State v. Porter, Green & Smith

615 P.2d 146, 228 Kan. 345, 1980 Kan. LEXIS 332
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJuly 18, 1980
Docket51,704
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 615 P.2d 146 (State v. Porter, Green & Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Porter, Green & Smith, 615 P.2d 146, 228 Kan. 345, 1980 Kan. LEXIS 332 (kan 1980).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Holmes, J.:

This is a consolidated appeal from a jury verdict finding appellants, Milton Porter, William Green and Vernon Smith, each guilty of two counts of aggravated robbery (K.S.A. 21-3427).

On the 23rd day of April, 1979, two black men entered an APCO service station in Kansas City, Kansas, and robbed two station attendants at gunpoint. During the time that the robbery was taking place, Wendell Kilian, a security manager for Sears, Roebuck & Co., was leaving the Sears store which is located approximately fifty yards from the APCO station. Kilian noticed in the parking lot a blue car which was occupied by two black males who were looking in the direction of the APCO station. The motor of the car was running. Kilian became suspicious and drove past the car twice, noting the license tag number. He then observed two black males run from the station and get into the blue car which departed from the Sears lot at an unusually high rate of speed. Shortly thereafter a police officer saw the car run a stop sign and the officer turned on his emergency lights in an attempt to stop the car, which sped away. A high speed chase ensued ending when the car hit a telephone pole. Two men riding in the car jumped out and ran from the scene. Police from a backup car chased these two through a residential area and eventually arrested Milton Porter who was found hiding under a parked car. Smith, the driver of the car, and Green, a passenger, were arrested at the crash site. The fourth individual has not been identified or apprehended as far as we know.

The three defendants were arraigned on June 8,1979, and trial began on September 10,1979. Green and Porter were represented by Richard Keithley and Smith by Gerald Jeserich. All three were tried together and all three have appealed, alleging various points on appeal.

The first and major point on appeal by Porter and Smith is that the trial court erred in admitting codefendant Green’s extrajudi[347]*347cial statements into evidence. Since Green did not testify Porter and Smith contend that their Sixth Amendment right of confrontation was violated and further contend that the failure of the trial court to give a limiting or cautionary instruction to the effect that Green’s statement could not be considered as evidence against Smith and Porter is reversible error.

Green’s oral statement was introduced through the testimony of Sergeant Clyde Blood of the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department. His testimony follows:

“Q. What happened then after Mr. Green here indicated that he did understand his rights. Did he indicate at that point whether he talked to you about the APCO robbery?
“A. Well, after he signed his rights, he indicated that he was involved in the robbery of the APCO station with three other parties.
“Q. Okay. Did he indicate to you how this robbery came to pass?
“A. Well, he had met — he was with two parties and met another party at a Kentucky Fried Chicken store at 36th, I believe, and State Avenue. At that time they discussed the robbery of the APCO station.”

At this point the proceedings were interrupted and both defense counsel renewed their objections, which had been made earlier at an in camera hearing held to determine the admissibility of the statement. The objections were overruled and the testimony continued.

“Q. (By Mr. Sieve) Sergeant, you were to a point there where you said that the Defendant Green said he had gotten together with three other people and I think you said they were planning this robbery. Go ahead then with what Mr. Green told you?
“A. Well, they discussed the robbery while they were at the Kentucky Fried Chicken Store. One of the parties supplied one or two hand guns. I don’t recollect I think it was two. They were both, I believe, revolvers. They proceeded in a motor vehicle to the area of Sears and Roebuck where they parked the vehicle in a lot adjacent to the Sears and Roebuck Store. At that time Mr. Green and another accomplice walked to the APCO Station and the robbery was executed and they left the area and returned to the Sears lot and got into the car and left.
“Q. Okay. And did he indicate to you what happened to him shortly thereafter leaving the Sears lot?
“A. Well, they were engaged in a short pursuit with uniformed police vehicles and apprehended, but I didn’t — don’t recollect the details of that pursuit or apprehension.”

Defendants’ objection to the admission of this evidence is based on the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 20 L.Ed.2d 476, 88 S.Ct. 1620 (1968). The rule of Bruton is well recognized by this court [348]*348and was summarized in State v. Mims, 220 Kan. 726, 732-33, 556 P.2d 387 (1976), as follows:

“In Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 20 L.Ed.2d 476, 88 S.Ct. 1620, the United States Supreme Court held that an accused’s right of cross-examination secured by the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment is violated where a codefendant does not testify and his extra-judicial confession inculpating the accused is admitted into evidence, notwithstanding jury instructions that the codefendant’s confession must be disregarded in determining the accused’s guilt or innocence. In Bruton the United States Supreme Court stated that under the traditional rules of evidence, a codefendant’s confession inculpating the accused is inadmissible against the accused as hearsay and that the major reason underlying the confrontation rule is to give a defendant charged with crime an opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses. The rule of Bruton has been well recognized by this court. (State v. Greer, 202 Kan. 212, 447 P.2d 837; Cantrell v. State, 206 Kan. 323, 478 P.2d 192; State v. Oliphant, 210 Kan. 451, 502 P.2d 626.)”

See also State v. Rodriquez, 226 Kan. 558, 601 P.2d 686 (1979); State v. White & Stewart, 225 Kan. 87, 587 P.2d 1259 (1978); State v. Edwards, 224 Kan. 266, 579 P.2d 1209 (1978); State v. Sullivan & Sullivan, 224 Kan. 110, 578 P.2d 1108 (1978); State v. Purdy, 228 Kan. 264, 615 P.2d 131 (1980); and State v. Hutchison, 228 Kan. 279, 615 P.2d 138 (1980).

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State v. Porter, Green & Smith
615 P.2d 146 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1980)

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Bluebook (online)
615 P.2d 146, 228 Kan. 345, 1980 Kan. LEXIS 332, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-porter-green-smith-kan-1980.