State v. Hathaway

269 S.W.2d 57, 46 A.L.R. 2d 942
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 14, 1954
DocketNo. 44137
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 269 S.W.2d 57 (State v. Hathaway) 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. Hathaway, 269 S.W.2d 57, 46 A.L.R. 2d 942 (Mo. 1954).

Opinion

DEW, Special Judge.

The amended information on which the defendant was tried charged him with two prior convictions, and also with the crime of sodomy on September 19, 1951. A jury found defendant guilty and assessed his penalty at life in the penitentiary. The defendant has appealed from the judgment rendefed on that verdict.

The first information filed charged the appellant with assault with intent to commit sodomy on September 19, 1951, upon the named prosecuting witness. Appellant entered a plea of not guilty. At trial, after the jury was empaneled, the state asked leave to amend the charge to include two prior convictions of felony, and sodomy. Appellant, through counsel, assented to this request. Upon the filing of notice of appeal, the appellant was allowed, upon his motion,, to prosecute this appeal as a poor person. He has filed no brief in this court.

The information, as amended with the consent of the appellant, recited the conviction of the appellant on May 25, 1936, in Alexander County, Illinois, of the offense of assault, a sentence of imprisonment therefor in the Illinois State Farm of the City of Vandalia, Illinois, for the term of one year, and the appellant’s imprisonment in accordance with that sentence and later discharge after lawful compliance with said sentence; and recited the conviction of appellant on February 14, 1940, in Alexander County, Illinois, for the offense of burglary, a sentence therefor to imprisonment in the Illinois State Penitentiary for one year to life, his imprisonment under said sentence and his later discharge therefrom. The remainder of the information read as follows: “ * * * and that the said William Edward Hathaway, alias Willie Gardner after the said discharge of said William Edward Hathaway, alias Willie Gardner, from said Illinois State Penitentiary, as aforesaid, of the State of Illinois, to-wit, on the 19th day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifty-one at the City of St. Louis, aforesaid, in and upon one (prosecuting witness) unlawfully, feloniously, wickedly and against the order of nature did commit the detestable and ab-minable crime against nature in and upon the person of the said (prosecuting witness) by thrusting his tongue into the private parts of her, the said (prosecuting witness), contrary to the form of the Statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State”.

During the trial appellant admitted that he, under the alias of William Gardner, was convicted at St. Charles, Illinois, on the charge of assault, was sentenced therefor and served time at Illinois State Farm at Vandalia, Illinois, from whence he was discharged on April 24, 1937; that in February, 1940, he pleaded guilty to an indictment for burglary in Alexander County, Illinois, and received a sentence of one year to life in the Illinois State Peniten[59]*59tiary, from which he was later paroled. Records of the above proceedings were also introduced by the state.

The prosecuting witness testified that her husband worked at nights, returning home usually about 7:15 a. m.; that she usually arose about that time in order to go to her. own employment in a local department store. They lived on the first floor of a house in St. Louis, and rented the second floor to tenants. The weather was warm the morning of September 19, 1951, and the window of her bedroom was open. About five minutes before 7:00 o’clock on that date she was awakened by some one going past her bed. She thought it was her husband and spoke to him. The man proceeded into the kitchen and stood with his back to her. She looked at the clock and saw that it was five minutes before 7:00 and presumed the man was her husband. She called: “Ed, is that you?” There was no answer. She arose, went to the kitchen door and the man turned toward her. She described him as a Negro 5 feet and 6 or 7 inches tall, weighing about 140 pounds. His coat was light blue, hat gray, and his shirt colored. When she saw he was a colored man she screamed. He said: “If you scream, white woman, I’ll cut your throat”, and put a long-bladed knife against her throat. He threw her upon the bed, forced her gown above her waist and, with his tongue several times penetrated her private parts. He then left the house and ran down the street. The prosecutrix opened the door, tried to scream but could not. She saw the intruder disappear on Ohio Street. She telephoned her neighbor upstairs, who, with her husband,' came downstairs and called the police.

The prosecutrix testified that she got a clear view of the man’s face; that he had a mustache, and that she noticed .the separation between his two middle teeth. She positively identified him as the appellant on January 22, 1952, when he was, arrested, and again at the trial. She said that at the time of the assault she had a billfold on the kitchen table containing $24 in cur-' rency, which was missing after the man left the house.

A man who lived a few doors distant from the prosecuting witness testified that about 7:15 o’clock a. m. on September 19, he saw a man in the vicinity of the location' of the prosecuting witness’ residence, and at the time of the árrest and 'at the trial definitely identified that man as the appellant.

James Spalding, a member of the St. Louis Police Department, testified that on January 22, 1952, he and. another officer arrested the appellant at the Sunshine Laundry, where he was employed, and took him to the police station for purposes of identification. He was then wearing a blue coat. Also Officer Glen Pauley testified to the same effect. The laundry was four and one-half blocks from the residence of the prosecuting witness.

Officer Paul Gourley stated that he had been handed a billfold, which was found on the street. It was identified as belonging to the prosecutrix.

In behalf of the appellant his brother testified that it was his practice to take the appellant to his place of employment in an automobile every other day and that on September 19, 1951, he called about five minutes after 7:00 at his brother’s room nearby. He said his brother was completing a bath and getting ready to leave for his work, and that they drove to the Sunshine Laundry immediately thereafter.

The defendant testified in his own behalf. He stated that his brother called for him on the morning of September 19, 1951, about 7:00 o’clock, and that he reached his place of employment at the Sunshine Laundry between 7:00 and 7:30, where he worked all that day. He positively denied having ever been in the home of the prosecuting witness or having ever seen or heard of her prior to his arrest. He said that the neighbor who identified him as the man seen near the premises of the prosecuting- witness on the day. of the assault, remarked, when he saw appellant at the police station, that he was not the man he had seen on the street. A witness from the Sunshine Laundry was produced who identified a time card, ■ showing that [60]*60on the morning of September 19, 1951, the appellant reported for work at 7:23 a. m.

In rebuttal, witness Creamer, the neighbor who testified he had seen a man near the home of the prosecuting witness at about the time of the assault, denied that he had said at the police station that the appellant was not the man he had seen that morning on the street.

At the close of the state’s case, defendant filed a motion for a directed verdict, which the court overruled. At the close of the entire case, defendant filed a motion for a directed verdict, which the court overruled.

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

Related

State v. Martin
797 S.W.2d 758 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1990)
State v. Douglas
529 S.W.2d 162 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1975)
State v. Dais
206 S.E.2d 759 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1974)
State v. Sanders
360 S.W.2d 722 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1962)
State v. Ivory
327 S.W.2d 870 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1959)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
269 S.W.2d 57, 46 A.L.R. 2d 942, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hathaway-mo-1954.