State v. Brown

449 S.W.2d 664, 1970 Mo. LEXIS 1086
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedFebruary 9, 1970
Docket54270
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

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

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.

The court found that the charge of inadequate representation was not supported by the evidence and, specifically, with respect to these charges, found that Mr. Kim-brell spent “a great deal of time” with his client and adequately advised him of the various defenses, including many discussions with the court in an effort to get appellant into a hospital for treatment of his narcotics addiction. Appellant called Mr. Kimbrell as a witness and his testimony showed that he talked with both Dudley and Tina on several occasions. He did not discuss the robbery charge with Patch because he had no indication that Patch had any knowledge of the facts of the case. He did talk to him on two or three occasions about his client. He did not talk to Detective Morrissey of the Clayton police, but one of his associates in the public defender’s office did so for him. He was informed of his client’s fears, his narcotics addiction, and his story of the source of the weapons and their seizure. *666 His preparation prior to his client’s guilty plea consisted of his interviews with Dudley and Tina. He had considered grounds for suppression of evidence and statement and had planned to file motions to that end had it been likely for the case to go.to trial. Dudley suggested consideration of temporary insanity and entrapment defenses which were “open” questions prior to the plea. “I would characterize the majority of the effort as an attempt based on the request of the defendant to keep him out of the Missouri Penitentiary, and that is by the route of having him committed through any available means as a narcotic addict.” He conducted research to this end; he discussed these possibilities with Judge Schaaf, the parole officer, Dr. Peterson of the Fulton State Hospital, and drew commitment petitions. The state was not willing to dismiss its charges in exchange for six months to a year in the hospital for treatment. After efforts to secure hospitalization for his client failed, Mr. Kimbrell concentrated on conditions under which disposition by guilty plea might be made. He stated to his client that if he wished his case tried he would do so, but he ultimately wished to plead guilty. Mr. Kimbrell had a professional opinion that there was no defense of “temporary insanity” because the sole question in that regard was whether the accused was mentally responsible for his actions at the time he committed his crime. He discussed his impression with his client along the line that narcotics addiction did not constitute an insanity defense. He discussed entrapment with his client and gave his opinion that actions of federal officers in connection with narcotics cases could not be imputed to the State of Missouri in this robbery case. In discussing conditions of a guilty plea he succeeded in persuading the prosecuting attorney to reduce his recommendation with respect to sentence from IS to 10, and ultimately to nine years. He felt under such circumstances that he gave his client good service in negotiating a plea and advice in recommending a guilty plea. He did not coerce his client but acted in his interest. He felt that trial would result in a heavier penalty, perhaps a minimum of twenty years.

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Bluebook (online)
449 S.W.2d 664, 1970 Mo. LEXIS 1086, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-brown-mo-1970.