State v. Denmon

635 S.W.2d 345, 1982 Mo. LEXIS 461
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJuly 6, 1982
DocketNo. 62674
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 635 S.W.2d 345 (State v. Denmon) 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. Denmon, 635 S.W.2d 345, 1982 Mo. LEXIS 461 (Mo. 1982).

Opinion

HIGGINS, Judge.

Monte Ray Denmon was convicted by a jury of two counts of murder in the first degree, § 559.007, RSMo Supp.1975; assault with intent to kill with malice aforethought, § 559.180, RSMo 1969; and manslaughter, § 559.070, RSMo 1969. The court fixed his punishment under the Second Offender Act, §§ 556.280 and 556.-290, RSMo 1969, at life imprisonment for each count of murder in the first degree; life imprisonment for assault with intent to kill with malice aforethought; and ten years’ imprisonment for manslaughter. The sentences were imposed to run consecutively. Appellant assigns error to refusal of his impeachment of a State’s witness; permitting the State to read the transcript of a witness’s prior recorded testimony; and the failure of the State to correct a witness’s testimony. Affirmed.

Appellant does not question the sufficiency of evidence to sustain the convictions. He states evidence which would permit a jury to find:

At 9:30 a. m. on April 26, 1977, in apartment number 58 of the Canterbury Apartments in Grandview, Missouri, were found the dead bodies of Calvin Brown, a general contractor and narcotics distributor and dealer, Janet Blewett, his paramour, and Christine Wolfskill, wife of the surviving person in the apartment, Bernard Wolfskill, a longtime drug addict. An electric clock, stopped at 3:19 with its cord cut off, was found in the blood-splattered apartment. Also found in the apartment were rolls of adhesive tape, three butcher knives with a red substance on them, plastic bags and a box containing heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, and two food blenders with heroin in them. A safe in the apartment contained thirty-seven rings. Calvin Brown had a four inch deep incising wound to the right side of his neck, made from front to back, which went to his spine and cut his blood vessels. He had a skull fracture with bone driven into the right temporal lobe of his brain. His death was caused by the incising wound to the neck with external hemorrhaging. Janet Blewett, who was five months pregnant, had a ligature wound on the left side of her neck and an incising wound in her upper abdomen. Her death was caused by the incising wound to the abdomen with internal hemorrhaging. Christine Wolfskill had incising wounds to both sides of her neck. Her death was caused by that wound with external hemorrhaging. A neighbor in the apartment below had been awakened at 3:00 a. m. that morning by female screams and noise from the apartment above.

Thurman Simmons, a twice-convicted felon, agreed to testify for the State about his, defendant’s, and defendant’s wife’s participation in these murders, in exchange for not being prosecuted for the murders and other matters. Simmons and Lehman White had gone to a drug house at 6:00 p.m. on April 26,1977, to buy drugs. Defendant was there with his wife. The four discussed going into the drug business together by committing a robbery in Kansas to get some money. At 10:30 p. m. the four left a club, where they had gone at 8:00 p. m. for defendant’s brother’s birthday party, in two separate cars with two weapons to [347]*347commit a robbery. This plan was abandoned while driving around in Kansas because defendant suggested that he had a plan for making some money and getting drugs. They returned to the birthday party at 1:00 a. m. where Lehman White deserted them. Simmons, defendant, and his wife then went to a continuation of the birthday party at a home. While there, defendant’s wife called Calvin Brown about coming to his home and buying drugs. The plan was to rob and kill Calvin Brown. The three next returned to the drug house to meet Lehman White who never appeared. They then went to Calvin Brown’s in two separate cars with two weapons. They arrived at 2:30 a. m.

The plan was to have defendant’s wife knock on the door, and when it was opened, Simmons and defendant, both wearing ski masks, would rush in. Defendant’s wife went in, however, before the others could rush the door. They waited by the door, and when it was opened, they ran in with guns drawn and announced a stick-up. Simmons grabbed Wolfskill and defendant grabbed Brown. They threw the victims on the floor and taped their hands behind their backs. Janet Blewett came from another room in the apartment; she was also bound. The robbers found heroin and marijuana, eighteen thousand dollars in two tin boxes, and some rings which defendant took. An electrical cord was wrapped around Janet Blewett’s neck; defendant and Simmons pulled on its ends. They gave up, defendant got a butcher knife and stabbed her in the stomach. Defendant then cut Calvin Brown’s neck. A knock came at the door; defendant’s wife let Christine Wolfskill in and defendant cut her neck. They left at 3:30 or 4:00 a. m., split the money, shot up the drugs, and defendant kept the rings in a white cloth.

The survivor, Bernard Wolfskill, also testified to these events, but claimed that three men in ski masks rushed into the apartment, one of them being defendant. He described how defendant stabbed him in the chest and neck, leaving the knife imbedded, and leaving him for dead. Defendant called Wolfskill while he was in the hospital and told him that he would finish the job.

When defendant was arrested, he was wearing a wrist watch, three rings and a necklace, and he used a white handkerchief. In the trunk of the car in which he was arrested were found four rings in a white cloth. Calvin Brown’s mother identified three of the rings from the car, and the watch defendant was wearing, as her son’s. Blood was found on the handkerchief matching that of Christine Wolfskill. Defendant’s wife’s fingerprints were found on a waterpik in Calvin Brown’s apartment.

Defendant testified and denied committing the offense; he claimed he was at his brother’s party. He explained the drug business and his relationship with Calvin Brown. He explained possession of Brown’s watch and rings by stating that he had taken them from Thurman Simmons, who had involved his wife in Brown’s murder since his wife was making a drug purchase at Brown’s apartment when the events occurred.

I.

Appellant claims the trial court erred in refusing to permit impeachment of Wolfs-kin’s statement that defendant committed the murders with his prior inconsistent statement made to Public Defender James Fletcher that he could not identify anyone in the house. He argues that a proper foundation was laid for admission of the impeaching statement to be adduced in Fletcher’s testimony. He asserts that even though Wolfskill had not been asked whether he recalled telling Fletcher he could not identify anyone in the house, the foundation for impeachment was satisfied by asking Wolfskill whether he recalled the attorneys asking him whether he could identify any of the people at the house and Wolfs-kin’s denial of the conversation upon cross-examination.

On cross-examination the following line of questioning was pursued:

Q. Do you know a person by the name of Jim Fletcher?
A. It sound like a lawyer.
* * * * * *
[348]*348Q. Do you recall talking to him and a man by the name of Lee Nation, who is another attorney, at your home in October ’78?
A. Yes, I recall coming there.
Q. You recall them coming there?
A. Umhum.
******
Q.

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Bluebook (online)
635 S.W.2d 345, 1982 Mo. LEXIS 461, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-denmon-mo-1982.