State v. Adams
Decision Date | 16 July 1973 |
Docket Number | No. 56772,No. 2,56772,2 |
Citation | 497 S.W.2d 147 |
Parties | STATE of Missouri, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Robert Fay ADAMS, Defendant-Appellant |
Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
John C. Danforth, Atty. Gen., Neil MacFarlane, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, Attorneys for respondent.
Walker & Salveter, Springfield, Wayne T. Walker, Springfield, Attorneys for appellant.
Appellant, Robert Fay Adams, was convicted of murder in the second degree by a jury in the Circuit Court of Greene County, Missouri, and his punishment was assessed at imprisonment for a term of forty years. Following rendition of judgment and imposition of sentence, an appeal was perfected to this Court. We affirm.
The appeal having been taken to this Court prior to January 1, 1972, the effective date of new Article V of the Constitution, we have jurisdiction pursuant to then Art. V, § 3 of the Missouri Constitution, V.A.M.S.
Appellant and his wife, Willa Lee Adams, lived with their two daughters, Donna Goodman and Adele Adams, at 2372 East Broadmoor, Springfield, Missouri. There is much evidence of marital difficulties between husband and wife, primarily caused by infidelity on the part of the wife over a period of many years.
On the evening of February 2, 1970, appellant followed his wife to a motel in downtown Springfield, waited outside for several hours, and then observed his wife come out of the motel with a man, get into her car, and drive away.
Willa Lee Adams died the morning of February 3, 1970, at the home, as a result of a gunshot wound. Appellant, on direct examination at trial, gave the following account of the shooting:
'Q. Now, Bob, after--you heard your daughters testify about what happened on the morning of February 3rd? A. Yes, sir.
'Q. They did get up and go off to school, both of them?
'A. They were both gone.
'Q. They were both gone? A. Yes. sir.
'Q. Tell the jury, beginning from the time--just tell this jury what happened after both girls left that house.
'A. She woke me up, and I wasn't expecting to be woke up at all, she had her own car and there wasn't any reason for me to get up that I knew of, I guess I was supposed to take her to work, this did happen on occasion, her car wasn't a new one, it was a '60 model and the battery would go bad or something like that--
'Q. Now, speak up, Bob, so they can hear you. I want the jury to hear you. You have a tendency to drop your voice.
'A. Her car didn't--for some reason I was to take her to work, I never asked why, and I went on down--she was in the bathroom, and as I went by the bathroom door, why, she was getting ready to leave to go to work and I went on into the bedroom, my clothes were there by the bedroom door, it's a his and hers closet and my side of it is right next to the door, and I was changing clothes and she came in, she came through the door and it started, I guess.
'Q. She came through the door and what did you say there?
'A. I guess it started, I guess I started it, I asked her if she was going to be late that night. I said that I wanted to talk to her, I asked her in the morning, you know, if we could talk that evening, and she knew what I meant, I tried to talk things out and well--anyway, I asked her--she spun around and said, 'You did follow me, didn't you?', and of course I did, I had to admit it and I told her, yes.
'Q. (By Mr. Yocom) Speak a little louder so that they can hear you clear in the back of the jury. I want everbody to hear what you say, Bob. A. I told her--I said, 'Yes,' and she called me every name in the book.
'Q. What did she call you, Bob, tell the jury?
'A. Sonofabitch, bastard, and a few words I can't use.
'Q. What did she say, then Bob? A. She said, 'You damn fool, don't you know what you did, you're raised a daughter that isn't even your own.'
'Q. What did she do at that point, Bob?
'A. She was mad, she started to swing--
'Q. Now, at the time she said this, when she said, 'You raised a daughter that isn't even your own,' did she say anything about who the man was, did she name him? A. Yes, sir.
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On February 6, 1970, appellant buried the body under some gravel in Kissee Mills Park in Taney County, Missouri.
On March 14, 1970, the Sheriff's Office in Escambia County, Florida, received word of an attempted suicide at a trailer park seven miles from Pensacola, responded to the call, discovered appellant, unconscious and lying on a bed in a trailer, and removed him by ambulance to the Escambia General Hospital.
On March 20, 1970, officers from Greene County, Missouri, left Pensacola with appellant in their custody, and returned to Springfield.
Appellant first asserts the trial court erred in failing to suppress, as violative of...
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State v. Singh
...The instruction on murder in the second degree was supported by the evidence. State v. Boyd, 498 S.W.2d 532 (Mo.1973); State v. Adams, 497 S.W.2d 147 (Mo.1973); State v. Strong, Defendant complains the trial court erred in denying his motion for a change of venue from Greene County. A chang......
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State v. Mitchell, 61839
...(Mo.1974); State v. Wallace, 504 S.W.2d 67, 70 (Mo.1973), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 847, 95 S.Ct. 84, 42 L.Ed.2d 76 (1974); State v. Adams, 497 S.W.2d 147, 153 (Mo.1973); State v. Crow, 486 S.W.2d 248, 251 (Mo.1972); State v. Richards, 467 S.W.2d 33, 36 (Mo.1971); State v. Quinn, 461 S.W.2d 81......
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State v. Adams
...he severed all communication. On July 16, 1973, our Supreme Court affirmed Adams' conviction of second-degree murder. State v. Adams, 497 S.W.2d 147 (Mo.1973). Because Adams' whereabouts were unknown, the mandate of that court could not be executed, forfeiture of the appeal bond was ordered......
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State v. Woolford, KCD28313
...supported by evidence.' State v. Strong, 339 S.W.2d 759, 765 (Mo.1960); State v. Sprout, 365 S.W.2d 572 (Mo.1963); State v. Adams, 497 S.W.2d 147 (Mo.1973). Defendant urges that there was no evidence of intent to support a submission or a finding of guilty of second degree murder. The recor......
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Section 20.24 Should the Defendant Testify?
...the factual situation with the already decided cases, such as: · Williams, 519 S.W.2d 576 · Beishir, 332 S.W.2d at 902 · State v. Adams, 497 S.W.2d 147 (Mo. 1973) · State v. Rice, 519 S.W.2d 573 (Mo. App. E.D. 1975) · Additional cases cited in the annotation to § 546.260 and under 42 Mo. Di......