Court Opinion

ID: 9794673
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:09:27.468719+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:18:35.678503
License: Public Domain

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
MR. CHIEF JUSTICE HARRISON:
Appellant has filed a petition for rehearing and contends that this court overlooked material facts. Among the various assertions set forth is that we overlooked the fact that it is practically humanly impossible for a man to be shot and killed by a bullet fired from a .30-.30 rifle at a distance of approximately twenty feet and not have the slug go completely through him or tear his internal organs^ asunder. He also asserts the slug struck no bones.
There is not a scintilla of evidence in the record here upon which to base any such contentions. The doctor who examined the deceased deputy warden upon his removal from the prison and later performed an autopsy, testified that the bullet entered the right chest, that it went through the right lung, the right auricle, the aorta, the left lung, and lodged in the left chest. He was asked no questions upon either direct or cross examination as to any bone structure damage. There is likewise no evidence in this record as to the effect or result of the striking power of a .30-.30 rifle bullet at any range, nor any proof that the internal organs were not torn asunder.
It is also asserted that we have overlooked the physical fact of the minimum amount of damage caused to the internal organs of the deceased’s thoracic area by the slug. The undisputed opinion of the doctor, based upon his examination and autopsy findings, was that deceased’s death was instantaneous *509upon the infliction of his wound. How one can describe a bullet which upon impact instantly took the life of a human being as causing a minimum, amount of damage is beyond the perception of this court.
Complaint is made that we have assumed only one shot was fired by the tower guard. That is the evidence in the record before us. While appellant asks why the tower guard was not called as a witness by the State, we do not find in the record that the defense ever requested that the tower guard be called as a witness, nor that he was ever subpoenaed by appellant as a witness. We shall allude to this matter later.
The most serious charge leveled at this court’s opinion is the contention that the record shows that the rifle in the hands of Lee Smart at the time the deputy warden was shot and killed was an empty unloaded rifle and therefore the bullet which killed him could not have been fired by Smart.
To sustain this position appellant quotes the testimony of Officer Brown wherein he testified that he saw Lee Smart holding the rifle obtained from the gun cage in cell block one. The officer knew it was this particular rifle because when he was taken by the inmates to secure the rifle from cell block two they met Officer Baekman who was followed by an inmate who had the rifle from that cell block. Brown further testified that there was no ammunition for the rifle in cell block one, but there was ammunition for the rifle in cell block two. The record discloses both rifles were of the same caliber. It must also be remembered that appellant was one of the inmates accompanying Brown on this trip to secure the rifle from cell block two.
To entirely dispel appellant’s charges we need only turn to his own testimony. He was asked by his counsel:
“ Q. . What happened when you got back to the old wing, George? A. Smart was there, and he had hoth rifles. Emphasis supplied.
“Q. Smart had both rifles? A. Yes.
*510“Q. And what happened there then? A. Well, we went in, and there was some discussion between Smart and Myles, and Smart walked over and he handed me this rifle.
“Q. Smart handed you the rifle? A. That’s right.”
This testimony relates to the return of Alton from the trip with Officer Brown to obtain the rifle from cell block two, which rifle had ammunition for it. Appellant further testified that the rifle Smart gave him was empty. Thus, if we have two rifles, one with ammunition and one without, both in the possession of Smart, and he gave one rifle to appellant and it was empty, the only deduction which can be made is that the rifle retained by Smart was the one with the ammunition.
Further, appellant related his movements thereafter up to the time that word came to him to bring the rifle to the office. On the trip over to the office the shot from the tower was fired and in regard to that appellant stated:
“Well, I don’t know why I looked up, but I looked up, and this officer was starting to level his rifle down at me, so I started to run up the office stairs, and then * * * there was a shot fired, and I just ducked around the inside corner, in the office over there.” He was asked: “And after getting inside the office there, and ducking down in behind that corner, then what did you do? A. Well I stayed there for a little bit, and I didn’t know whether I could get up and get in front of the door again, or whether he would shoot at me again, or what.” Emphasis supplied.
Appellant knew at whom the guard had shot, that clearly appears from his testimony.
Appellant then did get up and came into the deputy warden’s office and Warden Powell was there as well as Myles and Lee Smart. It was then that Lee Smart handed him some shells and appellant knelt down and loaded the gun he had been carrying.
While the record does not pinpoint the exact time that the *511shot was fired at the deputy warden, we can refer to such testimony as the record contains. Officer Cos testified that events commenced so far as he was concerned at about 3:30 p.m., and that the whole affair, which would include the shooting of the deputy warden, took about ten to fifteen minutes. Taking his longest estimate the deputy warden was shot by 3:45 p.m. John Simonsen arrived at the front gate of the Prison between 4:10 and 4:30 p.m., and after he had been taken hostage on his arrival inside he was taken to the deputy warden’s office and saw Rothe on the floor. Simonsen called Warden Powell and requested him to come over to the Prison, all at the direction of the inmates who held him hostage. Warden Powell testified he first saw Alton come into the building between 4:45 and 5:00 p.m. Warden Powell heard the shot fired from the tower immediately before Alton came in the building carrying a rifle. Powell was asked: “What occurred then? A. I was informed that if we didn’t tell the tower guards not to shoot at anybody else, that someone was going to get killed, that is, that some one of us was going to be killed.” The Warden then issued instructions as requested.
This record demonstrates that a period of at least one-half hour elapsed between the shooting of the deputy warden and the firing of a shot by the tower guard.
The petition for rehearing being without merit, it is hereby denied.
MR. JUSTICES ADAIR, CASTLES and JOHN C. HARRISON concur.