Bellew v. State, 40863

• Decision Date: 03 November 1958
• Docket Number: No. 40863,40863
• Citation: 238 Miss. 734,106 So.2d 146
• Parties: Preston BELLEW and Tommy Bellew v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 146

106 So.2d 146

238 Miss. 734

Preston BELLEW and Tommy Bellew v.STATE of Mississippi.

No. 40863.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Nov. 3, 1958.

John M. Sekul, Clara Sekul Hornsby, Albert S. Johnston, Jr., Biloxi, for appellants.

Joe T. Patterson, Atty. Gen., G. Garland Lyell, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

KYLE, Justice.

The appellants, Preston Bellew and Tommy Bellew, were tried and convicted in the Circuit Court of Harrison County on an indictment which charged that Peggy Goudelock, Preston Bellew, Tommy Bellew, Douglas Thomas and Ruth Johnson, 'did unlawfully, wilfully, feloniously and knowingly conceal and harbor one Dale Morris, an escaped prisoner, charged with the crime of murder, who had been confined as a prisoner awaiting trial for murder under the order of the Circuit Court of Hancock County, Mississippi.'The two appellants filed motions for a new trial.The motions were overruled, and a judgment was entered sentencing each of them to imprisonment in the state penitentiary for a term of three years.From that judgment they prosecute this appeal.

The record shows that Dale Morris had been indicted by the grand jury in the Circuit Court of Hancock County, at the March 1956 term of the court, on a charge of murder in the killing of Charlie Flink.At the time of his escape he was confined in the Harrison County jail at Gulfport, under an order of the court, to await trial on the murder indictment.Morris escaped from the county jail some time during the night of June 6, 1957, and remained at large several weeks before he was recaptured and returned to the Harrison County jail.Claude Miller, a deputy sheriff who lived at Long Beach, testified that when he left the jail to go to his home in the late afternoon of June 6, Morris was confined in his security cell on the east side of the third floor of the jail.Miller stated that he was notified of the escape about 1 o'clock that night; and that he went to the jail immediately and found that a hole had been cut in the heavy mesh wire enclosure, referred to in the record as the sun cage, on the third floor of the building.The hole was 16 to 20 inches in width.There was one door leading out of the cage, and that door was locked when Miller arrived at the jail.

Dale Morris, Douglas Thomas, Peggy Goudelock and Ruth Johnson testified as witnesses for the State; and in view of the nature of the questions presented for our decision on this appeal, it is necessary that a brief summary be given of their testimony and the testimony of the appellants and other witnesses.

Dale Morris testified that he was confined in a cell on the third floor of the jail with several other prisoners, including Aden Bellew, a brother of the appellants, during the night of June 6, and that he got the wire cutters, which he used in effecting his escape, from Aden Bellew.Morris stated that he was up on the sum deck, and that he clipped the wire and got out of the cage and came down the wall.He then crossed over the street, and found an automobile waiting for him.The driver of the car was a colored man whose name he did not remember.They drove for about half an hour, and stopped in the woods close to Preston Bellew's mailbox, which was located several miles north of the City of Biloxi in the White Plains community.Morris got out of the car and whistled.Some one answered, and Preston Bellew and Douglas Thomas appeared on the scene with sacks of groceries and other things.The colored man drove off, and left Morris there with Bellew and Thomas.The two men carried the groceries to a place about 200 yards from the road, and told Morris to stay there that night and there would be somebody over in the morning with some water.Morris stayed there that night, and the next day Douglas Thomas brought him some water, and that evening Preston Bellew moved him over to a heavily wooded area where he set up camp.Morris remained there in the camp approximately one month.Morris stated that Preston Bellew brought him a 22 Woodsman automatic pistol, and at a later date a 45 Colt automatic pistol.The two weapons were identified by Morris and offered in evidence, and Morris stated that they were the weapons which were in Peggy Goudelock's Pontiac automobile when he and Peggy separated in Wyoming some time after he and Peggy left the State of Mississippi.Morris stated that Tommy Bellew came out to Preston Bellew's place twice while he was encamped in the woods, and Morris discussed with Preston and Tommy the best route to take in order to make his escape from Mississippi.

Morris stated that he had Ruth Johnson call Peggy Goudelock, who was in California at that time, and Peggy came and stayed out there with him four or five days, and then he and Peggy left and went west.Peggy arrived at Preston Bellew's house late at night, and Preston carried Peggy over to Morris' camp.The next morning Morris went with Preston over to Preston's house, and he and Preston pulled Peggy's car over behind some brushes and Morris covered it over in part with brush.Morris stated that, when he and Peggy were ready to leave, Preston Bellew and Ruth Johnson, at Tommy Bellew's suggestion, showed them the way out.'They drove through the back road to where we could find the highway.'Morris and Peggy then crossed Highway 49 and went on to Poplarville.Peggy's car had a Mississippi license plate on it when Peggy got to the camp; and Preston Bellew and Ruth Johnson got some Louisiana license plates off of another car, and Morris put the Louisiana license plates on Peggy's car.Morris stated that it was more than a month after he escaped from the Harrison County jail before he left Mississippi.

On cross-examination Morris was asked whether he had given the district attorney a statement of the facts in the case.His answer was that he had related the facts as they happened.He did not know whether the facts had been set down in writing or not; but he had not signed a statement of any kind.He admitted that he had entered a plea of guilty to a charge of manslaughter in the killing of Charlie Flink; but he specifically denied that he had made a deal with the district attorney, by the terms of which he would be permitted to plead guilty of manslaughter in the Flink murder case, and in return therefor he would give information about Preston Bellew and Tommy Bellew being involved in his staying out in the woods near Preston's house after his escape.Morris stated that he knew that the Negroes were waiting for him in the automobile when he escaped from the jail.The Negro man who was driving the car had been described to him by Aden Bellew, and the car had also been described to him.After they got out in the country Johnnie told him that Preston Bellew would be there at his mailbox to meet him.Morris stated that he had seen Douglas Thomas at the county jail, and he had seen and talked to Preston Bellew once or twice at the jail.He stated that Preston Bellew and Douglas Thomas both had sacks on their backs--sacks of groceries and bedding, when they appeared at the road side near Preston Bellew's mailbox the night that he escaped from the county jail.He stated that Preston Bellew came over to his camp almost every day while he was there; and Morris went to Preston Bellew's house one time.It was about one-fourth of a mile from the place where he got out of the automobile to Preston Bellew's house.Morris stated that Tommy Bellew did not come to see him at the camp until four or five days before he left there.He saw Tommy one other time at the house.Morris admitted that he had been convicted of desertion from the U. S. Marine Corps and had received a dishonorable discharge; that he had served a three-year term in prison for assault with intent to kill in Missouri; and that he had been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 12 years for manslaughter as a result of the killing of Charlie Flink.

Douglas Thomas testified that he was living in the White Plains district in Aden Bellew's house, which was about one-half mile from Preston Bellew's house, at the time Morris escaped from the county jail; that Ruth Johnson, his sister, who was living in the Aden Bellew house at that time, had left word for him to help Preston that night; that he went over to Preston Bellew's house about 11 o'clock; and that he and Preston took some sacks out of a car that was parked in front of Preston's mailbox.Johnnie Brewer, a Negro man, was to bring Morris out there.Ruth had told Douglas what they were going to do, and Douglas and Ruth had gone over the route with Johnnie a day or two before, and had shown Johnnie where to go.Ruth had shown Johnnie where he was to park his car and pick up Dale Morris behind the 'Daily Herald' office in Gulfport; and Douglas and Ruth had shown Johnnie how to drive out to Preston Bellew's mailbox.Douglas stated that Johnnie drove up to the mailbox about midnight and blinked the lights of his car and blew his horn, and Dale Morris jumped out.Preston and Douglas then took Morris into the woods across the road and left him there.Douglas went back the next morning at Preston Bellew's request and carried Morris some water, and Douglas went back the next night and carried Morris some food.He never went back to the camp again.Douglas stated that he had been indicted for his part in the affair and had entered a plea of guilty and agreed to testify for the State.He had never been convicted of any crime before that.

Peggy Goudelock testified that she had lived in Gulfport during the last several years, and that she became acquainted with Dale Morris when he was in the Harrison County jail.She learned of his whereabout three or four weeks after his escape.She was in California at that time, and Ruth Johnson called her and told her where Morris was.She had been advised by the F.B.I. that the authorities were looking for Morris.Peggy stated that she left California on Wednesday and...