State v. Bunton
| Decision Date | 11 May 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 1,No. 54632,54632,1 |
| Citation | 453 S.W.2d 949 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Glen Calvin BUNTON, Appellant |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
John C. Danforth, Atty. Gen., Dale L. Rollings, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.
Jay White, Rolla, for appellant.
HOUSER, Commissioner.
Glen Calvin Bunton, convicted of arson and committed to the department of corrections for three years, has appealed, contending that the court should have directed a verdict of acquittal on the ground that the State failed to prove that the fire was of incendiary origin and failed to prove the criminal agency of defendant.
Stated in the light most favorable to the State, the evidence shows the following: A large, old, unoccupied building known as 'The Grotto,' located in the country southwest of Newburg in Phelps County, was destroyed by fire on September 21, 1968. That afternoon defendant Bunton and the Forester boys, Clarence and Jackie, decided to go 'to Vernelle's' to get some beer. They left Newburg in a Buick owned by Forester's wife. Defendant Bunton, who was driving, stopped the car at a point on the road one-fourth of a mile or less from the Grotto and told the others that he was going to get out and that he would stay there until they went for beer; until they 'got back.' The Forester boys went on to Vernelle's, where they purchased two 6-packs of beer. Upon returning to the place where Bunton had left them they could not find him. Jackie, the driver, parked the car near a low water bridge and asked Clarence to go back and look for Bunton. While Jackie was waiting there a fisherman stopped, got out his tackle and went down the creek. Clarence, gone 10 or 15 minutes, came back without Bunton. Jackie drove back to the Grotto looking for Bunton and then crossed 'the tracks' and drove 500 feet or so 'up the holler' looking for him. He stopped and blew his horn, without locating him. On the way back, while passing the Grotto, Jackie 'looked over' and saw that the Grotto was on fire. It looked like 'the whole inside' was ablaze. He drove to the bridge and asked the fisherman if he had seen anybody leave the building. The fisherman said he had seen somebody come from the direction of the building. Jackie drove on to Newburg, called the fire department and highway patrol, and was parked in front of a restaurant waiting for the troopers to arrive when Bunton came down the street and got in the car with him. The two got into an argument over Jackie's billfold. It seems that when Bunton got out of the car near the Grotto he insisted that Jackie leave his billfold with him, which Jackie did. When Bunton rejoined Jackie in Newburg Bunton told Jackie that he left the billfold 'on the steps of the building there.' Jackie took this to mean the building that burned. Later in the afternoon the two men were arrested and jailed for drinking on the street. Bunton then changed his story and said the billfold was under the seat of the automobile. The two men 'had a ruckus' in the jail and at last Bunton handed the billfold over to Jackie in the jail.
At the time the fire broke out the building was unoccupied, unattended, and securely locked. Some repair and painting had been done on the inside recently. A half of a can of stain had been left in the building. The fire appeared to have originated on the inside of the main structure between the inner wall and the porch. A highway patrol trooper investigated the premises while the debris was still burning and again later. He found no 'fuel cans or anything of that sort.' The wiring had been checked and repaired at the instance of the owner and it was in good condition. There was no gas or any kind of heating in the building. The hot water system had not been used for years. There was one gas stove, which was disconnected. There was no oil or other combustible fuel in the building. The large hall had electricity connected but the rest of the house was not connected to electric power. Bunton had no interest in the building and had not been sent there to work as an employee of the owner.
The fisherman, a Methodist minister, drove up to the Grotto, turned around and parked at the low water bridge behind the Forester car. He saw no person and saw no car at the Grotto but did observe a man in the car behind which he parked. While he was putting on his fishing waders a second man came down from the direction of the Grotto, got in the Forester car, and the two men drove away in the direction of Newburg, turned around at the junction, came back across the bridge and moved in the direction of the Grotto and out of sight. Before he completed making preparations for fishing the fisherman heard several sounds of breaking glass 'like several windows being broken in succession.' The sound seemed to be coming directly from the Grotto. The fisherman 'yelled in the direction of the Grotto' and then continued making preparations to fish. About one or two minutes after he heard the sounds of breaking glass the fisherman saw a man, identified later as Bunton, 'coming from the direction of the Grotto' toward the fisherman. Bunton proceeded directly down the road to a point about a third of the way from the Grotto to the fisherman's car, then crossed the fence and made a circle around the area where the fisherman was. When Bunton approached the river he came back out on the road, crossed the bridge and proceeded in the direction of Newburg. Approximately 15 minutes later the car which had previously been parked in front of the fisherman's car returned from the direction of the Grotto. One of the men got out and spoke to the fisherman, saying, 'Did you know that building is on fire?' and asked where he could go to report the fire. The fisherman suggested that he go into Newburg. The man asked if anyone had passed by there. The fisherman answered in the affirmative. The man with whom he had been conversing got back in his car and drove off in the direction of Newburg. The fisherman did not go up to the Grotto building before the fire, he did not see anyone setting a fire and did not see anyone 'around the building.'
Defendant did not take the stand and offered no evidence.
In order to make a submissible case on a charge of arson the State is obligated...
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