State v. Chandler

• Citation: 605 S.W.2d 100
• Decision Date: 09 September 1980
• Docket Number: No. 61555.,61555.
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Richard CHANDLER, Appellant.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Missouri

605 S.W.2d 100

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Richard CHANDLER, Appellant.

No. 61555.

Supreme Court of Missouri, En Banc.

September 9, 1980.

Hale W. Brown, Kirkwood, for appellant.

John Ashcroft, Atty. Gen., Michael A. Scearce, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant was convicted of capital murder, a violation of § 559.005, RSMo Supp. 1975, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Appellant assigns error in the admission into evidence of his videotaped confession and grand jury testimony, alleging a violation of his sixth amendment right to counsel. Jurisdiction is in this Court because the punishment imposed was imprisonment for life. Mo.Const. art. V, § 3. We affirm.

On August 2, 1976, at about nine o'clock in the evening, three men entered the law office of Joseph Langworthy at 103 E. St. Louis Avenue in the City of Pacific, Franklin County, Missouri. The three men spoke with Mr. Langworthy a short time and left. Fifteen to twenty minutes before ten o'clock that evening, Mr. Langworthy telephoned Mrs. Katherine Finder and described how busy the evening had been. He told Mrs. Finder that his secretary was ready to go home, and stopped the conversation long enough to tell her goodbye. A short time later he interrupted the conversation to say there was someone at the door, and told Mrs. Finder to wait. Mrs. Finder could hear the sound of voices, but could not hear what was said when Langworthy was away from the phone. After a while she heard him say "Please, man, don't hurt me. Oh, my God." Almost immediately she heard a noise that sounded like a deep sigh. She waited for a short time, but she heard nothing. Mrs. Finder called Mr. Langworthy's secretary, Helen Brauer, and told her to call the police, that someone had broken into Mr. Langworthy's office. Mrs. Brauer alerted the Pacific police, then dressed and drove to Mr. Langworthy's office. She spoke to police, then walked up the stairs to the office, and saw the body of Joseph Langworthy on the floor behind his desk lying in a pool of blood.

An autopsy was performed on Langworthy's body on the morning of August 3, 1976. The autopsy revealed an abdominal wound just over the waist and to the left of the centerline. The abdominal wound was a vertical stab with about a three inch lateral extension in a crescent shape, cut slightly downward to the right. The index finger of the left hand had been cut with a sharp instrument. There was a slash wound on the left side of the neck, extending from slightly to the right of the midline to the corner of the jaw, approximately four inches long and a maximum of two inches deep. The strap muscles were severed, as was the carotid artery and the jugular vein on the left side of the neck. About three-fourths of the circumference of the larynx was cut through above the vocal cords. The lungs were found to contain about a pint of blood. The pathologist determined that the cause of death was massive blood loss.

On June 14, 1978, while being held on burglary charges in Lonoke, Arkansas, appellant's brother, Michael Chandler, gave a statement which implicated appellant in the murder of Joseph Langworthy to Michael Scott, Chief Investigator of the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office; Daryl Hartley, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney of Franklin County; and Sergeant Robert North, an officer in the Intelligence and Investigation Division of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. In June of 1978, appellant was visiting his sister-in-law in Cascade, Oregon. On June 21 or June 22, 1978, Chief Investigator Scott and Sergeant North, along with Oregon State Highway Patrolmen, visited the home of appellant's sister-in-law. Appellant was arrested on a charge of possessing an unregistered sawed-off shotgun. A federal grand jury subsequently indicted appellant for an alleged violation of the Federal Firearms Act. On June 22, 1978, appellant was charged with first degree murder in the Magistrate Court of Franklin County, Missouri. Appellant waived extradition and was transported to the Franklin County Jail. On August 23, 1978, an indictment was filed in the Circuit Court of Franklin County, Missouri, charging appellant with capital murder. On September 5, 1978, appellant was arraigned on the charge of capital murder in the Circuit Court of Franklin County, and informed of the range of punishment. Appellant appeared with his counsel, James L. Anding, and entered a plea of not guilty. Appellant's request that the court set bail was taken under advisement.

While appellant was held in the Franklin County Jail, he sent messages to Michael Scott twelve to fifteen times, usually through Deputy Sheriff Ron Rogers. Between the time appellant returned from Oregon and September 25, 1978, Michael Scott met with appellant several times apparently without notice to appellant's attorney Anding or with his prior knowledge. The only time that Scott talked with appellant in the Franklin County Jail, however, was when appellant himself asked to speak to Scott. Appellant did not make any statement incriminating himself in the murder of Joseph Langworthy prior to September 26, 1978.

On September 25, 1978, appellant was taken to the United States Marshal's Office in St. Louis, Missouri, for arraignment on the federal indictment. Appellant was processed on the federal charge by Edwin Kuster of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Mr. Kuster advised appellant of his rights, as required by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Thereupon, appellant asked to talk to Mr. Kuster concerning a homicide in Franklin County, Missouri, and asked whether it would be possible to make a deal. Appellant asked Mr. Kuster whether the federal charge would be dropped if appellant became a state's witness in Franklin County. Mr. Kuster told appellant that it was not within his authority to make a deal, but that he could put him in touch with people who could. Appellant then asked to speak to the Franklin County authorities on the telephone. Mr. Kuster telephoned Michael Scott in Franklin County and let appellant talk to him. Appellant told Scott that he wanted to see him. After receiving the call, Michael Scott telephoned Sergeant Robert North and both men went to the United States Marshal's Office in St. Louis, Missouri to talk with appellant. Appellant told Scott and North that he would like to talk about making a deal concerning the murder in Pacific, Missouri. Michael Scott testified that he told appellant "We cannot talk to you, you are represented by counsel." Mr. Kuster testified that he informed appellant, in accordance with bureau regulations, "that he was represented by counsel, on that particular charge, and that I couldn't talk to him about it." According to Sergeant North when appellant was informed that Scott and North could not talk to him while he had an attorney, appellant responded "Well, I'll fire the son-of-a-bitch, he's nothing but a gump anyway." Scott testified that appellant used an expletive to indicate that he would fire his attorney. Appellant later denied referring to Anding as a "son-of-a-bitch" but admitted calling him a "gump." North and Scott left without asking appellant any questions at that time. Michael Scott returned to the office of Daniel Buescher, the Prosecuting Attorney of Franklin County, and asked for guidance on how to go about talking to the appellant.

The following morning, on September 26, 1978, Mr. Buescher called Harold Barrick, Chairman of the Advisory Committee of The Missouri Bar. Mr. Buescher told Mr. Barrick that he had appellant in custody, that appellant was represented by James Anding, that appellant wanted to talk with representatives of Mr. Buescher's office outside the presence of his attorney, and that appellant wanted to implicate his attorney in the crime with which appellant had been charged. Mr. Barrick discussed the question with the Advisory Committee, and telephoned Mr. Buescher and advised him that it was the opinion of the Advisory Committee that before he could talk to that defendant it would be necessary that appellant discharge his attorney.

On the same day, Michael Scott and Robert North went to the St. Clair County Jail in Belleville, Illinois, where appellant was being held on the federal charge, arriving at about 3:00 p. m. Edwin Kuster was also present. Michael Scott read appellant his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). The three visitors informed appellant that, because appellant was represented by counsel, they could not talk to him or take his statement. Appellant replied, "Well, how about if I fired him?" The visitors answered "We cannot advise you to do that." Appellant stated that he wanted to make a statement and that he wanted to fire his attorney, James Anding. Appellant was then told that if he decided to fire his attorney, he would have to contact Mr. Anding. The captain in charge of the St. Clair County Jail arranged for appellant to telephone James Anding, but appellant failed to contact Anding because the attorney was not in his office at the time. Appellant insisted that he be allowed to fire his attorney, and asked how it could be done. Michael Scott then supplied appellant with a form hand written on a sheet of notebook paper which purported to dismiss James L. Anding as appellant's attorney. Because appellant was illiterate, having only a third grade education, the document was read to him. The document said:

I, Richard W. Chandler, do hereby dismiss James L. Anding as my attorney in all pending cases and any and all future cases. I do not want Mr. Anding to represent me in anything.

Appellant signed the document, and Edwin Kuster signed it as witness. It was filed with the Circuit Court of Franklin County on September 29, 1978, three days later.

After appellant signed the document to dismiss his attorney, Michael Scott questioned appellant...