Spidle v. State

446 S.W.2d 793, 1969 Mo. LEXIS 700
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedNovember 10, 1969
Docket54410
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 446 S.W.2d 793 (Spidle v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spidle v. State, 446 S.W.2d 793, 1969 Mo. LEXIS 700 (Mo. 1969).

Opinion

WELBORN, Commissioner.

Louis Otto Spidle was charged in the Buchanan County Circuit with assault with intent to kill with malice aforethought. § 559.180, RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S. A jury found him guilty, by verdict returned June 8, 1965, of the lesser included offense of assault without malice. § 559.190, RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S. His punishment was fixed at five years’ imprisonment. On appeal, the conviction was reversed because of error in the trial court’s failure to excuse a juror for cause. State v. Spidle, Mo.Sup., 413 S.W.2d 509.

Upon a second trial on the original information, a jury, on December 14, 1967, found the defendant guilty of assault with intent to kill with malice and fixed the punishment at eight years’ imprisonment. No appeal was taken from this sentence and the defendant entered the Missouri State Penitentiary on March 29, 1968.

On September 25, 1968, a motion under Criminal Rule 27.26, V.A.M.R., was filed in his behalf. He sought to have his conviction set aside on the grounds that his second conviction violated double jeopardy prohibitions of state and federal constitutions because the verdict at his trial in effect found him not guilty of the greater offense for which he was convicted on the second trial. Alternatively, the petition sought correction of his sentence to the five-year term imposed on the first trial.

These contentions call for consideration of the effect of two decisions of the United States Supreme Court, handed down June 23, 1969. The first, Benton v. State of Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 89 S.Ct. 2056, 23 L.Ed.2d 707, held the double jeopardy prohibition of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Application of such a *794 federal double jeopardy standard in this state will require the abandonment of the construction heretofore given the state constitutional provision on double jeopardy. § 19, Art. I, Const, of Mo., 1945. Since the 1875 Constitution was adopted, this Court has held that, upon the reversal of a judgment of conviction and the remand of a cause for a new trial, the new trial is on the same footing as if the original trial had ended in a mistrial by reason of the jury's failure to agree on a verdict. State v. Simms, 71 Mo. 538, held that the 1875 constitutional provision reversed prior cases (State v. Ross, 29 Mo. 32) which held that a retrial could not be held on a charged greater offense when the first trial, later reversed, had resulted in a finding of guilt on a lesser included offense. In State v. Crane, Mo.Sup., 420 S.W.2d 309, the court rejected the contention that federal standards should apply and held inapplicable Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 78 S.Ct. 221, 2 L.Ed.2d 199, which, in effect, laid down the pre-1875 Missouri rule as the federal rule. Now, the absence noted in Crane (420 S.W.2d 313 [4]) of United States Supreme Court authority for application of federal standards to state prosecution having been supplied by Benton, there can be no doubt that application of such standards would preclude appellant’s retrial on the charge of assault with malice, after the earlier jury found him guilty of only the lesser offense. Green v. United States, supra.

The state urges, however, that the application of Benton to this case must be considered in the light of the United States Supreme Court’s rulings on whether or not such a decision as Benton is to be applied retrospectively. Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U.S. 618, 629, 85 S.Ct. 1731, 14 L.Ed. 2d 601, held that decisions expounding new rules affecting criminal trials are not required by the constitution to be given retrospective effect. A succinct review of the application by the court of the “non-re-troactivity” doctrine is found in footnote 1 to Mr. Justice Fortas’ dissent in Desist v. United States, 394 U.S. 244, 270, 89 S.Ct. 1030, 1048-1049, 22 L.Ed.2d 248:

“Linkletter held that the Court’s decision in Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961), that illegally-seized evidence was not admissible in state prosecutions, should not be applied ‘retroactively.’ In Tehan v. United States ex rel. Shott, 382 U.S. 406, 86 S.Ct. 459, 15 L.Ed.2d 453 (1966), the Court held that its decision in Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609, 85 S.Ct. 1229, 14 L.Ed. 106 (1965), that it violates the privilege against self-incrimination for the prosecution or the trial judge to comment on a criminal defendant’s failure to testify in his defense, should not apply ‘retroactively.’ Johnson v. New Jersey, 384 U.S. 719, 86 S.Ct. 1772, 16 L.Ed.2d 882 (1966), held that Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478, 84 S.Ct. 1758, 12 L.Ed.2d 977 (1964), and Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), should not apply ‘retroactively.’ Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967), held that United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149 (1967), and Gilbert v. California, 388 U.S. 263, 87 S.Ct. 1951, 18 L.Ed.2d 1178 (1967), both of which related to the right to counsel at a pretrial lineup, should not be applied ‘retroactively.’ In DeStefano v. Woods, 392 U.S. 631, 88 S.Ct. 2093, 20 L.Ed.2d 1308 (1968), the Court held that the right to trial by jury in state criminal prosecutions that had been established in Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145, 88 S.Ct. 1444, 20 L.Ed.2d 491 (1968), and Bloom v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 194, 88 S.Ct. 1477, 20 L.Ed.2d 522 (1968), was not ‘retroactive.’ Finally, the Court held in Fuller v. Alaska, 393 U.S. 80, 89 S.Ct. 61, 21 L.Ed.2d 212 (1968), that Lee v. Florida, 392 U.S. 378, 88 S.Ct. 2096, 20 L.Ed.2d 1166 (1968), was not ‘retroactive.’ Lee ruled that evidence obtained in violation of § 605 of the Federal Communications Act of 1934, 48 Stat. 1103, 47 U. S.C. § 605, was inadmissible in state criminal prosecutions.”

*795 Desist held that the prohibition against electronic eavesdropping, established in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S. Ct.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State Ex Rel. Taylor v. Steele
341 S.W.3d 634 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2011)
State v. Whitfield
107 S.W.3d 253 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2003)
Johnson v. State
607 S.W.2d 808 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1980)
State Ex Rel. Westfall v. Mason
594 S.W.2d 908 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1980)
State v. Howell
543 S.W.2d 836 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1976)
Gallup v. State
542 S.W.2d 616 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1976)
State v. Favell
536 S.W.2d 47 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1976)
Durham v. State
538 S.W.2d 881 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1975)
McCrary v. State
529 S.W.2d 467 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1975)
State v. Holley
488 S.W.2d 925 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1972)
State v. Johnson
485 S.W.2d 106 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1972)
Tucker v. State
482 S.W.2d 454 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1972)
Kansas City v. Henderson
468 S.W.2d 48 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1971)
Bruce v. Commonwealth
465 S.W.2d 60 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1971)
Commonwealth v. Richbourg
275 A.2d 345 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1971)
State v. Norris
460 S.W.2d 672 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1970)
Britt v. Tollett
315 F. Supp. 401 (E.D. Tennessee, 1970)
Joseph E. Mullreed v. George A. Kropp, Warden
425 F.2d 1095 (Sixth Circuit, 1970)
Spidle v. Swenson
313 F. Supp. 203 (W.D. Missouri, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
446 S.W.2d 793, 1969 Mo. LEXIS 700, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spidle-v-state-mo-1969.