Court Opinion

ID: 5157680
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-01-02 02:26:27.449559+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:25:27.196255
License: Public Domain

[1] OPINION
[2] On appeal from his conviction in Comanche County District Court, Case No. CRF-80-123, of Aggravated Assault and Battery upon a Police Officer, the appellant, in his sole assignment of error, argues that the evidence was insufficient to establish the element of aggravation required by 21 O.S. 1981 § 650[21-650], in conjunction with 21 O.S. 1981 § 646[21-646].
[3] On March 1, 1980, while attempting to serve an arrest warrant on the defendant's brother, Melvin, Officer Kenneth Stradley of the Lawton Police Department and the defendant became engaged in a fight. The officer received a blow to the face which resulted in a gash which bled profusely and required fifteen (15) stitches; further, he testified he had two busted teeth. With the assistance of two fellow officers, Stradley subdued the defendant and personally transported him to jail. Officer Stradley's injuries were treated at a hospital, but he stated that he was never admitted to it, although he did return to the hospital a couple of days later to have his stitches removed. No medical testimony was presented on behalf of the State.
[4] Title 21 O.S. 1981 § 646[21-646], reads as follows:
 An assault and battery becomes aggravated when committed under any of the following circumstances:
 (1) When great bodily injury is inflicted upon the person assaulted;
 (2) When committed by a person of robust health or strength upon one who is aged or decrepit.
[5] The statute was construed in an opinion by Judge Nix inHerrington v. State, 352 P.2d 931 (Okla. Cr. 1960), citing from a Nebraska case as follows:
 The term `great bodily injury,' as employed in the Criminal Code is not susceptible of a precise definition, but implies an injury of a graver or more serious character than an ordinary battery.
[6] When viewed in the most favorable light to the State, the injuries in the instant case were not so egregious as to be the results of *Page 613 
anything more than a simple assault and battery. Such evidence was not sufficient to support a verdict of aggravated assault and battery. See, Cox v. State, 361 P.2d 506 (Okla. Cr. 1961); and, Minnix v. State, 282 P.2d 772 (Okla. Cr. 1955).
[7] Accordingly, the judgment and sentence is modified from a term of two (2) years' imprisonment and a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000) for Aggravated Assault and Battery upon a Police Officer, in violation of 21 O.S. 1981 § 650[21-650], to a sentence of six (6) months' in the county jail and a fine of five hundred dollars ($500) for Assault and Battery upon a Police Officer, in violation of 21 O.S. 1981 § 649[21-649], and as so MODIFIED, the judgment and sentence is AFFIRMED.
[8] BRETT, P.J., concurs.
[9] CORNISH, J., dissents.