State v. Clay

• Decision Date: 17 December 1935
• Docket Number: 43003.
• Citation: State v. Clay, 220 Iowa 1191, 264 N.W. 77 (Iowa 1935)
• Parties: STATE v. CLAY.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

264 N.W. 77

220 Iowa 1191

STATE v. CLAY.

No. 43003.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

December 17, 1935

Appeal from District Court, Johnson County; D. V. Jackson, Judge.

An indictment was returned by the grand jury of Johnson county charging the defendant with the crime of murder. Defendant entered plea of not guilty, and upon trial to jury was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to life imprisonment. Defendant has appealed to this court. Opinion states the facts.

Reversed.

ALBERT and ANDERSON, JJ., dissenting.

W. F Murphy, of Iowa City, for appellant.

Edward L. O'Connor, Atty. Gen., Walter F. Maley, First Asst Atty. Gen., and E. A. Baldwin, Co. Atty., of Iowa City, for the State.

MITCHELL Justice.

On October 9, 1934, the grand jury of Johnson county, Iowa returned an indictment against the defendant, Louis Clay, charging him with the crime of murder " in that the said Louis Clay in the county and state aforesaid on or about the 24th day of December, 1933, willfully, deliberately and premeditatedly and with malice aforethought murdered George J. Folsom." The defendant entered his plea of not guilty, and upon trial to a jury was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to life imprisonment, from which judgment of the court this appeal is taken.

George J. Folsom was a bachelor, living alone in an eight-room house on the south side of what is known as the Newton road, near the west side of Iowa City. At the time of his death he was seventy-seven years of age. He was the survivor of a family consisting of two brothers-James and Arthur-and a sister, known as Molly. Beginning the latter part of October of 1933 he had a serious sick spell, described by the doctors as the flu and pneumonia, with a heart complication. Although a man of wealth, he desired to live alone, and for some reason or other saw fit to live in the kitchen of the large house, sleeping upon a cot, and heating the room with a stove in which wood was used as fuel. During this sick spell he had had first a Mr. Brown look after him, and then a Mr. Gould, who came in the morning and stayed until about noon. On the morning of December 24, 1933, Gould came as usual and performed the duties required of him, which, among others, consisted of bringing in water and fuel. About noon he left. That evening a Mr. Boot, who was a friend and neighbor, called at the Folsom house and remained a couple of hours, from about 5 to 7 o'clock. At that time Folsom was up and around the kitchen of the house and was in good spirits. The witness Boot was the last one to see the decedent alive. On the morning of December 25th, when Gould came to do his work, around 9 o'clock, he found the door leading into the kitchen partly open, with a stick of wood lying in the door in such a position that the door would not close. The weather was very cold; the thermometer registered around zero. There was no fire in the kitchen stove. Gould discovered Folsom lying on the floor, at the head of the bed, dead, and his body frozen. Immediately he went to the Brown house nearby and telephoned to Judge O. A. Byington of Iowa City, a person named by Folsom to be called in the event anything happened to him. Gould and Brown returned to the Folsom house, and before long Judge Byington, accompanied by the coroner, Dr. Maresh, a regular practicing physician at Iowa City, arrived. After a while an undertaker was sent for, and in due time, without making any autopsy or any further investigation than was made that morning, Folsom's body was embalmed and the remains were buried. It was the belief of all of these people, the coroner, Judge Byington, the two men who took care of Folsom, and the undertaker, that Folsom had come to his death through natural causes. No inquest was held, no autopsy was performed. There is testimony that there was a small abrasion on Folsom's wrist and two bloodspots on the sheet on the cot. But neither the condition of the wrist nor the bloodspots aroused the suspicion of any of these men that Folsom had not died a natural death. As far as this record shows, there was no doubt in the mind of any of the officials of Johnson county, the friends and neighbors, or any one else that George Folsom had not died from the disease from which he was suffering, which the medical men describe as myocarditis, a disease of the heart, until in August of 1934, when one Mabel Davis made a statement to the chief of police of Waukegan, Ill., stating that on Christmas Eve of 1933 Louis Clay had murdered George Folsom.

Louis Clay, who is a colored man, had lived around Iowa City most of his life. For a period of some time, he worked in a garage at Cedar Rapids. There he met Mabel Davis, who was about twenty years of age, having the appearance of being a white woman, although the record shows she is one-eighth colored, her father having been colored and her mother white. Clay was twenty-six years of age when he met Mabel. They kept company in Cedar Rapids and then Clay went back to work in a garage at Iowa City. Mabel went to Iowa City also, staying first at a hotel and part of the time at the home of Clay's mother. On Christmas Eve of 1933 Mabel testified she went to the Clay home, which was somewhere near the Rock Island station in Iowa City. Louis was there, as were his mother and sister. Louis, she testified, suggested a ride in his automobile, and they started off. They drove to the southwest corner of the University Stadium on the west side of the Iowa river in Iowa City, and there parked the car. Getting out of the automobile they walked across a field, then across the golf links, and when they approached the Folsom house Mabel claims Clay said to her, " Knock at the door and tell him you want to get warm." It is Mabel's testimony that she did not know what Clay intended to do. She asked no questions. She did as Clay suggested; walked up on the back porch and rapped on the kitchen door. When Folsom opened the door, Mabel said to him she would like to get warm, stepped inside, and Clay followed. It is her story that when Clay got inside the house he pulled a gun and said to Folsom, " It's a holdup," then took from his pocket a rope, with which he tied together the old gentleman's hands. Clay, Folsom, and Mabel went from the kitchen into an adjoining room, in which there was a safe. Clay demanded that Folsom give him the combination, which he did, and Clay handed the gun to Mabel, who held it while Clay opened the safe and investigated the papers therein and took therefrom fifteen $1 bills, together with some jewelry and other trinkets. Mabel knew exactly what Clay took from the safe; she looked over the various articles. She testifies the three of them went back to the kitchen, where Clay searched the bookcase and cupboard, in which he found three small pocketbooks containing approximately $3 in money, and some coins which Folsom had collected. During all of this time Mabel held the gun that Clay had used in holding up Folsom. This is her own story. She made no objections to anything that was done until Clay said he believed he had better do away with the old man because of the fact that he (Clay) was colored and she was white and they would be able to trace them. Clay then choked Folsom. Mabel says she protested against this but made no outcry, nor did she in any way attempt to assist Folsom or stop Clay from doing what she says he was doing. Clay pronounced Folsom dead, cut off the ropes with which Folsom's wrists had been bound, and burned them in the stove. He put Folsom in a sitting position towards one corner of the room, and placed a stick of wood in the doorway to hold the door open. Mabel and Louis then left the house, walked back across the golf links and the field to where they had parked the car, got into the car and drove around and examined the jewelry which they had taken, disposing of that which they thought of little value, retaining only the coins, the money, and the two rings. Then they went back to Clay's mother's house where Mabel stayed all night.

This is Mabel Davis' story of what happened on that Christmas Eve. If it is true, the crime was an outrageous one, and no punishment would be too severe for any one who was guilty of such a cold-blooded murder. But, the guilt of Clay rests entirely upon the testimony of Mabel Davis, whose connection with this crime, as will be set out in this opinion, demands that her testimony be carefully scrutinized that no injustice be done to the defendant.

The defendant Clay took the witness stand and denied that he had anything to do with the murdering of George Folsom, testifying that on the evening of December 24, 1933, at the hour that Mabel Davis claimed he was at the Folsom home, he was escorting his twin sister Lucille to the Rock Island station, where she took the night train for Chicago. His testimony is corroborated by that of his mother and his sister.

It is Mabel's testimony that she lived around Iowa City until the latter part of March, 1934; that she and Clay went together during that period of time; that she had possession of the two rings taken from the Folsom house and wore them at different times. Early in March of 1934 at her suggestion Clay drove her to Waukegan, where her mother lived; that when they got there a license to wed was taken out, but, due to some misunderstanding or dispute that arose between them, it was not used at that time. On the 27th of March Clay returned to Iowa City and Mabel remained in Waukegan. After Clay's return from Waukegan, he received from Mabel several letters which contained endearing terms, and she also sent him a photograph of herself, on which she had inscribed in her own handwriting the words, " To Lewis. With love Mabel." She also sent him a card, which was...