State v. Finn

98 S.W. 9, 199 Mo. 597, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 333
Supreme Court of Missouri·Decided December 4, 1906·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

GANTT, J.

On the third day of January, 1905, the prosecuting attorney of Lawrence county filed an information, duly verified, wherein he charged the defendant, together with Fred Herron, Arthur Herron and Otis Herron, with robbery-in the first degree in Lawrence county on the ——— day of December, 1904.

The defendant was arrested and arraigned and entered his plea of not guilty and was granted a severance. At the March term, 1905, he was tried and convicted, and his punishment assessed at a term of nine years in the pententiary. His motions for new trial and in arrest were duly filed and overruled and an appeal [601] granted to this court. The defendant is not represented in this court by counsel, but we have examined the record.

The evidence discloses that in December, 1904, William Conner was employed by the city of Aurora in Lawrence county, as a night watchman. On the morning .of December 14, 1904, between two. and three o’clock, Conner heard a noise in a buggy-shed back of a store known as “The Mercantile,” and upon investigation and by the aid of a flash light he discovered the defendant and two others hiding in the shed1, and told them to come out and directed them. to. come with him, whereupon they said they were looking for a restaurant, but he notified them that he was going to take them to jail, and he took the defendant and the two others, to-wit, Fred and Otis Herron, to the City Hall. By his direction they lighted a lamp.. Conner then commanded them to drop what they had upon the floor, and one of them complied. Conner testified that by the aid of the lamp as well as the flash light, he saw the defendant ’s face and had no hesitancy in identifying him as one of the three prisoners that he arrested that night. Just as Otis Herron was dropping what he had on the floor, a fourth man came into, the City Hall by the side of the night-watch and drew a gun on him. Conner immediately turned his attention to the new comer and knocked him' down, but at this point all three of his prisoners, the two Herrons and the defendant Finn, assaulted Conner, each having a gun, and beat him into insensibility; they robbed him of his watch, his revolver and sixty cents in money, and left him on the floor unconscious, in which state he remained until five o ’clock that morning. There was also evidence tending to prove that the defendant Finn and his co-defendants were seen in a saloon in Aurora between eleven and twelve o- ’clock that night. The defendant was a witness in his own behalf and testified that he was not in Aurora on the night of the 13th or the morning of the 14th of [602] December, 1904, but was in Pierce City and registered at the Brunkswick Hotel about 11:30' p. m. under the name of Bert Daniels, an assumed name; that Arthur Herron, one of his co-defendants, was with him and registered at the same time under the name of Arthur Woods, and' a traveling salesman registered at the same time. The hotel keeper was a witness for the defendant and testified that on the night of the 13th of December, 1904, about 11:30 o’clock p. m., atravelingsalesmanregistered at his hotel and about the same time two others registered under the name of Bert Daniels and Arthur Woods; that the two wh> registered asBertDanielsand Arthur Woods, paid him a dollar and were assigned rooms; that he showed the salesman his room and returned to the office1, but the two men had disappeared and he did not see them thereafter, and did not know whether they remained at his hotel over night or not. Pie did not recognize the defendant as one! of the men who registered that night. He testified further that Pierce City is about eighteen miles west of Aurora and there were trains going east all hours of the; night. The court instructed on the essentials of robbery in the first degree, andin another instruction told the jury that although the defendant did not actually assault and strike the prosecuting witness Conner, or actually take and carry away any money or property of said Conner as described in the information, yet if the jury believe from the evidence that either Arthur Herron, Fred Herron or Otis Herron assaulted Conner, and by force and violence to his person took from him or from his person and against his will, the money and property described in the information, or any part thereof, with the intent to convert the same to his or their own usé1, and that defendant was present aiding, assisting, abetting or encouraging, or was present for1 the purpose and with the intent to aid, assist, abet or encourage, if necessary, the said Arthur Herron, Fred Herron, Otis Herron or any other person actually making such an assault and [603] in the taking of said property, then the defendant is equally guilty with the person actually making such assault and robbing the said Conner. The court instructed fully upon the credibility of the witnesses, and competency of the defendant as a witness in his own case, the presumption of innocence, reasonable doubt, and at the request of the defendant gave an instruction that if the jury had a reasonable doubt that the defendant was present at the time when and the place where the said robbery was committed then they would return a verdict of not guilty as to this defendant.

I. The defendant moved the court to strike out all the evidence adduced by the State regarding the revolver that was taken from the officer that night and introduced in evidence, but this, objection was clearly without merit, and besides no objection was made by the defendant when the evidence was offered. The mo'tion to strike out was properly overruled. [State v. Marcks, 140 Mo. l. c. 668, 669.] And the same ruling must be made as to the objection urged in the motion for new trial to the testimony to the effect that the defendant was in the city of Aurora the night of the robbery, and before the' crime was committed. On the plainest principles it was competent to show that the defendant was. present at the tipie and place of the commission of the offense.

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State v. Finn, 98 S.W. 9, 199 Mo. 597, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 333 (Mo. 1906).

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