State v. Willis

283 S.W.2d 534, 1955 Mo. LEXIS 765
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedNovember 14, 1955
Docket44645
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 283 S.W.2d 534 (State v. Willis) 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. Willis, 283 S.W.2d 534, 1955 Mo. LEXIS 765 (Mo. 1955).

Opinion

STORCKMAN, Judge.

The appellant, Albert E. Willis, was convicted by a jury in the Circuit Court of Lafayette County, Missouri of the crime of grand larceny based on an information alleging the theft of twenty journal brass of the value of $120, belonging to Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. Appellant’s punishment was assessed at two years in the penitentiary. His motion for new trial was overruled and he appealed. The conviction to be reviewed is a felony and jurisdiction of the appeal is properly in the supreme court. Article V, § 3, Constitution of Missouri 1945, V.A.M.S.

Defendant did not take the stand and no evidence was offered on his behalf. The state’s evidence tended to prove that on or about July 7, 1952, between fifteen and twenty refrigerator cars were placed on a siding at Myrick, near Lexington, for the purpose of conditioning them for potato loading. On July 10th it was discovered that “journal brass” were missing from a number of the cars. Journal brass is a kind of bearing commonly used on the journal or axle of a freight car. Somewhere between twenty and thirty-four of the journal brass were missing. Their value at the time was $6.58 apiece; that is *536 what it would cost to replace each of those taken.

James E. Pratt, Melvin Fields and the appellant were arrested in connection with the theft of journal brass from railroads and on February 17, 1953, the appellant gave and subscribed a written statement which was taken in the office of the Burglary Bureau of the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department by Detective H. D. Coff-man. The statement, introduced in evidence as State’s Exhibit No. 2, after giving information relating to appellant’s name, age and residence, further reads in part as follows:

“Q. A1 you have previously made a statement regarding the theft of brass from the Union Pacific Railroad at Bonner Springs, Kansas, have you not?
A. Yes.
“Q. Now it is my understanding that you wish to clear up all the brass thefts you have committed from the various railroads is that right? A. Yes.
“Q. Now just tell us to the best of your knowledge where all the places are, that you have committed brass thefts. A. Well the first time was last summer in about July, and Jimmie Pratt and I went down in the east bottoms and stole some brass out of a storage box near the Kansas City Southern Roundhouse. Also Floyd Dejeager was along. We got $130.00 worth at that time. Then, later, me and Melvin Fields went back down there and got some more brass, but I don’t remember how much there was. Then after that Jimmie Pratt and me went back again to the storage boxes and got quite a bit of brass but we never got as much as we did the first time. Then sometime later, Melvin Fields and me went over to Randolph, Mo., to the Wabash yards and Melvin jacked up some cars there and we took ten or twelve journal brass from the cars. Then after that, Melvin and me went to Myric, Mo., on the Missouri Pacific railroad and jacked up some more cars and took some brass from these. I think we took about twenty or twenty five from these cars.
“Q. Where did you sell all this brass that you men had got from these railroads? A. We sold it out in Centro-polis, I believe it is the Empire Metal Co., and we sold it to a man whom I now know as William A. Green.
“Q. How much did you sell it for? A. We got ten cents a pound straight for it.”

H. D. Coffman, who had left the Kansas City Police Department and was a lieutenant of police for the Wabash Railroad at the time of the trial, identified the statement, Exhibit No. 2, and testified that he told the appellant and Melvin Fields that there would be but one prosecution in connection with the various offenses in return for their cooperation on the various thefts, involved. Coffman testified, however, that he made no promises with respect to the prosecution in Lafayette County. George E. Callen, one of the witnesses to the statement, testified that he was present when the statement was taken and that no promises' were made to the appellant by him or any one else. Other of state’s witnesses testified that no promises were made, and the question of whether the appellant’s statement was voluntary was submitted to the jury under instructions about which no-complaint is made.

James E. Pratt, on behalf of the state, testified that he, together with appellant and' Melvin Fields, took the brass at Myrick and sold it; that he (Pratt) pleaded guilty, was. sentenced to three years in the Missouri State Penitentiai-y and that he had served his time and had been released.

The appellant undertakes to present these questions on appeal: (1) There was a complete lack of evidence sufficient to convict defendant of grand larceny as a matter of law; (2) The prosecuting attorney in introducing Exhibit No. 2 in evidence and reading the whole statement to the jury committed reversible error in referring to other purported crimes of the defendant, especial *537 ly when the defendant failed to testify; (3) The prosecuting attorney in asking the direct question of the witness for the state, ■“Do you know whether or not this defendant was ever convicted of any related offense any place else?” committed a plain error affecting substantial rights of the defendant, which comes within the purview of Rule 3.27 of the Supreme Court of Missouri, 42 V.A.M.S.

At the onset the appellant concedes that the record is insufficient to preserve these questions properly for review. He asks us to consider them “plain errors affecting substantial rights”, as that term is used in Rule 3.27, and under that guise take cognizance of the alleged errors. Rule 3.27 cannot aid the appellant since the rule is one of civil procedure and is inapplicable to appeals in criminal cases. State v. Stidham, Mo., 258 S.W.2d 620, 621.

In his motion for new trial the appellant charges that there was “a lack of probative evidence sufficient to convict defendant of grand larceny” in that the state offered no evidence as to the actual value of the property taken from the railroad. In his brief on appeal the appellant contends that the evidence adduced by the state to prove the value of the property alleged to have been taken was “clearly hearsay”; that such evidence would have been excluded if objected to and without the evidence there would then have been a total failure of proof with respect to the value of the property involved. We cannot agree that the evidence referred to is “clearly hearsay.” The trial court might properly have overruled such an objection if one had been made. Moreover, relevant evidence received without objection may be considered by the jury although it would have been excluded on proper objection. Even hearsay evidence so admitted may be considered. Goodman v. Allen Cab Co., 360 Mo. 1094, 232 S.W.2d 535.

W. Z. Heady, an employee of the Missouri Pacific Railroad for twenty-one years and an investigator and sergeant of police at the time of the trial, testified with-out objection that the value of the journal brass at the time they were taken was $6.58 apiece; that is what it would cost to replace the ones that were taken.

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Bluebook (online)
283 S.W.2d 534, 1955 Mo. LEXIS 765, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-willis-mo-1955.