State v. Applewhite

682 S.W.2d 185, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4839
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 30, 1984
Docket13632
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 682 S.W.2d 185 (State v. Applewhite) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Applewhite, 682 S.W.2d 185, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4839 (Mo. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

CROW, Presiding Judge.

Appellant, tried by the court- without a jury, was found guilty of the class C felony of receiving stolen property of a value of $150 or more, § 570.080, RSMo 1978, and sentenced as a persistent offender, § 558.-016, RSMo Cum.Supp.1983, to 15 years’ imprisonment. Appellant maintains the evidence was insufficient to support the finding of guilty, and he complains about his cross-examination by the prosecuting attorney.

In determining the sufficiency of the evidence after a finding of guilty, we accept as true all evidence tending to prove the accused’s guilt together with inferences favorable to the State that can be reasonably drawn therefrom, and we disregard all contrary evidence and inferences. State v. Giffin, 640 S.W.2d 128, 130[2] (Mo.1982).

So viewed, the evidence establishes that between 5:30 p.m., August 6,1983, and 9:00 a.m., the next day, a Bogan amplifier, microphones and related paraphernalia, of an aggregate value exceeding $150, were stolen from the West End Baptist Church in Sikeston.

Between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m., August 29, 1983, appellant, accompanied by another man, entered Brown’s Automotive, an automobile body repair shop operated by Milton Brown in Sikeston. Brown, who was working on an automobile at the time, testified that appellant asked whether he (Brown) would be interested in “some amplifiers or a mike.” Brown expressed interest in a microphone if it “would take heat from the outside sunlight on it without squealing.” Brown quoted appellant as saying he “would bring it by.”

Appellant and his companion (with whom Brown was unacquainted) then departed.

According to Brown, appellant returned later that afternoon, alone, and brought in an amplifier, microphones and other paraphernalia, placing them on the hood of a customer’s car. Brown explained: “He was trying to get them hooked up to where he could show me how the mike run. I didn’t want to buy anything that wasn’t no good.”

Meanwhile, detective Benny Thurston of the Sikeston Public Safety Department, in response to a phone call from Brown that appellant “was there trying to sell a PA system,” arrived at Brown’s Automotive and, unbeknownst to appellant, began watching appellant and Brown.

Thurston related that appellant “had the microphones in his hands like he was getting ready to hand them to Mr. Brown.” At that point, Thurston confronted appellant, asking appellant where he had gotten the equipment. Thurston quoted appellant as saying he “got it from a guy in Malden.” Thurston thereupon arrested appellant “for investigation of receiving stolen property.”

*187 The amplifier, microphones and allied items were seized by police and later identified as the property of West End Baptist Church by a church official.

Appellant, testifying in his defense, said he was riding his “10-speed” on August 29, 1983, when a “fellow named Green,” who “was in a car,” stopped him and asked whether he knew Brown. According to appellant, he replied that he did, and he led Green to Brown’s Automotive. Upon arrival, Green asked appellant to see whether Brown was there. Appellant entered, located Brown, then stepped back outside and told Green.

Appellant testified that Green thereupon took three sacks out of the back seat of his car, carried them into the building and “put them on the hood of this car that Mr. Brown was working on.” At that point, according to appellant, Green instructed him to tell Brown that he (Green) “was wanting to sell it for $200.” Green then departed, explaining that he was going to a service station to get gasoline.

Appellant recounted that he then got Brown’s attention and relayed Green’s message. Appellant and Brown then removed the apparatus from the sacks and were “working the knobs and everything” when the arrest occurred.

Appellant testified he told the detective that Green was trying to sell the equipment to Brown, and that he (appellant) had not brought the items there.

Appellant’s attack on the sufficiency of the evidence, as we understand it, is that it would have been impossible for him to deliver the amplifier, microphones and other equipment to Brown’s Automotive on a bicycle. Appellant argues that his testimony about arriving there on a bicycle was corroborated by Brown, who testified that he saw a bicycle outside his shop when appellant was arrested and that appellant asked him to take the bicycle to his father. Appellant also asserts that Brown corroborated his testimony about Green, in that Brown testified appellant was accompanied by another man when appellant first entered Brown’s Automotive.

Whether appellant’s version of the events of August 29 was true, or the version by Brown and Thurston was true, was for the trial court to decide. State v. Fingers, 564 S.W.2d 579, 584[14] (Mo.App.1978). The trial court, as trier of the facts, had leave to believe or disbelieve all, part or none of the testimony of any witness. State v. Gamble, 649 S.W.2d 573, 576-77[9] (Mo.App.1983).

The trial court, after hearing the testimony, announced to appellant:

“I think you are a smart enough man to know that anybody walking couldn’t really buy that story. Therefore, based upon the evidence that’s before this Court, I have no alternative but to find you guilty of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt. In all truth, Mr. Applewhite, I just don’t believe it could have happened that way.”

It was for the trial court, not us, to weigh appellant’s contention that he could not have hauled the stolen equipment to Brown’s Automotive on his bicycle. The trial court had full opportunity to consider the point, as the equipment was brought to court and received in evidence at appellant’s trial.

It should be noted, however, that appellant’s guilt did not hinge on whether it was possible to carry the stolen items to Brown’s Automotive on a bicycle. Neither Brown nor Thurston testified that he saw how the items reached Brown’s Automotive. The items were already there when Thurston arrived, and all Brown knew was that appellant had carried them inside. It is entirely possible that the items were brought to Brown’s Automotive by automobile, at appellant’s direction, and that appellant carried them in, alone. Appellant, by his own testimony, had been in the company of a man driving an automobile earlier that afternoon. One can accept the testimony of Brown and Thurston as true without having to assume that appellant carried the equipment to Brown’s Automotive by bicycle.

*188 A more fundamental question—not raised by appellant—is whether the evidence was sufficient to support a finding that he knew the equipment was stolen or believed that it was. That state of mind is one of the elements of the offense of receiving stolen property. 1 § 570.080.1, RSMo 1978; State v. Freeman, 667 S.W.2d 443, 446[1] (Mo.App.1984).

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Bluebook (online)
682 S.W.2d 185, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4839, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-applewhite-moctapp-1984.