State v. Chapman

• Decision Date: 05 November 1925
• Citation: 103 Conn. 453,130 A. 899
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE v. CHAPMAN.

130 A. 899

103 Conn. 453

STATE v. CHAPMAN.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

November 5, 1925

Appeal from Superior Court, Hartford County; Newell Jennings, Judge.

Gerald Chapman was convicted of first degree murder, and he appeals. No error.

Denial of motion to set aside verdict is tested by determining whether jury might reasonably have found that evidence established beyond reasonable doubt guilt of accused as charged with crime of murder in first degree and by evidence equivalent to that of two witnesses.

Nathan O. Freedman, of Hartford, Charles W Murphy, of Danbury, Frederick J. Groehl, of New York City and Frank A. Murphy, of Hartford, for appellant.

Hugh M Alcorn, State's Atty., and Reinhart L. Gideon, Asst. State's Atty., both of Hartford, for the State.

WHEELER, C.J.

The appeal is from the denial of the motion of the accused to set aside the verdict and for interlocutory rulings and exceptions to the charge. Thirteen points assigned as error in the appeal are pursued in the arguments and brief in behalf of the accused; since our examination of the record has not disclosed other points in the appeal which in justice to the legal rights of the accused should be considered and disposed of, we confine the opinion to the consideration of these thirteen grounds of error, which we find can be resolved to ten grounds.

1. The denial of the motion to set aside the verdict is to be tested by determining whether the jury might reasonably have found that the evidence established beyond a reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused as charged with the commission of the crime of murder in the first degree and by evidence equivalent to that of two witnesses. The determination of this ground of error has required us to make a complete study of the entire evidence of which we present a summary of its most material features.

The state offered the evidence of Shean, an admitted accomplice of the accused in the breaking and entering of Davidson & Leventhal's store in New Britain on the morning of October 12, 1924, that he became acquainted with the accused as Waldo W. Miller in June, 1924, while Miller and one Anderson were in Springfield in a Lincoln touring car which the accused was operating. At various times during that summer Shean and the accused met at several places in the vicinity of Springfield, and at times they talked over the telephone. Early in September following, Shean received from the accused by mail a letter, which the state laid in evidence, giving him instructions as to the disposition of mail arriving at the Cooley Hotel under the name of Waldo W. Miller. The state offered evidence that on September 5, 1924, application was made by the accused to the motor vehicle department of Massachusetts for the registration of this Lincoln car, and it was registered in the name of Waldo W. Miller, Cooley Hotel, Springfield, and a license to operate it issued to Miller. Before its registration in Massachusetts, the motor number and the plate number had been changed, and the car was registered under the changed numbers.

During one of his visits to Springfield, the accused informed Shean that he wanted to buy a house in the vicinity of Westfield, Mass. He described, in a note written to Shean, and left with Shean's brother for him, the kind of place he desired to purchase. Through other witnesses the state offered evidence to prove that, under the name of George L. Sherbourne the accused and Anderson negotiated for the purchase of a place between 8 and 13 miles from Northampton, that the title was taken in the name of Waldo W. Miller, and two payments made of the price, the last one, $5,000, with a cashier's check obtained in Springfield through a trust company, upon the introduction by Shean of the accused to the cashier as George L. Sherbourne. Shean testified that the accused told him that he had located a house about 70 miles from Springfield, and asked Shean if he could ship some household articles to Shean's place of business, which would be later removed to his house, and Shean consented. Later in the month of September four large traveling bags wrapped in paper and two bundles wrapped in burlap bearing the mark " Eaton, Ind.," were delivered to the Shean Advertising Company at Springfield, of which Shean was president, and placed in the storeroom of this company. These packages remained unbroken until after the homicide. The state offered other testimony than that of Shean that these packages were shipped from Muncie, Ind., via American Railway Express, and were so tagged. On Thursday, October 9, 3 days before the homicide, the accused arrived in Springfield with the Lincoln car, and in the 3 days preceding the homicide was in and out of the storeroom, checked up the shipment of these packages, and told Shean that everything was all right.

Shean testified the last time he saw Anderson was on September 20th when he and the accused were in Springfield in this Lincoln car, and the next time Shean saw the accused was on October 9th, following a telephone call in which the accused said that he had come to Springfield alone, and that his car was in need of repairs. As a result of this conversation, Shean says the accused came to his place of business on the evening of October 9th and conversed a half hour, when they went to the Cooley Hotel, and the accused registered as W. W. Miller, Pittsfield, Mass., and was assigned to room C31, he having left the Lincoln car in the garage section of the building of the Shean Advertising Company. The Cooley Hotel register was laid in evidence showing the registry of this name and place on October 9th. The telephone girl at the hotel identified the accused as having registered at the hotel on the night of October 9th, and having telephoned from the hotel on October 10th. The brother of Shean testified to having seen the accused in Shean's place of business and in Springfield six or seven times during July, August, September and up to October 11th, and a salesman for Shean identified the accused in the Shean Advertising office during the week of October 7th, and on October 11th, the last time. On the morning of October 10th, Shean says the accused and he removed the trunk from the rear of the Lincoln car to the storeroom, and took the car to a garage for repairs, and that the accused stayed in Springfield and vicinity that day, and that they spent the evening in company with a woman at the Red Tearoom. This woman testified as to the visit, corroborating Shean, and identifying the accused. The motor mechanic who repaired the Lincoln car identified the Lincoln car, subsequently referred to as found on Church street, as the one on which he made the repairs and the accused as the man who authorized him to make these, and to whom he delivered the car when repaired at 12:30 p. m. on October 11th, at Shean's place of business. The accused then took the car to be washed.

Up to this point Shean's statement is corroborated at about every point corroboration could be expected. The accused, who took the stand, did not controvert this statement, nor did any one else in his behalf. From this point on the accused contradicts Shean's statement. Shean testifies that the accused and he lunched together on October 11th, and that about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, at the invitation of the accused, they left Springfield in the Lincoln car, and on the way to Hartford the accused explained that he had to do other things besides bootlegging to make money, and that he occasionally blew a safe. They reached New Britain about 5 o'clock; the accused stopped the car on Main street and went first to Besse-Leland's department store and then to Davidson & Leventhal's store, both located on Main street. He returned in a few minutes and stated that " everything is all fixed." The accused then drove to Meriden, where he bought a hand drill and placed it in the car; the drill being later laid in evidence. After driving to Waterbury, the accused drove to the Old Colony Inn in Meriden and left the Lincoln car under a shed in the rear of the inn. He and Shean were then provided with dinner and lodgings in the inn; the accused being given, at his request, an alarm clock. The proprietor of the inn and the employee who prepared and served the dinner identified the accused as having been at the inn as Shean had testified.

Shean says next morning the accused, fully dressed, awakened him and they left the inn before 6 and drove toward New Britain, and on the way the accused told Shean they were going to New Britain to blow a safe in the department store he was last in the day before, that he could not do anything with the Besse store, as it was too well protected. At this time the accused had a small dark mustache and wore a light gray fedora hat, a medium colored mixed gray suit, low tan shoes with rubber soles, and black stockings. Shean wore a brown suit, brown fedora hat, brown shirt and tie, high tan shoes, and white stockings. On the way to New Britain, the accused took from his automobile a .45 Colt automatic pistol, fully loaded, and gave it, with an extra clip of cartridges, to Shean, and told him to place it in his trousers and to keep his belt tight. The accused parked his car facing east on Church street, New Britain, and about 500 feet from the entrance to Davidson & Leventhal's store on Main street, which Church street crossed at right angles, and then, taking the alligator brief case, which the state subsequently laid in evidence, and another package from the automobile, got out of the car and went away. After being gone a half hour, Shean testified that the accused returned to the car and said he'd had a little trouble, and asked Shean to go back to the store with him, and they walked to Main...