State v. Barnett

102 S.W. 506, 203 Mo. 640, 1907 Mo. LEXIS 41
Supreme Court of Missouri·Decided May 14, 1907·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

FOX, P. J.

This cause has reached this court by appeal on the part of the defendants from a judgment of the circuit court of Pemiscot county convicting them of murder in the second degree. Since reaching this court the death of the defendant Baker has been suggested; therefore, we will confine our attention to the complaints of the defendant Barnett.

On the 16th day of January, 1905, an information was filed, duly verified, by L. L. Collins, prosecuting attorney of Pemiscot county, charging the defendant with murder in the first degree. As the sufficiency of this information is challenged it is well to here reproduce it. Omitting formal parts, it is as follows:

“L. L. Collins, prosecuting attorney within and for the county of Pemiscot and State of Missouri, upon his official oath and upon his hereto appended oath informs the court that Billy Barnett and Jim Baker, late of the county of Pemiscot and State of Missouri, on the 13th day of January, 1905, at the county of Pemiscot and State of Missouri, did then and there in and upon the body of one Joe Morgan, then and there being, feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, on purpose and of their malice aforethought, did make an assault, and that the said Billy Barnett and Jim Baker with a certain pistol, then and there charged and loaded with gunpowder and leaden balls, which said pistol they, the said Billy Barnett and Jim Baker, in their hands then and there had and held, then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, on purpose and of their malice aforethought, did discharge and shoot off, to, against and upon the said Joe Morgan. [646] And that the said Billy Barnett and Jim Baker, with the leaden halls aforesaid, out of. the pistol aforesaid, then and there hy force of the gunpowder aforesaid hy the said Billy Barnett and Jim Baker discharged and shot off as aforesaid, then and there feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, on purpose and of their malice aforethought, did strike, penetrate and wound him the said Joe Morgan, then and thereby feloniously, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, on purpose and of their malice aforethought, giving to him the said Joe Morgan in and upon the. right side of the body of him, the said Joe Morgan, one mortal wound of the depth of ten inches and of the breadth of one-half of an inch, of which mortal wound he, the said Joe Morgan, then and there instantly died. And so L. E. Collins, prosecuting attorney as aforesaid, upon his official oath as aforesaid, doth say that the said Billy Barnett and Jim Baker, him, the said Joe Morgan, in the manner and hy the means aforesaid, at the county and State aforesaid, feloniously, willfully, premeditatedly, deliberately, on purpose and of their malice aforethought, did kill and murder, against the peace and dignity of the State.”

The prosecuting attorney, after the return of this indictment, elected ' to prosecute the defendants for murder in the second degree. The testimony introduced upon the trial is conflicting and it -will be sufficient to indicate the facts that the testimony offered by the opposing sides tended to prove.

The testimony on the part of the State tended to establish that the difficulty which resulted in the death of the deceased, Joe Morgan, occurred at Cottonwood Point, a small town in Pemiscot county, situated on the Mississippi river several miles below Caruthersville, and that at the time of the killing of the deceased he was marshal of the town of Cottonwood Point as well as constable of that township. The defendant Barnett [647] was the proprietor of a saloon which was located outside of the town limits of Cottonwood Point. The defendant Baker resided a few miles in the country but was in the habit of doing most of his trading at Cottonwood Point. At about half past seven o’clock on January 13, 1905, the deceased was in Watson’s store in company with members of the town board. Steve S. Pate, who was a member of the board, testified that he heard defendant Baker maldng some noise out on the street that night before the shooting. He says first in his testimony that he was “hollering” and cutting up; he afterwards said ‘ ‘he was just hollering, is all I know,” and the witness did not remember whether he was-swearing or not; he finally said, “He hallooed two or three times, or something that way, tolerably loud.” He further says that Baker was intoxicated. This witness further states that Morgan left Watson’s store and went out on the street; went out of the front door. “There is a porch in front of that building. After Joe Morgan got out of the house and went into the street it wasn’t but a few minutes until they began shooting. To the best of my knowledge about ten shots were fired. • When the first shot was fired I was in Watson’s store at the place of the council meeting; as soon as the first shot was fired I ran out of store into the street.” He further states that the firing was up close to the Gay saloon in the street, which is the same street that Morgan went into when he left the store. “I suppose it is about 135 or 140 feet from the Watson store building to the point where this shooting occurred. I ran out into the street when the first shot was fired.” This witness further says that he did not see anyone but Barnett and Baker and that Morgan was back over on the west side of the street, back next to. the old Gay building. This witness was some distance from the place where the shooting occurred and the tendency of his testimony is that the [648] defendants and Morgan were not close together when the shooting was going on; at least,- he says, “if Joe Morgan was anywhere about the defendant while the shooting was going on, I didn’t see him.” He says further, “I did not see him when I first ran out into the street,” and that if he was in the street he did'not see him, and gives it as-his impression that if he had been anywhere close to the defendant he could and would have seen him. This witness further testified that he was about 100 feet or something that way from the defendants and says it was a light night, tolerably cold and the ground was frozen, probably an inch or two inches thick. He further states that, after the deceased fired three or four shots, he, the witness, walked upi' there a little piece towards them, and he says, “I saw Morgan kind of weaken and I rushed up to him and he said, ‘They have killed me;’ I caught hold of him and went to Watson’s store with him. He was badly hurt and suffering a great deal. He lived ten or twelve minutes after that. I don’t remember his saying anything about the defendant after that. ” Dr. Tipton was summoned, but did not reach Watson’s store until after the death of the deceased. He testified that the bullet entered the deceased’s body on the right side of the eleventh rib near the median line; that it passed through the body at an angle of about thirty degrees and lodged near the seventh rib, one inch to the left and about three inches below the nipple on the.left side. He further testified that in his opinion the deceased died from the effect of said gun-shot wound.'

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State v. Barnett, 102 S.W. 506, 203 Mo. 640, 1907 Mo. LEXIS 41 (Mo. 1907).

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