State of Oklahoma v. Myratia Cooper

Pittsburg, Oklahoma criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with sealing a dog.

On June 23, 2017, Myratia Cooper (hereinafter "Appellee") was charged in the District Court of Pittsburg County, Case No. CF-2017-482, with one count of Larceny of Domestic Animal. Appellee was bound over at preliminary hearing on this count. Appellee thereafter filed a motion to dismiss alleging that 21 O.S.Supp.2016, § 1716(B), the statute upon which this charge was based, was unconstitutional because it was duplicative of parallel statutory provisions declaring dogs as personal property subject to the general prohibition against larceny of personal property. 21 O.S.2011, §§ 1717-18. Appellee argued that Section 1716(B) was unconstitutional because "the crime for which the Defendant has been charged is vague and impossible for the ordinary person to understand the penalty [that] he or she may face or the level of proof that is required to convict."



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¶10 To summarize, Oklahoma law contemplates two separate and distinct ways to prosecute the theft of a dog, i.e., either as a general larceny crime under §§ 1701, 1717 and 1718 or as a larceny of domestic animal charge under § 1716(B). The district court erroneously proceeded in this case as though the larceny of domestic animal statute proscribes essentially the same conduct as the general larceny statutes. Beyond the obvious differences in punishment, cf. 21 O.S.Supp.2016, § 1705 (punishment for grand larceny); 21 O.S.2011, § 1706 (punishment for petit larceny); 21 O.S.Supp.2016, § 1716(B) (punishment for larceny of dog), the two statutory regimes have different origins, proscribe different conduct, have different elements and thus require different proof for conviction. This case presents an issue of statutory interpretation relating to these larceny crimes. When the differences in these larceny crimes are understood, there is no constitutional vagueness problem arising from Appellee's prosecution under Section 1716(B).



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Moss v. Okla. Dept. of Corrections, 2016 OK CR 23, ¶ 18, 403 P.3d 379, 383 (internal citations and quotations omitted). Section 1716(B) makes it a crime to "steal any dog, sheep or goat[.]" This provision is part of a specialized larceny statute addressing the theft of domestic animals and implements of husbandry.2 This crime originated in territorial days to punish professional thieves who stole cattle from large herds--particularly in the western counties--as well as other domestic animals "from the owners thereof with the intent to appropriate the same to their own use." Cox v. Terr., 1909 OK CR 104, 2 Okl.Cr. 668, 675, 104 P. 378, 381. The general larceny statutes were viewed as inadequate to address this widespread problem and "[t]he legislature deemed this crime of stealing domestic animals a more serious offense than grand larceny." Hughes v. Terr., 1899 OK 23, ¶ 7, 8 Okla. 28, 56 P. 708, 710. In 2002, the Legislature added dogs to the list of domestic animals subject to the protections of Section 1716. See 21 O.S.Supp.2002, § 1716.

Motion to dismiss granted.



Reversed.