State v. Brown

449 S.W.2d 664, 1970 Mo. LEXIS 1086
Supreme Court of Missouri·Decided February 9, 1970·No. 54270·Published·Cited by 22 cases

Opinion

HIGGINS, Commissioner.

Appeal from denial, after hearing, of motion to withdraw guilty plea and to set aside-judgment of conviction of robbery, first degree, with a dangerous and deadly weapon, imposed on a plea of guilty. §§ 27.25 and 27.26, V.A.M.R.

On June 21, 1967, Dudley G. Brown and his wife, Tina, with their attorney, Mr. Alan Kimbrell of the public defender’s office, pleaded guilty to robbery, first degree, by means of a dangerous and deadly weapon, of Schimmel Fur Company, Clayton, Missouri, May 19, 1966. Sentence was deferred to July 7, 1967, pending a presen-tence investigation. On July 7, 1967, Dudley and Tina, represented by Mr. William Shaw, also of the public defender’s office, were sentenced to 9-years’ imprisonment on their guilty pleas.

Appellant, Dudley G. Brown, arrived in St. Louis, Missouri, in February, 1964. He was on parole from a grand larceny conviction in California and was under Missouri probation and parole supervision. In September, 1965, he was arrested for *665 possession of narcotics by Richard Patch, a federal narcotics agent. His indictment was suppressed and his parole continued in exchange for his consent to act as an informant which he did for the succeeding seven or eight months, during which his assistance led to some seven or eight arrests for narcotics violations. Defendant was using narcotics during this period, as he had done previously at the time of his discharge from military service in 1951. The arrests accomplished through Dudley’s assistance also eliminated his supply of narcotics and he received threats against his safety and that of his family. Patch advised him about a week before the robbery that he could not send him to the federal hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, for treatment. Although denied by Patch, Dudley said Patch gave him a .45-caliber nickel-plated automatic pistol and a .38-caliber blue steel revolver for the protection of his family. Dudley said he was also given a sawed-off shotgun, but this also was denied by Patch and the weapon never appeared in evidence.

Dudley stated that for two days prior to the robbery he had no narcotics and was suffering from acute withdrawal reaction, and he suffered symptoms and illness of withdrawal following his arrest.

Dudley and his wife used the pistol and revolver to rob the Schimmel Fur Company at about 4:00 p. m., May 19, 1966, and were arrested later that afternoon at their home, at which time a search was made, and stolen furs, Tina’s red wig and green dress, and the weapons were found and seized.

Dudley was taken to the St. Louis Police Department where he was interrogated for an hour and kept overnight. The following morning he was taken to the Clayton Police Department. He was interrogated further and admitted the robbery. He became ill and was taken to the county hospital and treated for his withdrawal illness.

Dudley had counsel of his own choosing, Mr. Charles Shaw, at his preliminary hearing. When he could not pay additional money he had an attorney, Mr. Kelleher, obtained by Patch, who advised him that Patch was not a defense in his situation. Mr. Kelleher withdrew as counsel and Mr. Kimbrell was appointed.

Appellant alleged as ground for relief that he was not adequately represented by counsel; that he was under a misapprehension, was misinformed, or was ignorant of the existence of defenses and his ability to suppress evidence; and that his guilty plea was involuntary.

Appellant’s first contention is that the court erred in finding and ruling that he was adequately represented by counsel because he established counsel’s inadequacy by showing he failed to take steps to suppress the items taken at the time of arrest, failed to move to suppress the statement of admission, failed to discover evidence and take steps to determine defenses of insanity, necessity, compulsion, or entrapment, and generally did not render effective pretrial assistance.

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State v. Brown, 449 S.W.2d 664, 1970 Mo. LEXIS 1086 (Mo. 1970).

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