State v. Burnett

188 S.W.2d 51, 354 Mo. 45, 1945 Mo. LEXIS 491
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 11, 1945
DocketNo. 39293.
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 188 S.W.2d 51 (State v. Burnett) 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. Burnett, 188 S.W.2d 51, 354 Mo. 45, 1945 Mo. LEXIS 491 (Mo. 1945).

Opinion

TIPTON, J.

An information was filed in the circuit court of New Madrid County, Missouri, charging the appellant, his wife, Susie Burnett, and his son, Gene Burnett, with murder in the first degree for having killed Hughey Kitchen, the town marshal of Parma, Missouri. An application for a change of venue was sustained, and the cause was sent to. the circuit court of Mississippi County. A severance was granted and on appellant’s trial, he was found guilty of murder in the second degree. His punishment was assessed at imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for a term of fourteen years.

Appellant’s .first contention is that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict of the jury. This calls for a review of the evidence. *47 In appellant’s testimony, he admitted the shooting and killing of the deceased, bnt pleaded justification in so doing.

The evidence most favorable to the State is as follows: The deceased was killed in the appellant’s restaurant in the town of Parma, Missouri, late in the afternoon of Saturday, April 17, 1943. On the day of the killing, the deceased, who was the town marshal, was leaving the pool hall next door to appellant’s place of business. Gene Burnett and his mother, Susie Burnett, were sitting in the back room of the restaurant and the windows were open. Some remark was made by Gene Burnett loud enough for deceased to hear. The deceased asked Gene if he were talking to him. Gene said he was not, but was talking to his mother. Gene said something else to his mother, whereupon the deceased turned and said, “You are talking to me too.” Gene said, “No, I’m not. I am talking to my mother.” Deceased entered the. room and undertook to arrest Gene. Gene told him that he had done nothing, and would not go. Deceased then said, “I’ll go to the City Hall and come back, and I ’ll take you dead or alive. ’ ’

Otho Gee, a witness for the State**, testified as follows: “A. Well, I was standing by a post and he [deceased] called me over, said, ‘ Come here, ’ and he met me about middleways of the street and asked me if I had a blackjack, he was going to deputize me. I told him no. He said we would go by the city hall and see if we could find one; he looked and couldn’t find one and said, ‘We’ll go anyway,’ and we crossed over and went to Mr. Burnett’s restaurant. When we got to' the front door he opened the door and turned and said, ‘You are sworn in to the full extent of the law.’ ” (Italics ours.)

The witness and deceased then went to the kitchen, which was in the rear of the restaurant. In the kitchen were Mrs. Evans, the cook, Mrs. Susie Burnett, and Gene Burnett. The appellant followed the deceased and witness into the kitchen. Mr. Gee further testified: “A. Well, Gene was sitting behind a cook table. Hughie said, ‘We are going to arrest you.’ He said, ‘No, I ain’t going.’ He told me to g<f to the end of the table, and I started around and Gene got up and said, ‘He ain’t big enough to take me,’ and Hughie jerked his gun, and Mrs. Burnett said, ‘Don’t do that.’ Hughie said, ‘I’m not going to hurt him, ’ then she said to Gene, ‘ Go ahead and go with him,’ and he put his gun back in his pocket. They started out and Gene said, ‘Let me have my coat.’ Mr. Kitchens said, ‘You don’t need a coat, we ’re going over to the' city hall, ’ and they got to scuffling .and Hughie pulled out a blackjack, and Gene reached up to get his coat and Hughie gave him a jerk, and he grabbed him. ’ ’

After Gene Burnett grabbed the deceased, and while they were scuffling, the appellant shot deceased. Mr. Gee then testified: “A. Well, when he stepped in to fire the second shot, Hughie grabbed Mr. Burnett’s gun and hollered to me to get the gun. I started to step in to get the gun and seen Gene’s hand on Hughie’s gun — either *48 Gene’s hand, on Hughie’s gun and Hughie’s hand on his hand, or Hughie’s hand on the gun and Gene’s hand on his hand, I couldn’t-tell which hand-was which, and he dr awed back as if to hit me and I pulls Gene against the wall and Mrs. Burnett grabbed me, and the second shot was fired. ’ ’

i-On cross-examination, this witness testified that deceased never told Him or Gene Burnett what he was arresting Gene for; that he did not state that he -had a warrant for his arrest; and that all deceased told Gene was, ‘1 Come and go with us, you are under arrest. ’ ’

■ ■ “A. • Well, Gene-said, ‘I’m not' going,’ and he told me to go around the end of-the table; Gene got up and said, ‘He ain’t big enough to take me;’ and dr awed back to hit me, and Hughie jerked his gun Out.’’

' When deceased drew the gun on Gene, they were three or four feet apart. ■ The- witness, also, testified that when they first went' into the'kitchen, deceased “kind of pushed” Mrs. Susie Burnett back. ■

■ There was, also, testimony to the effect that just prior to the time the first shot was fired, deceased had a blackjack in his right hand.

Other witnesses testified they came into the restaurant about the timé the first shot was fired and they observed no threatening or abusive conduct by deceased toward appellant, his wife, or son.

■ W. M. Tucker testified that prior to the date deceased was killed, he was in appellant’s restaurant when .deceased passed by and said, “There goes-Hughie Kitchens.” The appellant replied, “Yes, sir, 'that’s a' dirty son-of-a-bitch; if he ever sets foot inside my building-to get people like he did in other people’s, he’ll go out of here a dead man.” Several other witnesses testified to similar statements made by 'appellant.

' Appellant’s and his witnesses’ testimony showed that appellant killed deceased in self-defense and in resisting the arrest of his son, Gene, and that appellant was barely acquainted with deceased and had -no ill feeling toward him.

There was no evidence in this record that shows why deceased was attempting to arrest Gene Burnett or that he had ever committed any crime or that he was ever suspected of committing a crime.

: Appellant contends that the State’s evidence is not sufficient to show him guilty of murder in the second degree, and, at best, the only crime he could be convicted of would be manslaughter.

There is not the slightest evidence that Gene Burnett had committed any crime. There is no evidence that he had committed any misdemeanor, either in the presence of deceased or otherwise; nor' is there any evidence that there was any suspicion that Gene Burnett had committed a felony. Also, there- is no evidence that there had been a warrant for his arrest. In fact, .Gene Burnett stated that he had not done anything that-would justify his being arrested. Under these circumstances, the attempted arrest by the deceased was illegal. State v. Cushenberry, 157 Mo. 168, 56 S. W. 737; Wehmeyer v. Mulvihill, *49 150 Mo. App. 197, 130 S. W. 681; State ex rel. Patterson v. Collins et al., Mo. App., 172 S. W. 2d 284.

An illegal arrest or attempted arrest is adequate provocation to reduce a homicide to manslaughter unless the homicide was in fact committed with express malice. Roberts v. State, 14 Mo. 138; State v. Johnson, 76 Mo. 121; State v. Holcomb, 86 Mo. 371; State v. Tabor, 95 Mo. 585, 8 S. W. 744; 29 C. J. 1144, Sec. 128.

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Bluebook (online)
188 S.W.2d 51, 354 Mo. 45, 1945 Mo. LEXIS 491, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-burnett-mo-1945.