State v. Parsons

• Decision Date: 09 September 1974
• Docket Number: No. 2,No. 58147,58147,2
• Citation: 513 S.W.2d 430
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. john G. PARSONS, Appellant
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 430

513 S.W.2d 430

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. john G. PARSONS, Appellant.

No. 58147.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

Sept. 9, 1974.

John C. Danforth, Atty. Gen., Karen Iverson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.

Willard B. Bunch, Public Defender Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, Kansas City, Robert A. Simons, Asst. Public Defender for appellant.

HOUSER, Commissioner.

John G. Parsons was charged in Count I with the first degree murder of his ex-wife Beverly by inflicting upon her a mortal wound with an explosive device, and in Count II with causing an explosive device to be exploded whereby Beverly Parsons was put in danger of death under §§ 564.560 and 564.570, RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S. Both counts were submitted to a jury, which found defendant guilty of (1) murder in the first degree and assessed his punishment at life imprisonment and (2) bombing. The jury being unable to agree upon punishment for bombing the court assessed defendant's punishment at 99 years' imprisonment and ordered the sentences to run consecutively. Defendant appealed to this Court, which has jurisdiction under its order of April 9, 1973.

The corpus delicti, i.e., the death of a human being by the criminal agency of someone and not by suicide, is not contested and is conclusively established.

Facts sufficient for the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the deceased Beverly Parsons died by the criminal agency of appellant are found in the following circumstantial evidence:

After nearly eight years of married life John G. Parsons and his wife Beverly, residents of Warrensburg, separated in July, 1971, when Beverly left the family home, taking the couple's 6-year-old daughter Jodi with her. Beverly and Jodi visited Beverly's mother in Iowa and then in August took an apartment in Lee's Summit, where Beverly was employed to teach that fall. Sometime in August appellant, in a serious mood, had a conversation with Diane Stanley, who rented the apartment above Parsons' living quarters. Appellant told Mrs. Stanley that he had thought about having his wife murdered; hiring somebody to murder her; that he could hire somebody to do it 'cheap' and that 'Jodi would be better off if Bev was gone completely.' During the late summer and fall of 1971 appellant conversed several times with Richard Meyers. The two had been acquainted for about four years. Meyers had been having difficulty with his own wife. Three or four weeks after the Parsons separated appellant 'kind of jokingly' suggested to Meyers that maybe Meyers should 'take care of' appellant's wife and appellant should 'take care of' Meyers' wife. Meyers answered that it might be a good idea. Appellant and Meyers had a number of conversations with regard to explosives. Appellant asked Meyers what on a car would make a blasting cap go off; asked Meyers to get him some blasting caps; asked Meyers how many sticks of dynamite it would take to blow a car up--to blow up somebody--to kill somebody--in a car. The latter inquiries were made two or three weeks before the bombing. In discussing 'how the divorce was coming' appellant told Meyers, 'In the end I'll get Jodi.' When asked where he was going to live appellant said he may be getting free room and board before too long. After the separation and during the late summer of 1971 appellant and Anthony Gilroy, coemployees of Tom King Construction Company, had approximately a dozen conversations about appellant's marital situation. In one of those conversations appellant stated that he had indicated to Diane Stanley his intention to kill his wife. Appellant told Gilroy that the child would be better off with one parent missing than for them to be divorced and separated. They discussed explosives and timing devices. Appellant asked Gilroy where he could get a timing device. Gilroy suggested that he could use a watch by rigging terminals on the crystal; that it would pass a small amount of current like that required to 'set off a cap.' Appellant indicated to Daniel Summit that he was 'pretty well shook up' about his separation; that he was going to try to get his little girl, 'one way or the other.' He wanted his child and he was going to try to have her. Appellant asked Summit if he knew how to wire a car so it would blow up when it was started; whether Summit would 'take care of his wife' if appellant 'took care' of his. (Summit and his wife had trouble and were divorced in July, 1971.) Between February, 1971 and November 1, 1971 Charles Banning and appellant had five or six conversations about appellant's marital difficulties. In February at a square dance appellant told Banning that he had a bitch of a wife and then changed it to say, 'No, I don't have a bitch of a wife, I've got a bitch bitch of a wife.' In March at one of the dances appellant made similar remarks, saying that he ought to be glad when she goes to her mother's in Iowa. At the time Beverly went to Iowa appellant told Banning that appellant would be a very jealous ex-husband; that he knew people in Warrensburg that could get rid of somebody; that it wouldn't cost very much; it would be very cheap. This was said just after he remarked that when his wife went to her mother's she probably wouldn't be back; that he was pretty sure she probably wouldn't. Appellant asked Banning if he had any idea about how to hook a bomb up to a car. When Banning said something to appellant about a gun appellant said, 'No, not necessarily with a gun. It can be traced.' Banning commented, 'Dynamite can be traced when you purchase it,' to which appellant responded, 'I know a place in Warrensburg that's got a lot of dynamite and they would never know, they would never miss it.' This was said in the context of the difficulties between appellant and his wife. On the last day of October or first of November appellant called and told Banning he wanted to see him. They met in a bar and had a conversation concerning Beverly, in which appellant expressed the probability that Beverly had a (boy) friend and was having a good time; that the divorce was coming up; that appellant had made several statements which to his surprise would 'come back' to him 'just almost the identical way (he) said it from the beginning.' Appellant also said, 'If you don't see me again, don't work too hard.' After the separation and in late September or early October, 1971 appellant told Sharon Copas, with whom he had a date, that if he found out there was someone living with Beverly he would kill her.

Appellant worked for Tom King, a land developer who used explosives, ordinarily 40% gelatin stick dynamite, in his operations. Although he had done no blasting since the summer of 1970 King had a sewer project requiring some blasting, scheduled for the first week in November. Appellant, King's employee, did some blasting for King. Appellant acted as foreman on these jobs. King kept dynamite in a mobile construction shed to which appellant had access. Two weeks before the bombing in question appellant called King's home, spoke to his wife and asked where he could get some blasting caps. He said he had tried to get some at a hardware store but under new regulations hardware stores no longer sold them, and asked if King would get some. King went to a rock quarry, where he purchased six dynamite blasting caps, placed them in his storage building, and told appellant where they were. After the bombing King's storage building was searched and only three of the six blasting caps were found. King had done no blasting in the interim. Appellant admitted that he was in the storage building on Saturday afternoon, November 6, checking to see if there was sufficient dynamite for the sewer job, and straightening up the sticks of dynamite, which were disarrayed in the box. In so doing he picked up the paper-covered sticks in his hands. This testimony contradicts appellant's first statement to the police, in which he stated that he had never handled any dynamite, and then, after talking to his attorney, stated that he had handled some dynamite 10 days or two weeks previously.

Beverly filed for divorce in the summer of 1971. A divorce was granted to her on November 4, 1971. By its terms she was awarded custody of Jodi. Under the property settlement agreement she had the choice of the furniture in their apartment; appellant was to receive the family car. Appellant and Beverly arranged that Beverly and Jodi would drive from Lee's Summit to Warrensburg on Sunday morning, November 7, when she would make her selection of the furniture she wanted. She would be followed by a truck, into which the furniture would be loaded for the return trip of truck driver and Beverly to Lee's Summit. She was to leave the family automobile with appellant, and he was to have a visit with Jodi. Under this arrangement there was no necessity for appellant to drive to Lee's Summit. Notwithstanding this arrangement, appellant rented a blue Chevelle model Chevrolet in Warrensburg on the afternoon of November 6, for the purpose of driving to Lee's Summit.

At about 10:30 p.m. on November 6, the night before the bombing, Darren Phillips, age 12, who lived two floors below the apartment of Beverly Parsons in Lee's Summit, heard a dog barking, went to the front window, observed a car (identified by Darren's father as a dark, intermediate line Malibu or Chevelle model) stop at the end of the street, and then saw a man open the door and get out of the car. When he opened the door the interior light of the car did not light. The man knelt down, went to the back of the car, ran across the parking lot, crawled over some rocks, lay flat when another car passed. There was something on the man's arm. There were straps, and he carried a big case. He proceeded, cautiously and very rapidly, crawling most of the time, until he reached Beverly Parsons' car. There he knelt down, and the man's feet were observed 'sticking out back of the car.' The boy quit...