State v. Braden
| Decision Date | 03 June 1927 |
| Docket Number | 27879 |
| Citation | 295 S.W. 784 |
| Parties | STATE v. BRADEN |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
H. K Bente and R. A. Higdon, both of Sedalia, for appellant.
North T. Gentry, Atty. Gen., and Smith B. Atwood, Asst. Atty. Gen for the State.
Appellant was convicted of grand larceny, was sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for 4 years, and has appealed.
During the early morning hours of September 1, 1925, two automobile tires, inner tubes, and rims, of a value considerably in excess of $ 30, were removed and stolen from an automobile truck belonging to one A. B. Gallagher and kept at his construction camp in Pettis county, about 5 miles from Sedalia. Appellant and three boys named Couch, Johnson, and Sizemore were arrested the following forenoon. The three last named were charged separately, and it seems that the charges against them were pending in the juvenile court at the time of appellant's trial. A separate information was filed against appellant.
Johnson and Sizemore testified for the state. Couch was not a witness, and apparently had fled the country. The testimony of Johnson and Sizemore tended to show that appellant told them and Couch that he needed two automobile tires of a certain size for his automobile and engaged those boys to go out and get certain tires for him which they had located. He agreed to pay them $ 40 for the tires. The boys drove out to Gallagher's camp some time after midnight. Their automobile was left at a distance from the camp. The truck tires were removed with their rims and were rolled to the automobile. The boys loaded them in and hauled them to a point close to Sedalia and hid them in a culvert. They went to appellant's house about 4 o'clock in the morning. He was not ready to go with them, and they left to get some lunch and later returned. Appellant then took the boys in his automobile and drove out to the culvert where the stolen tires were concealed. After seeing the tires, appellant offered to give the boys $ 15 for them. The boys refused to accept such price. The tires were then placed in appellant's automobile and brought nearer to Sedalia, where they were put off at the side of the road. The theft of the tires was promptly discovered, and appellant and the boys were quickly arrested the same forenoon. It does not appear how the identity of the boys as the thieves was so quickly ascertained. Chief of Police Greer of Sedalia testified to a statement made by appellant to the effect that he had driven out with the boys to the point on the highway where the tires were hidden and helped to move them to another place. Appellant did not testify as a witness, and, of course, did not deny the testimony of Chief of Police Greer or that of his alleged accomplices.
Proof that appellant aided, abetted, and instigated the larceny of the tires, and, therefore, that he was an accessory before the fact or a principal in the second degree and triable and punishable as a principal in the first degree (section 3687 R. S. 1919) rests in the testimony of his alleged accomplices Johnson and Sizemore. Their testimony was clear and direct and tended to show appellant's guilt of...
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