State v. Gomillia

529 S.W.2d 892, 1975 Mo. App. LEXIS 2155
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 30, 1975
Docket35343
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 529 S.W.2d 892 (State v. Gomillia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Gomillia, 529 S.W.2d 892, 1975 Mo. App. LEXIS 2155 (Mo. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

KELLY, Judge.

The appellant, hereinafter the defendant, was convicted in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri, of Robbery in the First Degree by Means of a Dangerous and Deadly Weapon (§ 560.120 RSMo 1969) on Count I of an Amended Information and on Count II of Assault with Intent to Kill with Malice Aforethought (§ 559.180 RSMo 1969). Having been found by the trial court after an evidentiary hearing to be a Second Offender within the terms of § 556.-280 RSMo 1969, the trial court, rather than the jury, sentenced the defendant to a term of life imprisonment in the custody of the Missouri Department of Corrections on the Robbery charge and to a term of twenty (20) years in the custody of the Department of Corrections on the Assault charge, concurrently. 1 This appeal followed.

Defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a convic *894 tion on either Count of the Amended Information, but rather contends that the trial court erred in (1) admitting the in-court identification of witnesses John Ellinger, Jr., and Myra Lloyd and (2) admitting into evidence “mug shots” of the defendant and others and permitting them to be passed to the jurors for their inspection.

The facts as found by the jury are that at about 8:15 a. m. on the morning of November 6,1972, John Ellinger, Jr., was seated in the office of a service station located at 8308 Airport Road in St. Louis County, Missouri, when two black men entered. One of the black men walked towards the service bay and the other, the taller of the two, who was identified at trial as the defendant, approached Mr. Ellinger who was, at the time, talking on the telephone. As he approached Mr. Ellinger the defendant put on a pair of gloves and when approximately three feet from Mr. Ellinger drew a gun and directed Mr. Ellinger to “keep it up.” The defendant then walked behind Mr. El-linger and removed at least $400.00 from the desk top. Mr. Ellinger was then directed to open the cash register and when he did the defendant removed the contents. Mr. Ellinger and David Boll, a fellow employee, were instructed to lie down on the storeroom floor and after they did as ordered, the storeroom doors were closed and Mr. Ellinger heard the front door open and close. Mr. Ellinger then started to pick up the phone from the floor when he heard a noise and looked up to see the defendant returning. The defendant pointed a gun to Mr. Ellinger’s head and threatened to kill him. Mr. Ellinger grabbed at the gun and during the following struggle the gun discharged striking Mr. Ellinger in the abdomen. The defendant then made his escape from the premises. At the scene Mr. El-linger described the defendant as being six (6) feet tall, stocky build and weighing 200 pounds. He said the defendant was wearing a hip length dark tan leather coat, dark trousers and a broad brimmed hat.

On Tuesday, November 7, 1972, two officers of the Berkeley Police Department showed Mr. Ellinger some “mug shots,” eight in number, and from these he selected the photo of the defendant as the man who robbed and shot him. All eight of the “mug shots” were offered and admitted into evidence during the course of the trial and then passed to the jurors for their examination. These eight “mug shots” plus three more were also shown to Myra Lloyd, a State’s witness, at approximately 3:30 p. m. on November 6, 1972, and out of the group she selected defendant’s photo as that of the robber she saw at the scene of the occurrence. The following morning Mrs. Lloyd went to the Berkeley police station at about 10:45 a. m. Mr. Boll was also there. She was shown a lineup of five black men in a well-lighted room in which there was a two-way glass. Two of the men had beards and two had Afro hair-dos. After viewing the lineup she was fairly certain that the center man was the person she had seen at the scene of the hold-up but she asked them to bring the men back in again, viewed the lineup a second time and then was certain that it was the center man she saw at the robbery scene. The “center man” in the lineup was this defendant. The “mug shot” of the defendant was shown to Mrs. Lloyd on February 14, 1973, just prior to her taking the stand and offering her testimony in the trial.

Defendant’s first Point Relied On in this court is: “The in-court identifications by witnesses John Ellinger, Jr., and Myra Lloyd violated appellant’s right to the due process of law, his right to counsel, and his right to a fair trial.” Reference to his motion for new trial causes us to conclude that these are not the same contentions presented to the trial court for there is no reference therein to Mrs. Lloyd’s identification testimony and the only reference to Mr. Ellinger’s identification testimony is contained in paragraph 8 of defendant’s motion, which reads as follows: “8. The Court erred in allowing John Ellinger, the alleged victim to testify as to the defendant’s identity, having the (sic) three (3) days *895 before the start of trial viewed a videotaped line-up without the presence of the defendant or his attorney.” Any claim of error not assigned in a motion for new trial in a criminal case is not preserved for appellate review, State v. Bowens, 476 S.W.2d 495, 498[5] (Mo.1972), State v. Henderson, 510 S.W.2d 813, 821[12] (Mo.App.1974), Rule 27.20(a), and any assignment of error set out in defendant’s motion for new trial not briefed in the appellate court is considered abandoned. Metier v. Janssen, 498 S.W.2d 581, 583[1] (Mo.App.1973). When preparing briefs on appeal counsel in a criminal case is required to comply with Rule 28.18 providing that, with certain exceptions, Rules of Civil Procedure apply to criminal cases and with the provisions of Rule 84.04(d) that: “The points relied on shall state briefly and concisely what actions or rulings are sought to be reviewed and wherein and why they are claimed to be erroneous." (Emphasis supplied). State v. Gantt, 504 S.W.2d 295, 297[1] (Mo.App.1973). Points relied on by an appellant seeking reversal of a conviction should definitely isolate and formulate precise issues to be reviewed, and if that function is observed at all, it should not be relegated to the argument portion of the brief. State v. Freeman, 489 S.W.2d 749, 751[1] (Mo.App.1973). It is apparent that defendant’s first point raised in his brief filed in this court constitutes no more than a series of legal conclusions and fails to state wherein and why the in-court identification of Mr. Ellinger violated his rights. To glean this information, it is necessary to go to the argument portion of defendant’s brief. This court, in Griffin v. State, 513 S.W.2d 706, 708 (Mo.App.1974) said: “The appellate courts of this State can no longer afford the luxury of searching the Argument section of appellant’s briefs for the purpose of discovering if sufficient particularity might be found therein to enable them to determine why the orders or judgments of the trial court are erroneous.”

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Bluebook (online)
529 S.W.2d 892, 1975 Mo. App. LEXIS 2155, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gomillia-moctapp-1975.