State v. Crawford
| Decision Date | 12 June 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 1,No. 52049,52049,1 |
| Citation | 416 S.W.2d 178 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Charles Lee CRAWFORD, Appellant |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Norman H. Anderson, Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, J. Brendan Ryan, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Louis, for respondent.
J. W. Grossenheider, Lebanon, for appellant.
By amended information alleging prior felony convictions defendant was charged with murder, first degree, of Edward L. Pridemore on February 2, 1965, in Laclede county, Missouri. Section 559.010 () Defendant admitted, and the court found, that he had been convicted of prior felonies, sentenced and imprisoned therefor as alleged. A jury found him guilty as charged. The court assessed his punishment and sentenced him to imprisonment for life. Sections 556.280 and 559.030. He was represented at the trial, and during pre-trial and post-trial proceedings, by counsel appointed by the trial court; he is represented in this court by the same counsel who has filed a printed brief and presented oral argument in defendant's behalf. Counsel's devotion to the interest of his client and his zeal in the maintenance and defense of his rights exemplifies the highest calling of his profession.
The dead body of Pridemore was found in a ditch alongside a gravel road approximately two hundred yards north of U.S. Highway 66 in Laclede county at about six o'clock a.m., on February 2, 1965. Defendant was arrested in Texarkana, Texas, early in the evening of February 3, on other charges, and gave oral and written statements to an Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in which he confessed to the murder of Pridemore. He was returned to Laclede county on February 4, and on that date gave oral and written statements to the prosecuting attorney in which he again confessed to the murder of Pridemore. On February 5, defendant waived his preliminary examination in Magistrate court and was bound over to Circuit court. On Monday, February 8, an information was filed which did not allege the prior felony convictions. At defendant's request he was not brought before the court for the appointment of counsel until the following Friday, February 12. On that date, it appearing that defendant could not employ counsel, the Honorable J. W. Grossenheider of Lebanon was appointed to represent him. On March 30, 1965, defendant appeared with counsel and entered two pleas: (1) not guilty, and (2) not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect excluding responsibility; the case was set for trial for June 23, 1965. On April 1, pursuant to motion of defendant, the court appointed three named physicians to examine and report upon the mental condition of defendant at the time of the alleged criminal conduct. Section 552.030. The report of this examination was filed May 6. On May 8 defense counsel made an oral motion to dismiss the charges and urged the court to order defendant delivered to police authorities of Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was wanted on two other similar charges; the motion was overruled on the same day. Further details pertaining to the motion will be referred to later in connection with the first point briefed. On the same day, pursuant to another oral motion, the court appointed Dr. Frederick W. Coons, a physician of defendant's choice, to examine and report upon his mental condition at the time of the alleged crime. Thereafter defendant filed two motions to suppress evidence. The first, filed May 20, to suppress all oral and written statements made by him from the moment of his arrest, was on federal constitutional grounds that he was denied counsel during extensive interrogations in Texas and Laclede county. The second, filed June 3, to suppress all evidence of articles taken from his person and from his automobile in Texarkana on February 3, was on the grounds that his arrest was without a warrant or probable cause and, hence, the search of his person and automobile and the seizure of articles therefrom were in violation of his state and federal constitutional rights. The motions were consolidated, heard, and overruled on June 12. Evidence heard on the motions will be referred to later in connection with points II, III and IV of defendant's brief.
The points briefed by defendant relate to alleged errors in overruling his oral and written motions; the admission of evidence; failure to prove corpus delicti and venue; in giving and refusing instructions; in limiting inquiries of defendant on voir dire examination; and, in permitting an ineligible person to serve on the jury. Defendant does not question the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain conviction, except that evidence pertaining to proof of the corpus delicti and proper venue; therefore, a brief summary will suffice.
Defendant, age 26, left his home in Indianapolis, Indiana, on or about February 1, 1965, in a 1962 model Pontiac en route to the southwest part of the country; sometime during the night of the 1st or early morning of the 2nd, on the outskirts of St. Louis, he picked up a hitchhiker, Edward L. Pridemore, a recently discharged soldier. Pridemore put his Air Force baggage in the back seat and got in the passenger's seat in the front. They drove southwest on U.S. Highway 66 for approximately two hours and stopped to eat at a roadside cafe. Leaving the cafe they continued their journey with defendant driving and Pridemore in the front passenger's seat. Pridemore leaned against the door and soon went to sleep. Defendant saw him asleep and decided to kill and rob him. While driving, defendant pulled a .22 caliber pistol from his belt, pointed it at Pridemore's head and fired six shots, four of which struck Pridemore in the face, head and neck and left hand, and two struck and broke out the rear glass of the automobile. Blood spurted and ran all over the automobile. Defendant drove on, 'not more than a mile,' and turned right off Highway 66 onto a gravel road to rob and dispose of the body. He drove north on this road two or three hundred yards. Turning around, he drove a short distance south, pulled over close to the road ditch on his right and stopped. He got out of the car, walked around its rear and pulled Pridemore out the right front door and into the ditch. Pridemore was still alive at that time; defendant could hear him breathe, '* * * or what I called a 'death rattle. " He took Pridemore's billfold from his pocket and drove on, stopping to eat at The Cowboy Inn, a cafe and gasoline service station on Highway 66 in Lawrence county (approximately 80 miles southwest of Laclede county). He left the cafe and drove to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he checked in at a hotel and slept. From Tulsa he drove to Texarkana, arriving there late in the afternoon or early evening. He parked his automobile on Texas avenue, not far from the police station, and walked a short distance to a theater where he saw a movie. Leaving the theater, he started walking through an alley toward his automobile. He was arrested in the alley behind the police station by Texarkana police officers.
The body of Pridemore was found by Mrs. Margaret Wills, who was en route home after taking her husband to Conway. She and a neighbor called the Sheriff's office. The Sheriff and Frank O'Dell, a member of the Missouri Highway Patrol, arrived at the scene within a few minutes after the telephone call. Trooper O'Dell testified that it was a very cold February morning; that Pridemore's body was lying face down in the ditch on the west side of a gravel road north of the Conway Truck Stop on U.S. Highway 66 in Laclede county; that blood was on the clothing, and on the face and hands of the body, and on the ground under the face; that blood on the clothing had begun to dry, but it was still wet under the face and running from the nose; that he found several distinctive footprints in the ditch around and near the body; that these footprints were made by heavy rubber-soled shoes, the soles of which had a design of bars running crossways and lengthways; that he had seen the shoes worn by defendant at the time of his arrest in Texarkana and the soles are of the same type and have the same markings as those which made the footprints at the scene; that he had a close look at the body after it was cleaned; that the bullets entered the left side of the head and neck; that the wounds were made by .22 caliber bullets. James Coomer and Norma Meyers, employees of The Cowboy Inn in Lawrence county, testified that they recognized defendant as being the man who ate alone in the cafe near 6:30 a.m. on February 2, 1965, and inquired about the Oklahoma turnpike. To the extent necessary, further evidence will be referred to in connection with discussion of the legal questions involved.
Defendant's first point is that the court erred in overruling his pre-trial oral motion of May 8 to dismiss the charge and order defendant delivered to Indiana authorities. As grounds for the motion defendant's counsel stated that defendant could not have a fair and impartial trial in Laclede county on June 23, because of widespread publicity given the case through newspapers, radio and television. In support of his motion he introduced in evidence three front-page newspaper articles, two from the Lebanon Daily Record and one from The Lebanon Rustic Republican. We have read the articles; each refers to the simple fact () that defendant had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, had been examined to determine his mental condition, and declared sane; all three are brief, conservative, objective reports, without bold, glaring headlines and are more or less buried on the front page as compared with other news articles. Neither would be likely to stir passions or prejudice; at least, the trial judge apparently so found, and he was in a much better position to determine...
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