State v. Gordon

95 S.W. 420, 196 Mo. 185, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 205
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMay 22, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 95 S.W. 420 (State v. Gordon) 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. Gordon, 95 S.W. 420, 196 Mo. 185, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 205 (Mo. 1906).

Opinion

BURGESS, P. J.

The defendant was convicted in the circuit court of St. Francois county, and his punishment fixed at imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of seven years, under an information filed by the prosecuting attorney of said county in the office of the clerk of said court, charging the defendant with the crime of perjury. In due time defendant filed motions for new trial and in arrest, which were overruled, and he appealed.

The alleged false testimony was given at the trial in the circuit court of St. Francois county in the case of the State v. O. P. McCarver, then pending and being tried in said court before Judge Samuel Davis of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit.

At the time the information was filed under which defendant was convicted, Hon. Robert A. Anthony was sole judge of the judicial circuit of which St. Francois county formed a part; and at the November term, 1904, of said circuit court, the defendant applied for and was granted a change of the venue of said cause on.account of the alleged prejudice of the Hon. Robert A. Anthony, the regular judge of that circuit, and he called -in the Hon. Samuel Davis, judge of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, to try the case.

Defendant thereafter applied for a continuance on account of the absence of two witnesses, but his application was refused. A trial was then had, resulting in a conviction of defendant, as before stated.

The facts are substantially as follows: On November 16,1903, the grand jury of St. Francois county preferred an indictment against said O. P. McCarver, charging him with murder in the first degree, in shooting to death, with a pistol, one Harry Lett, in said [190]*190county, on the 14th day of November, 1903. McCarver applied for and was granted a change of venue from Hon. Robert A. Anthony, the regular judge of said circuit, on account of the alleged prejudice of said Judge Anthony against him, and Hon. Samuel Davis, judge of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, was called in by Judge Anthony to try said case. A trial of said McCarver was had at the February term, 1904, of the circuit court of that county, before Hon. Samuel Davis and a jury. The defendant, Gordon, appeared then and there as a witness, was duly sworn by the deputy clerk of said court, and testified at said trial that he was in the city of'Farmington on the night of the 14th of November, 1903, between nine and ten o’clock; that he was standing in front of the saloon run by Bentley & Ryan, in said city; that he saw Leo Lett meet Harry Lett near said saloon; that he heard Harry Lett ask Leo if he got it, and heard Leo Lett reply, “Yes, and a damn good one, too.” That he then heard them arrange to go into said saloon together and assault said McCarver, while he, and others, were standing at the bar drinking. That he (defendant Gordon) saw Leo Lett and Harry Lett go into said saloon; then saw them through the front glass windows as they walked to the other end of the bar. That he saw Harry Lett standing with his elbow on the bar, and his right hand in his pocket, and saw Leo Lett try to pass or slip a pistol to Harry Lett, just before McCarver fired his pistol. That the curtains of the front windows of said saloon were down, so that he (defendant) could easily see, and did see, the men inside at the time of this difficulty. This testimony of defendant was proved by one of the jurors who tried the McCarver case, and also by the notes of Mr. James J. 0 ’Connor, at that time the officiál stenographer of that court, and the one who took down the testimony at said McCarver trial. Defendant’s said testimony was given in St. Francois county, Missouri. The State’s evidence further tended to show that, at the time of and just [191]*191prior to the shooting of Lett by McCarver, no one was standing on the sidewalk in front of Bentley & Ryan’s saloon; and that the defendant, Gordon, was not then in Farmington, but attended a shooting match at the home of James Field, some twenty or twenty-two miles from said city. That defendant went to the Field farm on horseback, reached there about two o’clock in the afternoon, fed the horse which he was riding, and stayed there with a number of other men the rest of the afternoon; that the defendant stayed there to supper, and also stayed all night with Mr. Field, remaining there till after breakfast the nest (Sunday) morning. The date of this shooting match was proved by several persons—one man who made a payment on a note on that day, another who sold and delivered some- hogs on that day, a third who received some interest on that day, a fourth who was clerk of a certain lodge that met that night, and a fifth who had just married on the Monday preceding, and went on that day with his bride to visit her father. The State’s evidence also tended to prove that the curtains to the front windows of Bentley & Ryan’s saloon worked upward from below, and that said curtains were up so high at the time of and for some time prior to the shooting, that it was impossible for a man to stand out on the sidewalk in front of said saloon and see over them into said saloon. The State’s evidence further tended to show that Leo Lett did not try to pass a pistol to Harry Lett just before McCarver fired, nor at any other time, and that Leo Lett never had a pistol on that occasion. That McCarver shot and killed Harry Lett in St. Francois county, Missouri.

The defendant’s evidence tended to prove that he wás in Farmington on November 14,1903; that he kept a horse there in a stable. That he used this horse to ride around the country, came and left town rather irregularly; but when he was in town, he stopped at a hotel over a saloon, which was opposite the Bentley & Ryan saloon. One of the witnesses who testified to [192]*192seeing defendant on that day was a daughter of O. P. McCarver, and another was Jesse Biggs, now of Ohio. Several of defendant’s witnesses admitted that the curtains to the front window of that saloon were drawn nearly to the top at the time of the shooting, and they gave it as their opinion that a man could not stand on the ground or on the sidewalk and see over the top of said curtains. There was also some evidence tending to prove the defendant’s good reputation for truth and veracity. Defendant did not testify.

At the close of the evidence on the part of the State the defendant asked an instruction in the nature of a demurrer to the evidence, which was refused, and defendant saved an exception.

The court, at the close of all the evidence, and over the objections and exceptions of defendant, instructed the jury as follows:

“1. The jury are instructed that if you believe from the evidence that at any time within three years before the 11th day of March, 1904, the defendant, George Gordon, in the county of St. Francois and State of Missouri, was sworn as a witness in a trial in the circuit court of St. Francois county, Missouri, in which the State of Missouri was plaintiff and O. P. McCarver was defendant, in which said defendant, O. P. McCarver, was then and there being tried under an indictment charging him with murder in the first degree for the killing of one Harry Lett on the 14th day of November, 1903, at said county of St.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Childers v. State
502 S.W.2d 249 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1973)
State v. Brinkley
189 S.W.2d 314 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1945)
State v. Shannon
3 A.2d 899 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1939)
State v. Lindsey
77 P.2d 596 (Washington Supreme Court, 1938)
State v. Tucker
62 S.W.2d 453 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1933)
State v. McLain
18 S.W.2d 16 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1929)
Williams v. State
1917 OK CR 183 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1917)
State ex rel. Vaught v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co.
192 S.W. 990 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1917)
State v. Pfeifer
183 S.W. 337 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1916)
State v. Douglas
167 S.W. 552 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1914)
State v. Richardson
154 S.W. 735 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1913)
Kansas City v. St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad
130 S.W. 273 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1910)
State v. Shelton
122 S.W. 732 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1909)
State ex rel. Judah v. Fort
109 S.W. 737 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1908)
Mayes v. Palmer
103 S.W. 1140 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1907)
State v. Grant
100 S.W. 1113 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1907)
State v. Taylor
100 S.W. 41 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1907)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 S.W. 420, 196 Mo. 185, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gordon-mo-1906.