State v. Gaskill
| Decision Date | 25 June 1925 |
| Docket Number | No. 36439.,36439. |
| Citation | 204 N.W. 213,200 Iowa 644 |
| Parties | STATE v. GASKILL. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from District Court, Polk County; W. G. Bonner, Judge.
The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree, and his punishment fixed at imprisonment for life. From the judgment he appeals. Affirmed.C. O. Holly and Ben J. Holly, both of Des Moines, for appellant.
Ben J. Gibson, Atty. Gen., and Neill Garrett, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
The appellant and Cecil Mickle were jointly indicted for the murder of Thomas P. Griffin. They were separately tried. Mickle's conviction was affirmed by this court. State v. Mickle, 202 N. W. 549. While the evidence in the two cases was not in all respects identical, there was evidence in the instant case tending to show that the shooting of Griffin occurred under circumstances susbtantially as set out in the opinion in the Mickle Case. In that case, however, the written confession of Mickle was in evidence to the effect that he fired the fatal shot, and he testified on his own behalf in denial of the truthfulness of the statement in the confession. On the trial of this case Mickle appeared as a witness for the state, and detailed the circumstances of the shooting substantially as he did in his own defense, and the admission in his written confession was used in impeachment of his testimony. With this explanation, it will not be necessary to here set out the circumstances of the crime, further than may be required for a consideration of the questions presented on the appeal.
It is the contention of the appellant (1) that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict; (2) that there is no sufficient corroboration of the testimony of Mickle, an accomplice; and (3) that the court erred in admitting in evidence a certain lease signed by appellant in an assumed name.
I. It will be more convenient to consider the first two assignments of error together. The testimony of Mickle was to the effect that he and appellant, at about 6:30 p. m., or a little later, on the evening of the shooting, November 15, 1923, left the residence of his mother on Third street, in the city of Des Moines, to go into the Rock Island Railroad yards to see what merchandise they could find in the cars; that they each had an automatic gun--Mickle's being a .45, and appellant's of smaller caliber; that when in the yards in the vicinity of Sixteenth street, as a freight train was pulling out, he heard some one calling, wanting to know what they were doing down there; that they started to run, and he heard a shot; he did not know who fired it; that appellant told him to come back, and he turned around, but did not go back; that as he turned around he saw firing that seemed to be north of him; that next he saw appellant coming from the north; that they went south along the track for a way; that he asked appellant if any one was shot, and appellant said he thought so, and told him (Mickle) to keep still; that they went back to Mickle's place, and Mickle gave his gun to appellant, who said he would get rid of them; that Mickle went in the house a few minutes, and they then went to Betty Ruth's house on Ninth street, and appellant made arrangements for them to sleep there, which they did; that the next morning they went back to Mickle's, and that appellant cleaned the guns there; that they remained there that day, and about 8 o'clock went to a restaurant, entering the back door and eating in the kitchen; and that that night they spent at Mickle's.
There was testimony from others that two men were seen in the vicinity of the shooting just before the shots were heard, and after the shooting were seen running from the scene, but the witnesses were unable to identify them. It was then dark. There was abundant corroboration of Mickle's testimony as to the movements of himself and appellant from the time they reached Mickle's residence, after the shooting, until some time later, and that on the day following the shooting Mickle was cleaning a small automatic pistol. Griffin was found dead immediately after the shooting. The testimony showed that two bullets fired from a .32 caliber automatic gun were found in his body and his clothing, and exploded shells of the same caliber were found on the ground near where the body lay. There was testimony from others than Mickle that on the second night after the shooting Mickle and appellant were talking about running, and that some one shot at them; that on another occasion, when those present were talking of the Griffin murder, appellant said he had been in a tight place and had to shoot his way out. Jack Bass testified that on the Sunday following the shooting appellant asked him to go with him (appellant) to the east side and get a car, that he had a sale for it, and told the witness to bring a gun; that Bass said he did not need a...
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State v. Leitzke
...and actions embodied in the “admission,” as well as other acts and circumstances adding to the proof of the offense (State v. Gaskill, 200 Iowa, 644, 204 N. W. 213), for in making these declarations the testifiers said no more than appellant himself has admitted. That is quite different fro......