this contention, other alleged errors will not require attention. The district court instructed the jury:
The appellant contends the first sentence of the instruction is erroneous as a matter of law. We so held in State v. Moffitt, 199 Kan. 514, 524, 431 P.2d 879, where a similar instruction was given; however, we also held that the instruction did not prejudice the rights of the appellant.
The contention in the instant case presents a more serious question. A careful review discloses no evidence that the appellant "fled to avoid arrest and trial." The evidence is to the contrary. He left the scene and went two blocks to his home because he was afraid of Campbell and his companions. That was early Sunday morning. He called his attorney and arrangements were made for him to contact the police Monday morning. He then went to church and upon returning, called his younger brother about going to the races. His brother was not at home, so he decided to go alone. He was acting on his attorney's advice and knew Monday morning *388 he was "going down to talk to the police." The testimony was corroborated by Detective Moreland who testified:
It is always improper to instruct a jury upon matters which are not in issue, even though the instruction correctly states the law. But this error of the court does not require a reversal unless it can be said that it was prejudicial to the rights of the defendant. (State v. Thompson, 119 Kan. 743, 241 Pac. 110.)
In State v. Linville, 148 Kan. 142, 79 P.2d 869, it was held:
The rule has been applied in a civil case where an instruction was given on unavoidable accident. (Paph v. Tri-State Hotel Co., 188 Kan. 76, 360 P.2d 1055.) In the Paph case the court stated:
The posture of the case now before us, particularly the question of self defense, was such that the giving of the instruction on flight to escape arrest and trial without evidence of such flight affected the substantial rights of the defendant and constituted prejudicial error.
The judgment is reversed with instructions to grant a new trial.