State v. Rose

535 S.W.2d 115, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2443
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 1, 1976
DocketNo. KCD 27824
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 535 S.W.2d 115 (State v. Rose) 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. Rose, 535 S.W.2d 115, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2443 (Mo. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

SWOFFORD, Judge.

Appellant (hereafter defendant) was charged with Robbery First Degree and after a jury-waived trial was found guilty and sentenced to a term of seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. He asserts three points of error on this appeal, which may be summarized as (1) his motion for a directed judgment of acquittal at the close of all the evidence was improperly overruled; (2) his motion to suppress identification evidence was improperly overruled; and (3) the trial court erred in quashing a subpoena duces tecum whereby he sought to obtain certain records of the police department. An examination of the record and of defendant’s brief reveals that his first and second points, in fact, deal with basically the same problem, that is, his claim that the identification evidence was so insubstantial and conflicting that a verdict of acquittal should have been entered. These points will therefore be considered together.

In viewing the record in an appeal such as this, the scope of appellate review is defined and limited by certain well-recognized principles.

Since this case was submitted to the court without a jury, the provisions of Rule 26.01(b), Rules of Criminal Procedure, are applicable and, thus, the court’s decision of guilty “shall have the force and effect of the verdict of a jury”. The scope of appellate review is not to weigh the evidence, but rather, to conclude whether or not the court’s decision is supported by substantial evidence. If so, such finding and decision should be affirmed. State v. Daniels, 487 S.W.2d 465, 469[4] (Mo.1972); State v. Lane, 475 S.W.2d 91, 94[1] (Mo.1971). It is the basic function of the trial court in such a case to judge the credibility of the witnesses and to resolve any conflicts or inconsistencies in their testimony. State v. Styles, 476 S.W.2d 591, 592[3] (Mo.1972); State v. Landess, 485 S.W.2d 140, 142[5] (Mo.App.1972).

In determining the sufficiency of the evidence, this court accepts all evidence tending to support the conviction together [117]*117with all favorable inferences reasonably to be drawn therefrom. State v. Harris, 485 S.W.2d 612, 613-614[2] (Mo.1972); State v. Petrechko, 486 S.W.2d 217, 218[1] (Mo. 1972); State v. Lemon, 504 S.W.2d 676, 679[1] (Mo.App.1973). Further, all inferences which could be drawn contrary to the result reached by the finder of the facts must be disregarded. State v. Stapleton, 518 S.W.2d 292, 296[1] (Mo. banc 1975).

Bearing in mind that the only real issue raised by defendant’s first and second points is whether there was substantial evidence, untainted by pretrial identification procedures, as to the identification of the defendant to support his conviction, a summary of the evidence is necessary.

At about 9:00 o’clock a. m. on Sunday, June 23, 1974, a lone male entered King’s Food Host restaurant at 1418 E. 63rd Street in Kansas City, Missouri and approached the cash register stand. As he arrived at the stand, an employee, Elisa Mitchell, and the manager, David Stringberg, were standing side by side at that position. When the man was about two or three feet away from her, Mitchell inquired if she could help him. This man thereupon drew a handgun, pointed it at Mitchell and Stringberg, announced a holdup, and told Mitchell to give him the money in the cash register and ordered Stringberg to lie down on the floor.

There was only one customer in the restaurant, a Joseph Downing, who was seated in a booth which was apparently about 20 to 25 feet from the cashier’s stand. The robber shouted at him to lie down on the floor, and when he failed to promptly comply, the robber fired a shot from the gun into the wall above and in the vicinity of Downing’s position. This resulted in prompt compliance with the order.

The robber then again ordered String-berg to lie on the floor, and he complied. Mitchell handed the robber the bills in the cash register and he left the premises. Both Mitchell and Stringberg testified that they had a clear view of the robber’s unmasked face and Downing said he had “a reasonably good look” at the robber.

Mitchell described the robber as a black, slender, young man, about 19 years of age, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a light or light to medium, or light to fair, complexion, wearing a hat, no face mask, a gray shirt and Burgundy trousers, with a natural “hair-do”, no facial hair or noticeable sideburns.

The police summoned to the scene of the robbery showed both Mitchell and String-berg a number of police photographs carried in the police car. Neither could make any identification from these. On Tuesday, June 25, 1974, Mitchell and Stringberg were requested to come to police headquarters and were shown from 150 to 200 police photographs. From this group, Stringberg picked out two pictures (which it was later developed were both pictures of the defendant taken at different times) which he tentatively identified as the robber. Mitchell picked one of the same photographs which she thought was “very, very similar”. It appears from the testimony of Detective Keith Clavin of the Homicide and Robbery Unit of the police department that the defendant had been picked up by the police in connection with another matter while Mitchell and Stringberg were looking at the photographs on June 25, 1974, and a lineup was set up, which they were asked to view. At the lineup, again Mitchell could not make any positive identification but stated defendant “looked very similar”. Stringberg did positively identify the defendant from the six-man lineup as the person that robbed King’s Food Host on June 23, 1974, and the defendant was charged.

At the trial of the case, both Micthell and Stringberg testified for the state. Again, Mitchell could make no positive identification of the defendant, but Stringberg did positively identify him as the robber, based upon his independent view of him at the time of the robbery. The record is devoid of any evidence of suggestive influence upon Stringberg by the police or anyone else in the pretrial identification proceedings of such a character as to give rise to a very substantial likelihood of irreparable [118]*118misidentifieation. His identification testimony was within the formula of the controlling authorities so as to present the factual issue of identity. State v. Boothe, 485 S.W.2d 11, 13[2] (Mo. banc 1972); State v. Murphy, 508 S.W.2d 269, 274[1] (Mo.App. 1974); State v. Jones, 531 S.W.2d 67, 70[1] (Mo.App.1975); State v. Lee, 491 S.W.2d 317, 322-323[8] (Mo. banc 1973).

However, the defendant asserts that such testimony by Stringberg was directly in conflict with the description of the robber given by Mitchell.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Jones v. Kansas City Area Transportation Authority
769 S.W.2d 145 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1989)
Rose v. State
583 S.W.2d 297 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1979)
State v. McMahan
583 S.W.2d 540 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1979)
State v. Padgett
557 S.W.2d 731 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1977)
State v. Cook
557 S.W.2d 484 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
535 S.W.2d 115, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rose-moctapp-1976.