Opinion

Lambert v. State

  • 888 P.2d 494
  • 1994 WL 697500
Court
Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
Filed
Dec 28, 1994
Status
Published
Author
Lumpkin
On the bench
Lane, Lumpkin, Johnson, Chapel, Strubhar
Cited by
30 cases
Authority
More cited than 6.5%

“The record also contains testimony from Dr. Goodman that his conversations with Hain were relied upon in determining [the defendant’s] competency, and evaluating his mental state. There is no assertion that the information related by Goodman was offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Rather, the statement was used to evaluate [the defendant’s] state of mind . . . .”

How later courts described this case

  • “The record also contains testimony from Dr. Goodman that his conversations with Hain were relied upon in determining [the defendant’s] competency, and evaluating his mental state. There is no assertion that the information related by Goodman was offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Rather, the statement was used to evaluate [the defendant’s] state of mind . . . .”

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

LUMPKIN, Presiding Judge,

concurring in part/dissenting in part.

I concur in the affirmance of the convictions for Kidnapping, Robbery with Firearms, Larceny of an Automobile and Arson. However, I disagree with the reversal of the murder convictions. I find that Munson v. State, 758 P.2d 324 (Okl.Cr.1988) does apply to this case and under that decision, Appellant was provided the same notice as Mun-son that a verdict of felony murder could be returned by the jury. Munson represents only a procedural change in the law. Therefore, under Salazar v. State, 852 P.2d 729, 737 (Okl.Cr.1993) and Hain v. State, 852 P.2d 744, 753 (Okl.Cr.1993) it can be applied to cases tried prior to its enactment. Further, Munson was applied in the co-defendant’s case, Hain v. State, 852 P.2d at 752, to resolve a question of dismissal of the underlying felony supporting the convictions of felony-murder. The record in Hain also reveals the felony-murder instruction was given based on the joint informations filed as to both Hain and Lambert acting as co-defendants, i.e. the defendants were jointly charged only with malice aforethought murder without an alternative felony murder information being filed. If the rule in Munson applied to the defendants in Munson and Hain , then, as a rule of law, it should equally apply to the Appellant in this case. I strongly dissent to the Court’s decision to reverse the convictions for Murder, First Degree, in Counts I and II and remand for a new trial.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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