State v. Edmondson
| Decision Date | 08 June 1964 |
| Docket Number | No. 1,No. 49591,49591,1 |
| Citation | 379 S.W.2d 486 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. George Ben EDMONDSON, Appellant |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
John B. Newberry, Springfield, for appellant.
Thomas F. Eagleton, Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, Dale Reesman, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Boonville, for respondent.
HOUSER, Commissioner.
George Ben Edmondson, convicted of robbery in the first degree, Sec. 560.120, V.A.M.S., and committed to the Department of Corrections for a period of 30 years, has appealed.
About 9:25 p. m. on December 23, 1961, after the J. C. Penney Store at Springfield closed its business for the day, two of its employees, Costello and Stockton, carried five money bags containing several hundred dollars of store receipts to the night depository of Union Nationl Bank on the public square. The night depository, located at the front of the bank, is about 2 feet wide and 18 inches high. Night depositors are provided with a key to the chute in the night depository. After they approached the bank and as Costello was ready to insert the key they were accosted by a man in a trench coat, who had been observed standing in the doorway of an adjacent building. He ordered them to drop the money bags. A carbine rifle protruded about 18 inches from under his coat. Stockton and Costello, not desiring to 'argue with the gun,' dropped the bags and at the man's direction went around the corner, faced the side of the bank building and put their hands up against the wall. Directed to 'stay there,' and told that 'Wehn this gun shoots it isn't particular,' they stayed in this position until they no longer heard the footsteps of the fleeing man. Then they went around the corner, found that three money bags were missing, took the two money bags still lying on the ground, and deposited them. At the trial both Costello and Stockton identified defendant as the man who robbed them.
On december 25 the Sheriff of Greene County wired the sheriff at Albuquerque, New Mexico information that George Ben Edmondson was wanted for investigation of armed robbery of the J. C. Penney Store. In response to this telegram, but without a warrant for arrest or a search warrant, the city police department of Albuquerque, having found that one Edmondson was registered at a local motel, called the room telephone about 9 p. m., talked to this defendant and informed him that the place was well covered, and asked him to come to the front door. Edmondson did so and identified himself. The officers placed him under arrest, and he was handcuffed. The officers told him they were looking for 'some items' in connection with a report they had, and that they wanted to look in the motel room. Edmondson said 'Go in; you are welcome to come in.' Inside the officers found two shaving kits containing $4,866.49, hidden behind a panel in the bathroom. Edmondson's automobile was parked about 10 feet from the front door, on a public parking lot. The police searched the automobile at the motel, at the scene of the arrest, but it was 'too cold' and a thorough search was not made. After Edmondson was taken into custody the officers took the automobile to the police station, where it was driven into the police department garage for a thorough search. It was in the custody of a defective. Still acting without a search warrant and at about 12:30 or 1 o'clock on the morning of December 26 the city police officers thoroughly searched the car, this time finding a small piece of paper on the floorboard under the driver's seat, on which was typed 'Not for Deposit J. C. Penney Co.' and a number 282 written in ink. This was later identified as an identification slip which had been placed on the money bags owned by J. C. Penney Company to identify the bags and the number 282 was the number of the key which J. C. Penney had to open the night depository box at the bank. This slip of paper, marked State's Exhibit E, was introduced in evidence over defendant's objection that the search and seizure under which it was obtained violated the defendant's rights under the Federal Constitution and the constitutions of New Mexico and Missouri. The constitutional question was kept alive in defendant's motion for new trial and briefs on appeal.
The Fourth Amendment to the Federal Constitution provides:
'The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.'
Under the search and seizure provisions of the federal and state constitutions a search warrant ordinarily must issue before a search and seizure may be made. There is an exception where the search and...
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