State v. White

494 S.W.2d 687, 1973 Mo. App. LEXIS 1451
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 24, 1973
Docket34897
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 494 S.W.2d 687 (State v. White) 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. White, 494 S.W.2d 687, 1973 Mo. App. LEXIS 1451 (Mo. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

McMILLIAN, Judge.

Defendant, age 15, was taken into custody on 21 July 1971, and on 30 July 1971 was brought before the Juvenile Court for a transfer hearing, pursuant to § 211.071, RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S. It was alleged that he was not a proper subject to be handled under the Juvenile Code because he forcibly broke and entered into the dwelling house of another, and thereafter committed a violent assault upon the resident with the intent to rob and do great bodily harm. At the waiver hearing he was represented by the same attorney who represented him in the Circuit Court and this court on this appeal. Although his mother was present at the hearing, neither she nor his attorneys were notified or present for the video taped statement taken on 31 July 1971 after the dismissal of the petition before the Juvenile Court.

Having been granted the permission to prosecute, the prosecutor obtained an indictment on 20 August 1971. However, on 21 March 1972 an information on which the case was tried, was substituted for the indictment. Defendant was found not guilty of the assault charge, but guilty of the burglary charge and thereafter sentenced by the court, in accordance with the jury’s verdict, to serve 5 years in the custody of the Department of Corrections.

Defendant raises three points on this appeal: (1) the admission into evidence of a color photograph of the assault victim; (2) the refusal to give defendant’s instruc-' tions on his theory of the case; and (3) the reception into evidence of a video taped statement made by the defendant.

On 20 July 1971 at approximately 11:00 P.M., two young men forcibly broke a screen and gained entrance through the open window into the home of Bertha Moxley, a 91 year old widow living on Nixon Avenue in St. Louis County, Missouri. Because of infirmities of age, Mrs. Moxley, other than being awakened and telling the two men to leave, which they *689 did immediately, had a very vague recollection as to what had happened.

Learning that a box of Kleenex was missing from the Moxley home, a police officer on the same night recovered a box of Kleenex about one hundred yards from the victim’s home. In addition to the fingerprints obtained from the Kleenex box, prints were also obtained from the windowsill and from a clock found near the kitchen door. On 31 July 1971, defendant’s fingerprints and a palm print were taken. All prints matched with those from the Kleenex box and those from the windowsill and clock. Having a positive match-up with defendant’s fingerprints, the officer advised defendant of his constitutional rights and explained to him the nature of the video tape recording process. Then, defendant, in answer to the officer’s inquiry about wishing to make a statement on the video tape, answered “yes.” On cross-examination the officer said that the reason he did not call defendant’s mother was because he did not know defendant lived with her until he learned about it during the questioning.

Testifying in his own behalf, defendant admitted his presence in the Moxley home, but maintained that he remained in the kitchen. And as soon as his companion saw Mrs. Moxley in the bed, both fled. On cross-examination defendant said that the officer told him he could neither have an attorney during the taking of the video tape statement nor should he ask for one. He further said that the officer threatened “to beat my butt with a stick.” In rebuttal the State showed that defendant as early as 21 July 1971 admitted to a Pagedale officer, after being informed of his constitutional rights, that he and one Mitchell had beaten the old lady in bed and had knocked her to the floor. Although the defendant’s mother was present, according to the officer, she was not in the room at the time of the interview; neither was it shown that any juvenile officer, of the Juvenile Division of the Court, nor a person acting for the juvenile officer was present, pursuant to §211.061(1), RSMo 1969. 1

Mrs. White, defendant’s mother, testified that on 21 July 1971, she telephoned the Pagedale Police Department and asked if her son was there. But that they refused to tell her. On the next day she said she called the County Juvenile Center and learned that her son was there. She further testified that they told her that she could see her son and she went right over. However, according to her, she did not see him that day, but three days later. Other evidence will be given, if needed, during the course of the opinion.

We find defendant’s first contention that the colored photograph of Mrs. Moxley was inflammatory and prejudicial and to be without merit. In State v. Morris, 248 S.W.2d 847 (Mo.1952), cited with approval in State v. Tyson, 363 Mo. 1242, 258 S.W.2d 651, 1. c. 654, our Supreme Court said:

“ . . . ‘it is true that if the exhibition of gruesome photographs to the jury would serve no useful purpose in proving the crime, the trial court in the exercise of a sound discretion may exclude them’ ...”

The test is whether such photographs have a logical tendency to connect the accused with the crime, or to prove the identity of the victim, if dead, or show the nature of the wound, or throw any light upon any relevant or material matter. Moreover, in State v. Tyson, supra, the court said that it was not a valid objection that witnesses may have testified to the same matters as shown by the picture. Because a picture gives to the jury a much clearer impression of many things that would be difficult to portray by an oral description. Finally, in State v. Thresher, 350 S.W.2d 1, 7 (Mo.1961), the court said:

“. . . Even if the pictures were inflammatory and gruesome, as contended, *690 it is not a sufficient cause for their rejection that the sight of them would tend to agitate the feelings of the jurors, if the exhibits satisfy the rule as to the admission of demonstrative evidence

Measured by these standards since defendant was charged with a felonious assault, we find no abuse of discretion on the part of the trial judge in the reception into evidence of the colored photograph. Here, defendant was charged with wilfully and maliciously assaulting Mrs. Moxley. The picture not only displayed the extent of injuries, but also vividly showed the viciousness of the attack; both were material under the pleadings. See also State v. Schaffer, 354 S.W.2d 829 (Mo.1962) and 53 A.L.R.2d 1102.

We have painstakingly examined the instruction given by the Court; namely, the verdict director for burglary in the first degree; and the instruction pertaining to the guilt, if any, of aiders and abettors. We find no case cited by the defendant is authority that either instruction was erroneous. We also note that the language used in the aider and abettor instruction is identical to the language used in State v. Garton, 371 S.W.2d 283 (Mo.1963) and State v. Bolden, 473 S.W.2d 355 (Mo.1971).

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Bluebook (online)
494 S.W.2d 687, 1973 Mo. App. LEXIS 1451, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-white-moctapp-1973.