Court Opinion

ID: 9547039
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:40:34.014885+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:17:13.533414
License: Public Domain

BUSSEY, Judge.
I concur in the conclusion reached by my colleague, Judge Nix, that the instant case should be reversed and remanded, and agree that the judgment and sentence rendered in the Court of Common Pleas of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma is so defective as to require reversal.
This being true, it is unnecessary to consider the question of whether the arresting officers’ failure to allow the accused to place a telephone call to her doctor constituted a denial of due process.
I am authorized by my colleague, Judge Brett, to state that we concur in the results reached by Judge Nix to the extent that such results are based upon the defective judgment and sentence imposed by the Court of Common Pleas of Oklahoma County.
However, we are of the opinion that the rule stated in United States v. One Hundred Thirty-Nine Gambling Devices, D.C., 109 F.Supp. 23, is applicable herein. In that case the Federal Court said:
“It is well settled that if a case can be disposed of on a nonconstitutional issue without ruling on the constitutional issue involved a ruling on the constitutional issue should be avoided.” See Morgan v. United States, D.C., 107 F.Supp. 501.
Therefore, there being other non-constitutional issues, on which the case can be decided, we do not believe that the court should pass upon such constitutional issue at this time.