State v. Goodman

608 S.W.2d 498, 1980 Mo. App. LEXIS 3264
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 3, 1980
DocketNo. WD 31401
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 608 S.W.2d 498 (State v. Goodman) 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. Goodman, 608 S.W.2d 498, 1980 Mo. App. LEXIS 3264 (Mo. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

TURNAGE, Judge.

Lloyd Goodman was found guilty by a jury of second degree murder and punishment was assessed at imprisonment for 55 years. On this appeal Goodman contends he was arrested without probable cause which made articles of clothing taken from him inadmissible, that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction, and a picture of the deceased was improperly admitted in evidence. Affirmed.

About 7:10 A.M. on January 10,1978, the body of George Lockmer was discovered by a parking lot attendant lying in the parking lot next to an alley. The victim was flat on his back with considerable blood around the head which formed a pool and had run toward the alley. The temperature the preceding night had been near zero. When the police arrived they found that Lockmer had been beaten to death with numerous blows to the head. In the alley near the body was found a sack of clothes in a brown shopping bag with the name “Goodman” hand lettered on it. They also found a cigarette case that contained a pack of cigarettes.

The police began a canvass of the area and visited the office of a labor pool which furnishes temporary labor to business. The manager of the labor pool told them that a man by the name of Goodman had been in about 6:00 A.M. wanting to work. He had blood on his clothing and hands and appeared to have been in a fight. He also appeared to be drunk, and for this reason he had not been sent on a job. The police requested the manager to call them if he saw this man again. About 9:30 A.M. the manager saw Goodman in the Bowling Green Tavern, which is in the immediate area where the body was found. The police were called and arrived shortly thereafter and placed Goodman under arrest.

The police learned during their investigation, prior to Goodman’s arrest, that about 8:00 to 9:00 P.M. on the night before, Goodman had been in the El Sereno Tavern, which is about one-half block from the place where the body was discovered. He had a brown paper sack containing clothing. When Goodman became intoxicated the bartender called the police and two officers came to the tavern and escorted Goodman out but did not take him into custody. About midnight Goodman was in the Bowling Green Tavern, and he and two other drunks were removed by the police. Again, Goodman was not taken into custody. At that time Goodman did not appear to have any blood on his clothing and he had the sack of clothing.

About 3:30 A.M. Goodman was observed walking down Admiral Blvd., which is several blocks from the scene, and later entered a 7-11 Store at 17th and Indiana. One of the officers who had earlier removed [500]*500him from one of the taverns observed him in the store but did not notice any blood on his clothing. The officer did not see Goodman carrying the sack, but stated Goodman had stood behind a magazine rack and was blowing on his hands in an apparent effort to warm them.

When officers arrived at the Bowling Green Tavern at 9:30 A.M. they found Goodman with blood on his clothing, hands and shoes. The condition of the body had indicated Lockmer had been kicked in the head. Goodman was taken to the police station and given the Miranda warning. He denied any knowledge of the death of Lockmer but did say: “I can get away with murder.” Goodman’s clothing and shoes were taken from him and a portion of the dried blood on his hands was removed for analysis by a lab.

The above summarizes the evidence available to the police at the time Goodman was arrested and it is this evidence Goodman contends was insufficient to constitute probable cause for the police to arrest him without a warrant. The argument continues that since the arrest was without probable cause, then the seizure of Goodman’s clothing and shoes was not incident to a lawful arrest and hence was an unlawful search and seizure contrary to the Missouri and federal constitutions. Probable cause to justify an arrest without a warrant “simply means a knowledge of facts and circumstances sufficient for a prudent person to believe the suspect is committing or has committed an offense. Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 91, 85 S.Ct. 223 [225], 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964)....” State v. Heitman, 589 S.W.2d 249, 253[3-5] (Mo. banc 1979). Goodman concedes a search incident to a lawful arrest is one of the exceptions to the requirement that a search be made only under a warrant. Id. It is further pointed out, id., that probable cause means more than mere speculation, yet its “existence must be determined by practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable persons act and not the hindsight of legal technicians. Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 175, 69 S.Ct. 1302 [1310], 93 L.Ed. 1879 (1949); State v. Wiley, 522 S.W.2d 281, 287 (Mo. banc 1975).”

This court concludes that the officers had reasonable cause to believe that Goodman had participated in the death of Lockmer. The police knew from their encounters with Goodman during the previous night that much of the night he had been in the immediate area where the body was found, except for the time he was seen at 17th and Indiana. A paper sack with Goodman’s name hand lettered on it was found near the body, and Goodman had a paper sack when removed from the tavern in the immediate area. The head of Lockmer was covered with blood and blood had formed a pool and had run a short distance from the body so the police knew this was a particularly bloody killing. Goodman was in the immediate area shortly before the body was discovered with blood on his hands and clothing. When arrested later, the officers observed blood, not only on his hands and clothing, but on his shoes. These facts and circumstances were sufficient to give the officers probable cause to arrest Goodman without a warrant and the seizure of his clothing and shoes was, therefore, incident to a lawful arrest. See Commonwealth v. Perez, 357 Mass. 290, 258 N.E.2d 1 (1970).

Goodman’s clothing and shoes and the dried blood taken from his hands were sent to the Regionalistics Laboratory. Ed Covey, the chief chemist of the Laboratory, testified that he made tests on the blood found on the hands, clothing and shoes. He stated the blood found on both shoes taken from Goodman revealed group A, P.G.M. 2-1, E.A.P. -B.A., and haptaglobin 2-2. Covey stated the frequency in which these four factors were found in a blood sample would be about 2.2% of the population. He said a test of Lockmer’s blood revealed the same four factors. The blood sample removed from Goodman’s hands was tested by Covey, but the quantity of the sample was only sufficient to test for the first two factors. These were group A with a P.G.M. of 2-1, the same first two factors as found in Lockmer’s blood and the blood found on Goodman’s shoes. Covey testified that [501]*501Goodman’s blood was Type 0, which meant the blood on Goodman’s shoes and hands was not his own. The blood on Goodman’s clothing did not match either Goodman or Lockmer’s blood type.

Covey also found hairs on Goodman’s shoes. These hairs matched hair samples taken from Lockmer’s beard but did not match hair samples taken from his head.

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Bluebook (online)
608 S.W.2d 498, 1980 Mo. App. LEXIS 3264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-goodman-moctapp-1980.