State v. Hyster

504 S.W.2d 90, 1974 Mo. LEXIS 666
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJanuary 14, 1974
DocketNo. 57491
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 504 S.W.2d 90 (State v. Hyster) 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. Hyster, 504 S.W.2d 90, 1974 Mo. LEXIS 666 (Mo. 1974).

Opinion

FINCH, Judge.

Defendant was found guilty of murder in the first degree by a jury which fixed his punishment at life imprisonment. His appeal was taken November 16, 1971, which vests jurisdiction in this court.

Questions raised on this appeal involve the admissibility of statements of the defendant to police, admissibility of evidence concerning the defendant’s intellectual ability as bearing on the voluntariness of his statements, and the action of the trial court in refusing to instruct on second degree murder and manslaughter. We grant a new trial on the basis that such instructions should have been given and recite such portions of the evidence as are necessary to a resolution of that issue.

At 4:25 A.M. on May 17, 1970, the St. Louis Police Department received a call reporting a death at 5925 Theodosia in the City of St. Louis. Officers went to the apartment at that address where they found defendant seated in the kitchen and the body of the victim, Pinky Herret, on a bed in a room adjoining the kitchen. Subsequent examination disclosed multiple contusions of the face and scalp, chest and abdomen, plus a jagged laceration at the apex of the vagina which extended down to both femoral arteries on either side. Cause of death was described by the doctor who performed an autopsy as “trauma, external force, or laceration, whatever happened around her head and neck, with [92]*92blood loss, cerebral concussions and multiple contusions over the body.”

When the officers arrived at the scene, defendant was 'somewhat nervous and, although not intoxicated, had been drinking. There was blood on some of his clothing which proved to be the same type as that of the deceased. He also had traces of blood on his hands but this was not analyzed or typed as to whether it was human blood. The apartment was found in a state of disarray.

One of the officers, after reading the Miranda warning from a card which he carried, interrogated defendant at the scene. Defendant stated that he had been living with the deceased for about six years, that they had had several fights previously, and that they had a fight that night in which he had used his fists but did not recall using a knife.

Defendant was taken to police headquarters where at around 7:00 A.M. he was interrogated further after the Miranda warning was repeated.

At this time defendant told the officers that when Pinky Herret came home she had been drinking and he also had been drinking; that they continued drinking and that they got into a fight and he cut her several times with a small knife but he did not stab her. He stated that they then sat down at the kitchen table and Pinky wanted coffee and some hog’s head cheese. He went to the store and got them, after which they ate and then laid down on the bed for a while. He was awakened about 8:30 P.M. and got up and let Pinky’s son Michael into the apartment. He continued by saying that he went back to sleep and was awakened the next morning by the son turning on the kitchen light, and when that occurred he saw that Pinky was dead.

In the course of this interrogation the defendant began to cry and get upset, so Sgt. LaGates, who was interrogating the defendant, went and reported this to Sgt. Green. Sgt. Green came into the room and began to ask defendant as to his medical history, preparatory to taking him to the hospital. The defendant spoke up and said, “I loved her so much, I don’t know why I cut her.” The defendant was then taken to the hospital for examination.

In addition to offering the testimony'of the officers as to what they observed at the scene and the statements made to them by the defendant, the State called Michael Herret, the 16-year-old son of the deceased. He testified that he had seen the defendant at the Theodosia apartment at about 6:00 P.M. on May 16, 1970, and that defendant said to him at that time that he was going to kill Michael’s mother, Pinky. Michael testified that he left the apartment and went to his sister’s house to play cards. He returned about 8:00 P.M. and saw his mother in bed. He shook her but she only moaned and did not reply. He went out again and returned about 3:00 A.M. He saw the defendant and his mother in bed and noticed blood on the sheets. Michael went to .bed but about 4:00 A.M. the defendant awakened him and reported that his mother was dead and he was going to call the police.

Defendant testified on his own behalf. He stated that he arrived home at about 6:00 P.M. on May 16, and that Pinky arrived shortly thereafter. They talked of going out to eat but they then played some records and drank some beer and decided to have cold cuts at home instead of going out. Defendant went to the store to get the cold cuts and also brought back a six-pack of beer and a half pint of gin. They then ate, after which they laid down on the bed and went to sleep. Pinky awakened him later to let Michael in the apartment. The next morning he was awakened by Michael, at which time he discovered that Pinky was dead. He denied stabbing Pinky and also denied that he had told Michael that he was going to kill her.

The defendant also called Sgt. LaGates and developed testimony that Michael Her-ret had told the Sergeant that when he came in about 3:30 A.M., his mother was [93]*93lying on the bed in the same position he had seen her earlier, that he asked defendant what was wrong and the defendant replied he didn’t know, that Pinky had come home that way, and that he had asked his mother if she wanted to go to a doctor and she had said “No,” after which Michael went on to bed.

We consider first the question of whether defendant was entitled to instructions on murder in the second degree and manslaughter. Both were requested, but the trial court refused to give them, explaining that in his judgment the evidence disclosed that the defendant was guilty of murder in the first degree or was not guilty at all.

This Court has held on numerous occasions that where the evidence points only to guilt of first degree murder, and not to any lesser degree of homicide, the court is not required to instruct on lesser degrees. State v. King, 433 S.W.2d 825 (Mo.1968); State v. Terry, 472 S.W.2d 426 (Mo. banc 1971); State v. Crow, 486 S.W.2d 248 (Mo.1972). In each of these cases the court analyzed the evidence and concluded that if defendant was guilty, it necessarily was of murder in the first degree. For example, in King the court observed that the evidence pointed to a killing by one lying in wait, which could be only murder in the first degree. In Terry the court held that evidence pointed only to guilt of first degree murder, and the defendant’s evidence was that he was somewhere else at the time of the murder. In Crow the issue was whether defendant or some other person had wound a cord around the victim’s neck and then tightened it with a tire tool until the victim died.

The question we must resolve is whether this case is comparable to those represented by King, Terry and Crow. We conclude that it is not. Clearly, there was ample evidence in this case to justify the court in submitting the question of guilt of first degree murder. The nature and extent of the multiple wounds on the victim’s body, plus the testimony of Michael Herret that defendant told him earlier on May 16 that he was going to kill Michael’s mother, would support a verdict of murder in the first degree.

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Bluebook (online)
504 S.W.2d 90, 1974 Mo. LEXIS 666, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hyster-mo-1974.