State v. Alexander, 57280

• Decision Date: 08 October 1973
• Docket Number: No. 2,No. 57280,57280,2
• Citation: 499 S.W.2d 439
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. William A. ALEXANDER, Appellant
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 439

499 S.W.2d 439

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. William A. ALEXANDER, Appellant.

No. 57280.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

Oct. 8, 1973.

John C. Danforth, Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, Charles B. Blackmar, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Louis, for respondent.

Michael W. Reap, Public Defender Bureau, City of St. Louis, St. Louis, for appellant.

JULIAN M. LEVITT, Special Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction on a charge of operating a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner, Section 560.175, RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S. Since this appeal was pending here on January 1, 1972, the effective date of the 1970 amendment to the judicial article, the appeal comes within the exclusive jurisdiction of this court as set forth in Art. V, Sec. 3, Mo.Const.1945, V.A.M.S, as it existed prior to the amendment.

I.

An automobile disappeared from a parking lot in St. Louis and when returned to the owner had $600 in damage. While in jail awaiting trial for driving that automobile without the owner's consent defendant wrote the following letter to Mr. Vandover, the victim: 'To Mr. Vandover. Dear Sir, I write you this so I may express my concern for your loss. I realize you may not know me however I am being held and charged with operating an auto without your consent. I have talked to my attorney and he tells me you are an Assistant United States Attorney. This is why I write you this letter because I feel you must be a very understanding person to obtain such a job and I feel you are the only person in this case that can help me out of this trouble. But first let me explain how I come to be charged with this crime. I feel you can understand the letter better than the judge in the case. I feel I cannot get a fair trial because of the nature of this crime. Mr. Vandover, I am willing to pay you for any damage done to your auto however this is not a bribe. I write you because I would like to talk with you over this matter first before I appear in court again on this charge. I am being held in City Jail because I can't afford to make bond now that I am not working. But if it is not too much of a bother for you I would like to talk this matter over with you right away. Please come down to see today if at all possible.'

The prosecutor sought to introduce this letter in the course of his cross-examination of the defendant. Defendant's counsel objected on the ground that the letter was an offer of compromise, not relevant and contained no admissions by defendant. The objection was overruled and the letter admitted in evidence.

In most jurisdictions, an offer of compromise of a criminal charge, as by an offer of the payment of money to the victim of the crime in return for a dropping of the charge, whether or not accepted, may be received in evidence. 22A C.J.S. Criminal Law § 736, p. 1086. In a few jurisdictions an offer of compromise or restitution is not admissible unless it embodies an express admission of guilt. 22A C.J.S., p. 1087. Missouri follows the majority view, State v. Christian, 245 S.W.2d 895, 897 (Mo.1952), and an express admission of guilt is not required. The rationale of the majority view is that, contrary to the situation in civil cases, no good public policy would be promoted by rejecting an offer to compromise a criminal charge.

It is implicit in defendant's letter to Vandover that defendant was offering to pay for the damage to Vandover's car ($600) if Vandover would get the charge dismissed ('help me out of this trouble'). It can only be construed as an offer to compromise the criminal charge, although no admission of guilt was expressly made.

The learned trial judge properly admitted the letter written by the defendant to the victim.

II.

The facts pertinent to an evidentiary issue raised on this appeal are as follows. On June 8, 1971, a 1968 Ford LTD belonging to Lewis G. Vandover was stolen from a parking lot in St. Louis. A report of a stolen automobile was made to the St. Louis Police Department. At the trial in the circuit court Charles Forister, a detective on the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, testified that he and his partner, William Jones, were parked at 16th and Franklin at approximately 11:15 p.m. on the night of June 8, 1971, when they observed the defendant operating a 1968 black over bronze Ford automobile on the 1600 block of Franklin. Officer Forister testified that defendant drove the car to 1710 or 1720 Franklin, a distance of about a block and a half, where he got out and went into a tavern. He testified further that after defendant got out of the automobile the two police officers checked the license number on the automobile defendant had been driving over the police radio and ascertained that it was a stolen automobile. They then parked in back of the automobile in question and some time after the defendant emerged from the tavern placed him under arrest. On cross-examination Officer Forister testified that fifteen minutes elapsed from the time that he and Officer Jones first observed defendant until they placed him under arrest. Officer Forister identified a photograph of the automobile defendant was driving taken shortly after the arrest showing the license number. It was the license number of Mr. Vandover's stolen car.

Officer Jones testified that on June 8, 1971, at approximately 11:20 or 11:30, while working with Officer Forister, he observed defendant operate an automobile west on Franklin, in the 1600 block, and park same in front of approximately 1630 Franklin, where the Cosmos Lounge was located; that he saw defendant exit the automobile and enter the Cosmos Lounge; that the license number on the automobile was checked via police radio and the automobile reported back by the dispatcher as stolen. Officer Jones testified that defendant came out of the Cosmos Lounge and stood in front of it. He further testified that upon receiving the information that the automobile was stolen he and Officer Forister immediately went to the Cosmos Lounge and arrested the defendant. On cross-examination, Officer Jones testified that from the time defendant alighted from the car and went into the tavern until the time that he was arrested, a period of approximately five minutes elapsed. Further, on cross-examination, he testified that the automobile defendant was driving was a 1968 and its color was 'black over bronze--or gold bronze.' Officer Jones also identified a photograph of the rear of the automobile defendant was driving taken at the scene of the arrest showing the license number that was checked by police radio and reported back as stolen.

John Vogan, an evidence technican in the police laboratory, testified that on the night in question he went to 1630 Franklin and processed the stolen car for fingerprints; that he lifted three latent fingerprints which he delivered to Harold Mitchell, a fingerprint expert in the St. Louis Police Department; that one of the fingerprints was taken from a rear-view mirror overlaid with two wire hangers on the original rear-view mirror on the car; and that he carefully removed the mirror and turned it also over to Patrolmam Mitchell. Patrolman Mitchell testified that the latent prints from the overlaid rear-view mirror compared positively with the right thumb print of defendant taken June 10, 1971, at the St. Louis Police Station.

Defendant testified in his own behalf, against advice of his counsel. He denied that he had ever driven the stolen car. He admitted that he had ridden in it, however. Defendant testified that the first time he saw the stolen car was when he was in a park in Columbia, Missouri, with other persons on June 6, 1971, at which time one Leroy, whose last name he thought was Tyler, drove up in the car in question and asked defendant and others to show him around Columbia; that on June 8th he saw Leroy in the same automobile at 18th and Franklin Streets, St. Louis; that defendant rode around with Leroy in the car about 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon and that Leroy returned defendant to a bar at 18th and Franklin; that defendant got out of the car and entered the bar; that Leroy subsequently left with the car, saying he was going to his uncle's house; that later that evening defendant was in another bar, the 'Cosmopolitan Bar,' talking to the bartender when he...