State v. Garrison, 45955
| Citation | 305 S.W.2d 447 |
| Decision Date | 14 October 1957 |
| Docket Number | No. 45955,No. 1,45955,1 |
| Parties | STATE of Missourl, Respondent, v. William Marion GARRISON, Appellant |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Missouri |
No brief filed for appellant.
John M. Dalton, Atty. Gen., Harold L. Henry, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.
By information filed in the Circuit Court of Greene County, defendant, William Marion Garrison, was charged with the crime of using and uttering as true a forged check with intent to defraud, as defined in Section 561.011, RSMo 1949, Supp.1955, V.A.M.S. Seeking imposition of the additional punishment prescribed under the habitual criminal statutes, Section 556.280, RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S., the information also alleged prior convictions of defendant of the crimes of forgery and his sentence to and discharge from the Missouri Penitentiary. Trial to a jury resulted in a verdict finding defendant 'guilty as charged in the information', the further finding that previous to the commission of said offense defendant had been convicted of a felony, to wit, forgery, under the laws of Missouri, imprisoned therefor in the State Penitentiary and discharged in compliance with the sentence, as charged in the information, and assessing his punishment at imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for a term of ten years. Following judgment and sentence, defendant appealed. No brief has been filed in his behalf. We, therefore, review the valid assignments of error set forth in the motion for new trial, Supreme Court Rule 27.20, 42 V.A.M.S., and the record entries designated in S.Ct. Rule 28.08.
Error is assigned in: (a) the overruling of defendant's motion for a directed verdict; (b) the admission into evidence of (1) a blank check (State's Exhibit 'C') taken from defendant's motor truck following his arrest and (2) the utterance by defendant of a second forged check on the same day of the utterance of the check charged in the information; (c) the denial of his motion to strike from the information the allegation of one of his prior convictions of forgery; and (d) the admission of certain of the evidence relating to his former convictions and the submission of that issue.
The evidence in behalf of the State tended to show:
On Saturday, May 26, 1956, in Springfield, Missouri, defendant entered the grocery store of Olive L. Hall and tendered a check, in words and figures following:
'Hedgpeth Commission Company
Ray Hedgpeth
Given for .... Cattle 2 Calves 3 Hogs .... Sheep
Ninty Eight ................................................ 20/100 DOLLARS
To Hedgpeth Commission Co., Springfield, Mo.
80-14 Present Through The Citizens Bank 80-14
This check void if not cashed within sixty days.
Hedgpeth Commission Company
Shippers Proceeds Account
By/s/Ray Hedgpeth.'
Believing the check genuine, Mr. Hall indicated his willingness to cash it. Defendant thereupon endorsed the name 'Harry Denton' on the back thereof, received the sum of $98.20, and purchased groceries in the amount of two or three dollars. On Monday, May 28, 1956, Mr. Hall deposited the check in the Citizens Bank. Shortly thereafter, it was returned with the notation 'No account'.
Formerly, there had been a firm of Hedgpeth Commission Company in Springfield, of which Ray Hedgpeth had been a member. The check was on a printed form used by that company when it was engaged in business. The Hedgpeth Company, however, had ceased to do business in 1945 or 1946 and had closed out its account in the Citizens Bank at that time. After the business was closed, Ray Hedgpeth had used some of the check forms around the home for 'scratch pads' and probably some of them had been taken to the 'junk pile'. The name 'Ray Hedgpeth' appearing on the check as drawer is a forgery and the name 'Harry Denton' appearing on it as endorser is also a forgery.
Over objection of defendant, Paul Francka was permitted to testify in substance following: He operates a restaurant and filling station in Greene County, Missouri. On the same day that defendant cashed the check at the Hall grocery store, he also presented to Mr. Francka a check identical in words and figures with the check given to Hall, except that the check tendered Francka bore the serial number 42328. Francka inspected the check, thought it was genuine and indicated his willingness to accept it. Defendant thereupon endorsed the name 'Harry D. Denton' on the back thereof and received the sum of $98.20 from Francka's clerk. That check was also a forgery.
On June 30, 1956, Harold C. Willis, a deputy sheriff of Greene County, possessed of a warrant for the arrest of defendant on a 'bogus check' charge, arrested him as he sat in his motor vehicle. Following the arrest, a search was made of the person of defendant and his motor vehicle. Over objection of defendant, the witness was then permitted to testify that he found State's Exhibit 'C' in the glove compartment of the motor vehicle, 'slipped in between * * * the cloth portion that forms the compartment and cardboard that covers it.' Exhibit 'C', admitted into evidence by the trial court, is a printed form of blank check identical in form with the printed check forms presented to and cashed by Hall and Francka, except that it bears serial number 42301.
Original records of judgments of the Circuit Court of Greene County showing the prior convictions of defendant of the crimes of forgery pleaded in the information were received in evidence and read to the jury. The first, rendered on September 26, 1949, fixed defendant's punishment in the Missouri Penitentiary for a term of two years. The latter, rendered on March 17, 1954, fixed his punishment in said penitentiary for a term of three years. The court also admitted into evidence over objection of defendant two documents, each entitled 'Missouri State Penitentiary, Certified Transcript of Serial Record'. Both were duly attested by the Warden of the Missouri State Penitentiary as true and correct copies of prison records. The first was the record of 'W. M. Garrison-William Marion Garrison'. It recited that his age was 48 years, that his offense was forgery in Greene County, 'sentence 2 yrs., Sept. 26, 1949', and that he had been 'discharged under commutation of sentence * * * Dec. 22, 1950'. The latter was the record of 'Wm. Marion Garrison'. It recited that his age was 53 years, that his offense was forgery in Greene County, 'sentence 3 yrs., March 17, 1954,' and that he was 'discharged under commutation of sentence * * * March 2, 1956'. Both records stated that the name of the prisoner's wife was 'Mrs. Rachel Garrison', of Springfield, Missouri.
The only evidence in behalf of defendant was the testimony of his wife, Mrs. Rachel Garrison, to wit: She had been married to defendant for more than thirty years. On Saturday, May 26, 1956, she and her husband were together throughout the day and evening, engaged, during the daytime, in gathering scrap iron in and around the cities of Fairplay, Bolivar, Stockton and Marshall. He did not acquire 'any money of consequence' on that day.
The evidence clearly supports a finding that defendant used and uttered as true the forged check described in the information with intent to defraud and that the court did not err in refusing to direct his acquittal.
We next consider the complaint made of the admission into...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Anderson
... ... State v. Garrison, Mo.Sup., 305 S.W.2d 447 ... Defendant contends that the court erred in admitting evidence which tended to show that he was guilty ... ...
-
State v. Redding, 49066
... ... State v. Burns, Mo., 328 S.W.2d 711; State v. Garrison, Mo., 305 S.W.2d 447; State v. Peterson, Mo., 305 S.W.2d 695; State v. Romprey, Mo., 339 S.W.2d 746. An affidavit could hardly be of less effect ... ...
-
State v. Green
... ... State v. Fisher, Mo., 302 S.W.2d 902, 905; State v. Garrison, Mo., 305 S.W.2d 447, decided concurrently with this case. We think that the money order receipts, the photostats of the money orders and the return ... ...
-
State v. Reagan
... ... Garrison, Mo.Sup., 305 S.W.2d 447; State v. Kelly, Mo.Sup., 258 S.W.2d 611; State v. Humphrey, 357 Mo. 824, 210 S.W.2d 1002; State v. Schneider, 325 Mo. 486, ... ...