State v. McIntosh

333 S.W.2d 51, 1960 Mo. LEXIS 805
Supreme Court of Missouri·Decided March 14, 1960·No. 47007·Published·Cited by 19 cases

Opinion

DALTON, Judge.

Defendant was convicted of the unlawful sale of narcotics and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in the state penitentiary. See Secs. 195.020 (Laws 1953, p. 628) and 195.200 RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S. She has appealed, but has not favored us with a brief. We shall review the assignments of error contained in her motion for a new trial. Supreme Court Rule 28.02. The motion covers some thirty pages of the transcript.

The amended information, filed July 5, 1957, charged the defendant with an unlawful sale of narcotic drugs, to wit: “two one-quarter grain tablets compound, derivative, mixture and preparation of opium” to Shirley Ann Fowler for $10, on May 22, 1957, in Pemiscot County, Missouri. The amended information is quite lengthy and need not be set out herein.

Error is assigned in the motion for new trial on the court’s action in overruling defendant’s motion to quash “for the reason that the amended information was vague, indefinite and did not charge this defendant with any offense against the laws of the State of Missouri, did not contain the same charge as alleged in the original information, was not the same charge alleged in the affidavit filed in the Magistrate Court, and defendant did not have a preliminary examination on the charge in the amended information as required by law.” See Supreme Court Rule 25.06, 42 V.A. M.S. No evidence was offered in support of the allegations which required proof outside of the record.

The record shows that, on December 4, 1957, defendant’s “court appointed counsel” filed an unverified motion to quash the amended information, but the grounds alleged therein do not correspond to those stated in the motion for a new trial. The motion was based upon some matters not shown by this record, to wit: that this case (No. 7044) was a duplicate of Case No. 7043 and charged a sale on the same day to the same person; that the defendant had been tried and acquitted in Case No. 7043; that defendant had not been arrested in Case No. 7044 when her purported preliminary hearing was held; that the preliminary hearing in Case No. 7044 was held on the same day the complaint was filed; that defendant was denied time to prepare for the hearing in order to accomodate the Federal Narcotics Agent; and that the court had no jurisdiction to try defendant in Case No. 7044, after her acquittal of the sale charged in Case No. 7043. No evidence was offered in support of these allegations and, on January 10, 1958, the motion to quash was taken up, submitted to the court and overruled. In the absence of evidence to support the allegations of the motion, the court did not err in overruling the motion to quash [See State v. Spurlock, Mo.Sup., 312 S.W.2d 843, 845(3)], nevertheless it is our duty on this appeal to determine the sufficiency of the amended information. Supreme Court Rule 28.02. We find the amended information sufficient to fully inform the defendant of the crime charged against her under the then applicable statutes and to meet the tests laid down for determining the sufficiency of an information or indictment. See Sections 195.020 (Laws 1953, p. 628), 195.010(16, 24) [Laws 1953, p. 619], 195.050, 195.080 and 195.200 RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S.; State v. Crawford, Mo.Sup., 251 S.W.2d 76, 77(4); State v. Renkard, 150 Mo.App. 570, 131 S.W. 168.

It is alleged that the court erred in overruling defendant’s motions for judgment of acquittal tendered at the close of the State’s case and at the close of all the evidence. Defendant’s motion tendered at the close of the State’s case-in-chief was waived when defendant offered evidence in her own behalf. State v. Vincent, Mo.Sup., 321 S.W.2d 439; State v. Richardson, Mo.Sup., 315 S.W.2d 139, 140. The grounds stated in both motions for *55 acquittal were: (1) that “no valid information charging the defendant with any crime had ever been filed”; (2) that the testimony and evidence against defendant was obtained by an illegally issued and unlawfully executed search warrant; and (3) that the prosecution was “the result of a carefully planned common scheme and conspiracy on the part of a large group of law officers including the prosecuting attorney to trap this defendant into a law violation for the mere purpose of instituting a criminal prosecution against her * * The sufficiency of the amended information to charge an offense has already been ruled.

At this time we shall omit the evidence obtained by the State by the use of a search warrant and most of the evidence relied upon to show entrapment (matters subsequently considered) and we shall briefly review the direct evidence tending to show the unlawful sale of narcotic drugs by defendant.

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State v. McIntosh, 333 S.W.2d 51, 1960 Mo. LEXIS 805 (Mo. 1960).

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