State v. Brooks, 37190
| Decision Date | 22 February 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 37190,37190 |
| Citation | 551 S.W.2d 634 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Johnnie Lee BROOKS, Defendant-Appellant. . Louis District, Division Three |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
London & Greenberg, Norman S. London, C. John Pleban, St. Louis, for defendant-appellant.
John C. Danforth, Atty. Gen., Preston Dean, Paul Robert Otto, Asst. Attys. Gen., Jefferson City, Brendan Ryan, Circuit Atty., Henry Fredericks, Asst. Circuit Atty., St. Louis, for plaintiff-respondent.
This is an appeal 1 by the defendant-appellant, Johnnie Lee Brooks, from a judgment of conviction entered by the circuit court of the City of St. Louis on June 12, 1975. The appellant was found guilty by the jury of the offense of robbery in the first degree, and the court, under the Second Offender Act, sentenced him to the department of corrections for a term of fifty-five years. Sections 560.120, 560.135, 556.280, RSMo. Defendant appeals. For reasons hereinafter stated, we affirm.
Defendant-appellant raises numerous points seeking either a reversal of the conviction and discharge, or, in the alternative, a reversal and remand for further proceedings. These proceedings arise out of the well-publicized events of September 23, 1971, during which a young woman, Miss Wilma Chestnut, allegedly lost her sight.
Appellant does not question the sufficiency of the evidence to make a submissible case of robbery. The evidence, however, is voluminous and often contradictory and inconsistent. But such inconsistencies are for the jury to resolve. State v. Hodges, 537 S.W.2d 886, 887 (Mo.App.1976); State v. Berry, 526 S.W.2d 92, 95 (Mo.App.1975). Our function is only to determine whether prejudicial error was committed.
A general statement of the facts will be reviewed here. Additional details will be stated in conjunction with the appropriate points raised by the appellant.
On the evening of September 22, 1971, Miss Wilma Chestnut, a young woman then seventeen years of age and who resided at 3806 Newstead Avenue in St. Louis, left her home to spend the night with her cousin, Mrs. Lillie Belle Harry, at her third floor apartment located at 5782 Kingsbury Avenue. She was to babysit for Mrs. Harry's small child the next day. Miss Chestnut took with her some clothes and a record player which she had purchased for $19.00 the previous June. She arrived at Mrs. Harry's home at about 11:30 p. m. Miss Chestnut spent the night at Mrs. Harry's apartment.
Early the next morning, September 23, at approximately 6:00 a. m., the defendant, Johnnie Lee Brooks, drove his " '62 blue cadillac" to the home of an acquaintance, Ronald Clower (sometimes known as "Ronnie"). Clower resided at 4104 Enright Avenue with his mother. Clower accompanied Brooks in the vehicle while the latter drove his cousin to the Chrysler Plant in Fenton. Sometime later, Clower and the defendant returned to St. Louis and met another acquaintance of Brooks Earl Harper. Harper joined the two in the automobile. The three young men Clower, Brooks and Harper made a brief visit to the home of a friend who resided on Kossuth Avenue and then proceeded to Miss Chestnut's home on Newstead. Clower and Harper got out of the car, Clower knocked on the door and "I asked was Pat there." 2 The person who answered the door informed Clower that Miss Chestnut was not at home, but was "babysitting or something over on Kingsbury." Clower and Harper returned to the car and the three drove down "Newstead and maybe Taylor" and picked up "another fellow named Lewis." 3 "Lewis' " name in fact was Ernest Charles Craine. Clower had never met either Harper or Craine. Clower knew him as "Lewis" but found out later his name was Craine. Craine entered Brooks' automobile and they all drove over to "Kingsbury" where Miss Chestnut was babysitting.
Meanwhile, Miss Chestnut awoke between 9:30 and 10:00 a. m. With her were Mrs. Harry's eight-month-old baby and a "little girl (two years old) from downstairs." Sometime during the morning Miss Chestnut went to the apartment next door where Betty Simmons resided to use the telephone. She remained there in the apartment about five minutes and returned to Mrs. Harry's apartment.
When the four young men arrived at the apartment on Kingsbury, according to the testimony of Clower, they went up to the apartment and "knocked on the door where Pat Chestnut was at." Only Clower was known to Wilma. When they knocked "Pat" said, " 'Who is it.' " Clower said " 'Ronnie.' " "She said wait a minute, let me put on or finish putting on my clothes." 4 After she did so, she opened the door and Clower, Brooks, Harper and "Lewis" (Craine) entered. Clower introduced Brooks to Miss Chestnut saying, " 'Pat, this is Johnnie and Johnnie, this is Pat.' " And according to Clower, Brooks said " 'I'm Johnnie Brooks.' " Harper and Craine introduced themselves as "Earl" and "Lewis" respectively. The four young men stayed for approximately fifteen minutes and then left.
At trial, Miss Chestnut's version of the meeting was similar to that of Clower. According to Miss Chestnut, "Ronald Clower, Johnnie, Earl and Lewis" came to the apartment about 11:15 a. m. She had just given the baby a bath and "was looking out the window." She saw a "car that looked familiar" a " '62 or '63 blue Cadillac." She heard a knock on the door; at the time she was putting a dress on. When she heard the knock, she asked who it was, and "(a) voice said, 'It's Ronnie, is Pat here.' " After replying and finishing dressing, she opened the door. She saw "Ronnie" and three other young men. She knew "Ronnie" but was not acquainted with the others. When the young men entered, "Earl (Harper) told me his name and I don't remember how I was introduced to Ernest but I believe to Lewis, but he told me his name." "And I don't remember how I was introduced to Brooks, to Johnnie, but Ronnie later on called him Johnnie so I took it from there." Miss Chestnut described the person introduced to her as Johnnie as having lambchop sideburns and a scar on his lip. 5
When the four young men left the apartment, they drove to a bar and a short time later drove Clower back to his residence on Enright where he stayed. Brooks, Harper and Craine then drove away. It was about noon. Clower did not see them anymore that day.
Then, at approximately 12:30 p. m., Brooks, Craine and Harper returned to the Kingsbury apartment. Miss Chestnut let them in, they talked for a few minutes and then left again. A short time later, they again returned.
"When they came in this time we (Miss Chestnut and the three men) all set down again and Johnnie kept asking for water and we talked for a while . . . ." Johnnie made a comment to Miss Chestnut that "he had a hot box" and asked her to get him a glass 6 of water. She "got him about three or four." A few minutes later, Miss Chestnut suggested that they leave so she could rest. Then, according to Miss Chestnut, "Johnnie got up as if he was about to walk past me and he put his hands on my neck and started choking me." At the time Miss Chestnut was seated on the end of the couch closest to the door. Harper was on a chair. ". . . Johnnie couldn't push me back while he was choking me so Earl put his hands on my face and pulled me back." Miss Chestnut lost consciousness. She did not remember anything after that "until I regained consciousness." When she regained consciousness she was on the couch and she was unable to see. She could not see out of either eye. She went to the bedroom, "fell across the bed" and pushed a table against the door. She broke a window with part of her arm. After she broke the window she remembered ". . . somebody asking me to open the door and I couldn't and the next thing I remember I was in the police car . . . (and) I went to Homer Phillips Hospital."
During this time, Betty Simmons, who lived in the next apartment, went to Mrs. Harry's apartment and heard a noise coming from the apartment "(l)ike a crying." 7 She heard the crying "maybe twenty minutes." She returned to her apartment and called the police.
Police officers Jerome Dampier and Oliver Ising responded to the call. When they arrived Betty Simmons told them what she heard. Officer Dampier knocked on the door. ". . . I could hear someone in there screaming and I could hear it, sounded like furniture being knocked around so they didn't open the door so me and my partner kicked the door open." When Officer Dampier opened the door he saw Miss Chestnut bleeding from both eyes. He also saw some "broken glass" in the toilet bowl, ". . . like it may have been a jar, broken jar. . . ." However, he did not remove it and did not know what happened to it. The officers called for a cruiser which took Miss Chestnut to the hospital. Afterwards they returned to the apartment.
When Mrs. Harry returned to her apartment sometime "after three," the policemen and the children were there but Miss Chestnut had been taken to the hospital. The window was broken. The record player and her own tape deck and speakers were missing. She saw a part of the Steak 'n Shake glass in the toilet bowl. "Yes, there was glass in the toilet." 8 But she flushed the toilet.
Miss Chestnut's mother returned home from work about 3:00 p. m. and was taken to the hospital by officers. At the hospital Mrs. Chestnut conversed with her daughter. When asked various questions such as her name, her mother's name or who cut her, she responded "nobody" or " 'Ronnie.' " That was her answer to everything that I asked her."
That evening Mrs. Chestnut went to the apartment on Kingsbury. Miss Chestnut's record player was not there. It has never been recovered.
Approximately a week later, on September 29, 1971, Officers Warren Williams and Roger Kohler arre...
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