State v. Robertson

515 S.W.2d 797, 1974 Mo. App. LEXIS 1623
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 6, 1974
DocketNo. 35610
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 515 S.W.2d 797 (State v. Robertson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Robertson, 515 S.W.2d 797, 1974 Mo. App. LEXIS 1623 (Mo. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

STEWART, Judge.

Defendant appeals from judgment entered upon a jury verdict finding him guilty of robbery first degree by means of a dangerous and deadly weapon. No question is raised as to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the conviction.

Two white males robbed the Kroger store at 4301 Hampton Avenue in the City of St. Louis on April 1, 1967, at about 9:00 P.M. The store manager, William Walker, was about to enter the cashier’s office when one of the men came up behind him, gun in hand, and thrust Walker through the doorway into the cashier’s office. The cashier’s office was a cubicle about eight foot by ten foot and partitioned to a height of about five foot. The portion above counter height was glass enclosed.

Two other employees, June Naumann and Phyllis Althage, were in the office when Walker and the robber came through the doorway. The robber’s gesture with the gun prompted all present to back against the wall while he removed the contents of the cash drawer and placed the money inside the front of his shirt. It was estimated that he was in the small cubicle for from 3 to 5 minutes. During all of this time the three Kroger employees were close to and facing this man, who wore no mask. As Mrs. Naumann put it, they were “practically nose to nose”. The robbers fled after obtaining $1500.00 to $2000.00.

The police came shortly after the robbery and obtained descriptions of the robbers from the witnesses. The Kroger employees remained at the store until the company auditor investigated the extent of the loss. They went to the police station some three hours after the robbery where they viewed a large number of photographs. Mr. Walker recognized a photograph of defendant as the man who held them at gunpoint and removed the money from the cash drawer. Mrs. Naumann, on seeing the photograph of defendant, was sure that he was the man who held them in the office. Prior to the time the witnesses identified the photograph of defendant, the police had no suspects in mind. Mr. Walker and Mrs. Naumann made positive identification of defendant in the trial.

The day the case was assigned out for trial, the defendant filed a motion to suppress any identification testimony because it would rest upon a pre-trial confrontation which was unnecessarily suggestive and conducive to an irreparable mistaken identification. The Court conducted a pre-trial hearing on the motion. During the hearing the defendant was permitted to amend his motion adding the further ground that any in-court identification would be based on a pre-trial post-indictment confrontation, at which defendant was not adequately represented by counsel. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Court overruled the motion as amended.

In addition to the above facts, which were developed both at the trial and in the pre-trial hearing, the hearing on the motion further developed that Mr. Walker testified before the December 1972 term of the Grand Jury; that out of some 6 to 7 photographs he recognized 2 photographs of defendant, one which he had seen on the night of the robbery and the other a recent photograph of defendant. The indictment in this case was returned on January 25, 1973.

On April 16, 1973, Mr. Walker, accompanied Sgt. Francis Sullivan of the fugitive section and another police officer, to a hearing at Chester, Illinois. Mr. Walker understood that he was to attend an extradition hearing, at which he would be asked to testify as to whether a person being held in Chester, Illinois, was the defendant. Sgt. Sullivan was not familiar with the case. He was just the transportation officer.

While seated in the courtroom, Mr. Walker first saw the defendant as he came from the lobby into the courtroom. Defendant was dressed in a business suit. He was under no restraint. There were a number of other white men coming [799]*799through the door at the same time and within 2 to 4 feet of him. These men were not in uniform. There were some men in uniform in the area. Walker testified that he recognized defendant immediately, as the man who had committed the robbery and whose photograph he recognized shortly after the robbery. No one pointed the defendant out to him. Walker had been in the courtroom for about an hour before he saw defendant and during that time a large number of persons had wandered in and out of the courtroom. Mr. Walker testified and identified defendant. Mr. Walker was cross-examined by a man who also presented argument to the Court on behalf of defendant in opposition to the extradition both in the courtroom and in chambers. This man is referred to by Sgt. Sullivan as defendant’s attorney. The Uniform Criminal Extradition Law is a part of the statutory law of both the States of Illinois1 and Missouri, thus, of necessity, this hearing was initiated by defendant,

Mr. Walker was the only witness to appear at the grand jury hearing and the extradition hearing; neither the identification of the photograph nor the identification at Chester was introduced in the trial. Mr. Walker and Mrs. Naumann made positive in-court identification of defendant at the trial to which objection was made by defendant upon the grounds stated in his Motion to Suppress.

As we read defendant’s point relied upon, he complains only that the confrontation in the courtroom was so suggestive as to be conducive to mistaken identity, citing Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967); Russell v. United States, 133 U.S.App.D.C. 77, 408 F.2d 1280 (1969); State v. Hamblin, 448 S.W.2d 603 (Mo.1970), and State v. Townes, 461 S.W.2d761 (Mo.1970).

The cases cited by defendant do enunciate the principal here involved as subsequently discussed. However, each were cases in which the defendants were under obvious restraint and involved prompt one-on-one confrontation and suggestive to a high degree. However, the confrontations were imperative under the circumstances and thus held not to be violative of the rights of the defendants. A discussion of the factual issues in those cases would be of no value here.

Contrary to the assertion of the State, the confrontation at the Chester courthouse was a post-indictment pretrial confrontation which would call for the application of United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149 (1967), which, within the confines of the facts of that case, holds that such a confrontation is a “critical stage” in a criminal proceeding at which defendant must be represented.

Defendant raised the question in the Amended Motion to Suppress and in the Motion for New Trial but apparently does not raise the point here, although he makes the flat assertion in his argument that his “. . . Sixth Amendment” rights were violated. To eliminate any [800]*800question we rule that defendant was adequately represented by counsel and thus this case does not call for the application of United States v. Wade, supra.

We will interpret defendant’s complaint to be that the identification of defendant made by Mr. Walker while seated in the courtroom in Chester, Illinois, was so unnecessarily suggestive and conducive to irreparable mistaken identity that he was denied due process of law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Stovall v.

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Bluebook (online)
515 S.W.2d 797, 1974 Mo. App. LEXIS 1623, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-robertson-moctapp-1974.