State v. Rose

96 S.W.2d 498, 339 Mo. 317, 1936 Mo. LEXIS 659
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedAugust 20, 1936
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 96 S.W.2d 498 (State v. Rose) 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. Rose, 96 S.W.2d 498, 339 Mo. 317, 1936 Mo. LEXIS 659 (Mo. 1936).

Opinion

*319 ELLISON, J.

The appellant and one E. E. Griffith were charged by information under Section 4446, Revised Statutes 1929 (Mo. Stat. Ann., p. 3052), as accessories before the fact to a robbery in the first degree perpetrated upon one Ross Keeling in Newton County on November 22, 1934, by G. C. McDaniels, Samuel L. Hosp, John Harrison and Ernie Tennison. A severance was taken and during the trial of the case against the appellant, Rose, a nolle prosequi was entered as' to Griffith. That the robbery occurred was not disputed, the only issue of fact being whether the appellant had anything to do with it. The appellant was convicted by a jury and his punishment assessed at imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of five years. His brief assigns error in the denial of his motion for new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence; in the admission of incompetent evidence; and the improper curtailment of appellant’s cross-examination of his alleged accomplice, Griffith, who became a witness for the State.

It is unnecessary to detail the facts of the robbery except to say it occurred at night on a dairy farm about five miles from Neosho, and that the robbers professed at the time to have knowledge of the amount of money that Keeling and his hired man, Lynn, had on hand. They insisted that Keeling had $1500 and Lynn had $2000 somewhere about the place and said, “We know what we are doing.” They declared they had been told more money was being kept there on the farm than the $600 they got. The accomplice and State’s .witness, E. E. Griffith, was engaged in selling hot tamales and pies in Neosho, and had bought milk and ice cream from Keeling for quite a while up to about two months before the robbery. Keeling also had known for three or four years the appellant, Rose, who was a barber in Neosho.

Hosp, one of the robbers, testified that two days before the robbery McDaniel, another of the robbers, and a man named Brookshire, met at his home in Joplin. McDaniel wanted to go to Neosho to see somebody. The witness, Hosp, drove them over there in his automobile. They parked near a barbershop across the street from the jail and McDaniel went into the shop. He was gone only a few minutes. The appellant was working on a man in a barber chair. He stood at the door as McDaniel left and the witness heard him say, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” This occurred just before the noon hour.

The next day the witness again drove McDaniel and Brookshire *320 .from Joplin to Neosho and parked the ear near the same barbershop. ■McDaniel went into the shop and had another conversation with the appellant. He. returned in ten or fifteen minutes and they then went to another part of town and picked up Griffith. Thence they drove out into the country past Keeling’s farm. Griffith was taken along, the witness stated without objection, “to show us where the place .was, and tell us what we were to do.” As they went past the Keel.ing place Hosp drove slowly and Griffith laid down in the bottom <of the car. It was about midday. That night the robbery was committed. Over the appellant’s objection and exception the witness ■was permitted to testify that in the division of the booty $70 was set aside for the appellant and Griffith, McDaniel taking charge of .it. The appellant was not present at any of these times, his only connection with the crime (if any) arising through his two conversations in the barbershop with McDaniel, so far as Hosp’s testimony discloses. The witness admitted several former convictions of crime. McDaniel did not testify.

Brookshire corroborated Hosp by testifying he was with the latter and McDaniel when they drove from Joplin to Neosho the day before the robbery and McDaniel had a brief conversation with the appellant in the barbershop across the street from the jail. He said the appellant was in the shop at the time. He further testified that on the next day he was with Hosp and McDaniel when they again ■drove to the barbershop and McDaniel went in and remained a few minutes. Then they picked up Griffith at another place in Neosho and he went out in the country with them to show them the place where Keeling lived. The witness was asked, “you were going to rob it?” and he answered without objection, “Well, Hot Tamale went out to show us where it was — where there was some money.” (The record shows that Griffith went by the name “Hot Tamale.”) This witness, Brookshire, was not present when the robbery was committed and the money divided. His testimony connects the appellant with the 'Crime only insofar as that connection may appear from his statement that the robber McDaniel had the two conversations in the barbershop with the appellant the day before and on the day of the robbery.

Brookshire left the stand and the appellant’s alleged accomplice and codefendant Griffith was called as a witness. On appellant’s objection that Griffith was not a competent witness'because he was jointly charged with appellant in the case, the prosecuting attorney ■directed Tum to leave the stand and wait outside. Then the witness Brookshire was recalled and testified without objection that he was in jail charged with complicity in the robbery involved and had pleaded guilty to the charge. Thereupon Griffith was recalled as a witness. The bill of exceptions does not show it, but it appears to be *321 conceded that the prosecutor had in the meantime (after appellant’s counsel had made objection and he left the stand) entered a nolle prosequi as to him. The record proper shows that the ease was dismissed as to Griffith on the date of the trial.

The witness Griffith testified that he had talked with the appellant about the robbery of Keeling several times in Biff Smith’s barbershop where the appellant was working. The appellant asked Griffith if he knew anyone that had any money and Griffith told him Keeling was the only man he knew of. The witness stated he passed the barbershop daily and the subject was brought up every time he went by. The appellant said he could get someone who would “get the money for us.” Then the prosecuting attorney asked the witness this question, “Did he get someone?” and the witness answered, “Tes, he got someone.” After the question was thus answered appellant’s counsel interposed, “I object to that,” but it does not appear that the court ruled on the objection.

Then the witness continued: “He sent two men. They came to see me.” And he further stated appellant told him these two men “would do the work.” He was then asked the question “Well, did they pull the job?” and he answered “yes” without objection. At this point the testimony of the witness is a little confusing, but as we understand it he stated that he was afraid to trust the first two men who came to him and so told the appellant. Then the appellant referred the witness to two other men who were sitting in an automobile by the side of the barbershop and said they would do the job. The witness talked to them but they did not do it.

Then the witness was asked, “Did he finally get someone to do it?” and the witness answered, “He did.” Appellant’s counsel objected to this question and answer because they called for a conclusion of the witness and the objection was sustained by the court. But the witness continued, “The three men are all here. He got three.” An objection that this statement was voluntary was overruled.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
96 S.W.2d 498, 339 Mo. 317, 1936 Mo. LEXIS 659, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rose-mo-1936.