State v. Dale

• Decision Date: 04 June 1920
• Docket Number: No. 21970.,21970.
• Citation: 222 S.W. 763,282 Mo. 663
• Parties: STATE v. DALE.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

222 S.W. 763

282 Mo. 663

STATE v. DALE.

No. 21970.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

June 4, 1920.

Appeal from Circuit Court, St. Charles County; Edgar B. Woolfolk, Judge.

Virgil Dale was convicted of robbery on plea of guilty, and after the overruling of his motion for new trial he appeals. Reversed and remanded.

Defendant pleaded guilty in the circuit court of St. Charles county to an information charging him with robbery in the first degree, in that defendant feloniously took $7 from the person of one Frank J. Bull, by force and violence to his person. Thereupon the court sentenced defendant to five years' imprisonment in the state penitentiary. At the time the plea of guilty was entered defendant was not represented by counsel, but afterwards, and within four days, defendant appeared by counsel and filed a motion for a new trial, setting up as a ground that he had entered a plea of guilty upon a promise that he would be paroled by the court. Testimony was heard by the court upon this motion and the motion was overruled. Defendant thereafter duly perfected an appeal to this court.

The evidence heard upon the motion `for a new trial was as follows:

"Synopsis of Testimony of Virgil Dale.

"`My name is Virgil Dale, age 23. I reside at 8453 Lowell, St. Louis, Mo. I was employed at the Baden car shops. I was arrested with Alvin Meyer, charged with robbing Frank Bull, on the night of the 21st of February, in a saloon in St. Charles, by Sheriff John Grothe. After arresting me Mr. Grothe took me into a back room adjoining the saloon and searched me, then took me outside of the saloon onto the street and had me turn my coat collar up, then had Frank Bull come and see if he could identify me as one of the men who had held him up and robbed him. Bull looked at me and said that he could not say that I was one of them. Then Mr. Grothe took me over and put me in jail. After I was in jail about one-half or three-quarters of an hour, Mr. Hensler, the prosecuting attorney there, came over to the jail and the sheriff came and got me and took me into a room in the jail and the sheriff and Mr. Hensler began asking me questions about the robbery. I told them I did not know anything about it, but they kept on questioning me about the robbery and I kept telling them that I did not know anything about it.

"`Then they put me back in the cell and took Alvin Meyer out. After awhile they came and got me and took me back to the room again and told me I might as well tell them about the robbery as Meyer had made a statement that we had robbed Mr. Bull. Mr. Hensler said to me that if I would make a confession and say that I held up Mr. Bull and took money from him that it would be easier for me. He said that he was my friend, and that if I would say that I had committed the robbery and sign a statement and plead guilty that the court would parole me. After talking the matter over with him and the sheriff for quite awhile, I believed what each of them said to me, and signed the statement, and when I was brought into court I pleaded guilty, believing that I would be paroled by the court, as Mr. Hensler told me the night I was arrested I would be; but instead of paroling me they gave me five years in the penitentiary.'

"Question by the Court: `Weren't you represented by an attorney at the time that you entered a plea of guilty?'

"Answer by Virgil Dale: `I did not have an attorney. They told me I did not need one. Mr. Hensler also told me there in jail that night that Mr. Bull did not want his name in court, and that if I would plead guilty he would see to it that I was paroled.'

"Synopsis of Testimony of John Dale.

"`My name is John Dale. I am the father of Virgil Dale. After Virgil was arrested and in jail waiting for trial, I went to see Mr. Hensler, prosecuting attorney, to see what Virgil was charged with. Mr. Hensler told me that it was highway robbery; that he had held up Frank Bull of St. Charles and robbed him of $7. I talked with Mr. Hensler about the case, and said that I would get a lawyer for Virgil, but Mr. Hensler said it was not necessary; "the boy has pleaded guilty and you need not do it." He said he would go with me to the judge and see what could be done about it, and that we would have a talk with the judge about paroling Virgil.

"`On the morning of the 18th of March (this was the day that Virgil's trial came up) I had a talk with Mr. Hensler, and he said the judge would be in on the 10:48 train, he supposed, and that we could see him; but Mr. Hensler said that he would see the judge and that everything would be all right, and I just relied on what Hensler said and did not get a lawyer for Virgil.' "Synopsis of Testimony of Mrs. Allie Jacobsen.

"`My name is Mrs. Allie Jacobsen. I went to see Mr. Hensler at his house and had a conversation with him about the trouble that Virgil was in. This was after Virgil was arrested and before they sentenced him to the pen. Mr. Hensler told me that we did not need a lawyer for Virgil; that he had already made a confession to him about the robbery, but that he knew that Virgil was not a bad boy and that he would help him out of his trouble; that he would do all in his power for him; that it was all in his hands and that he would go to the judge. I am an aunt of Virgil Dale.

"`I later had a conversation with Mr. Hensler at his office and he repeated about the same thing to me at his office that he had said to me at his house, and assured me that he would help Virgil out of the trouble at the same time I talked with him at his office. I asked him again if we would need a lawyer for Virgil and Mr. Hensler...