State v. Goacher

• Decision Date: 09 March 1964
• Docket Number: No. 49930,No. 2,49930,2
• Citation: 376 S.W.2d 97
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Carroll Wayne GOACHER, Appellant
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 97

376 S.W.2d 97

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Carroll Wayne GOACHER, Appellant.

No. 49930.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

March 9, 1964.

Robert B. Randolph, St. Joseph, for appellant.

Thomas F. Eagleton, Atty. Gen., Richard R. Nacy, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.

EAGER, Judge.

The defendant was convicted of First Degree Murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was represented at the trial by three unusually diligent appointed counsel, and here by one equally so. Since it is actively urged that the evidence was insufficient for such a conviction, we find it necessary to state the somewhat complicated facts in detail.

Sylvester Ralph Puckett, a filling station operator in St. Joseph, sixty-six years of age, was killed in his station at some time between 7:00 a. m. and approximately 8:30 a. m. on November 3, 1961. He was slain by being brutally beaten about the head with a 'semi-sharp' instrument, resulting in an 'egg-shell' or curshing fracture of the skull with 'multiple breaks all over the skull' and visible destruction of brain tissue. The undertaker testified that he counted thirty-three cuts on the victim's head. Mr. Puckett died shortly after reaching a hospital. There was little or no controversy over the fact that the blows were inflicted by a bloody, metal tire tool found by the police on the station floor. The filling station was at the corner of 8th and Monterey Streets. Mr. Puckett and driven his wife from their home to the bus line at 6th and Monterey where he left her about 6:50. She testified that he then had on his person $50 to $60, some in his billfold and some pinned in a shirt pocket, and that after his death she only got back 'some little items' and pieces of tobacco. No billfold was found at the hospital.

The defendant lived across the Missouri River bridge in Elwood, Kansas, with his mother, who was a nurse's aid at the Methodist Hospital in St. Joseph. He was 16 years old at the time of the death of Puckett, 17 at trial. Apparently, after defendant reached the sixth or seventh grade, he was transferred to a school for 'special education.' He had quit school prior to the occurrence in question here. He went to Chicago in October 1961, to look for a job, but had come home about a week prior to November 3. It was apparently his custom to go from his home to St. Joseph substantially every morning to take his girl friend, Linda Linder, to school; he had no car, getting there by hitchhiking or as best he could; then, if her brother's car was in operating condition, he would drive her to school, otherwise he would 'walk' her to the bus stop, about two blocks away. Linda was in the 11th grade. The Linders lived at 2140 South 9th; their home was eight blocks from Mr. Puckett's filling station.

One of the principal controversies arose over the testimony as to the times of defendant's various activities on that morning; coupled with this was the fact that 'Bud' Linder's car would not start because the starter had been removed. We digest that testimony briefly. Linda testified for the defendant that he arrived at her house about 7:00 o'clock, 'walked' her two blocks to the bus corner, and left her. Linda's sister Barbara (put on the stand by the State) testified that defendant came about 7:00, walked Linda to the bus line, and came back about 7:10 or 7:15; that he sat down for a while and then went outside to see about fixing her brother's car, after which he was 'in and out'; that he was still around when she sent the 'kids' to school about 8:25, and that he left about ten or fifteen minutes before nine. When asked if she had not previously stated that the brother's car (and defendant) were gone about 8:00, she testified that she had been informed by a woman named 'Pat' not to tell 'exactly what I knew,' and not to tell everything. Jerry Blake (produced by the State), who lived just west of the Linders, testified that on November 3, 1961, defendant came to his house 'around 7:30 a. m.,' for help in starting a car, but that his own battery was down; that they both went across the alley to a garage or repair shop and tried to borrow a booster battery, but were told to come back later; that he, Blake, went home and defendant went back to Linders; that about 8:25 they went back to the shop, got the battery and started Blake's car, whereupon he pushed the Linder car (with defendant driving) and got it started; that he last saw defendant about 8:30.

A driver for Budweiser Distributors, Paul Hill, drove his truck into the driveway of Puckett's station at about 8:30 a. m. He knew Puckett. As he stopped, he first stepped into the interior of the truck to replace some yeast which had fallen down. Either just before or just after he arrived a Mercury car (described variously as green or blue, but nevertheless the Linder car) pulled into the station. While Hill was inside the truck defendant came over and said that 'something was wrong with the old man.' Hill then saw Puckett standing at the window bleeding, went across the street to 'Ross-Frazier's' (an auto supply store) and asked someone there to call the police; he returned, went into the station and tried to help Puckett. He managed to get him seated and tried to check the flow of blood from his head. Apparently defendant waited outside during most of that time, but he may have also been in the station. After a few minutes various police officers arrived; Puckett's head was covered with blood and he was bleeding profusely; he was taken away in an ambulance. Before he left, the police tried to talk to him, but got little response; two of the officers testified that Puckett said to one officer, 'Leo, I don't know why he did it'; Paul Hill testified that Puckett said, 'I don't know why they * * *.' On the floor of the station were two pools of blood; a bloody tire iron was found on the floor in one of these, and there were spots of blood on a vending machine and on the lower part of the front door. Some hair was found on the tire tool. There was some testimony that the cash register was open and disarranged. The police talked to defendant briefly; he stated that he had just come there to get air in a tire, had discovered Puckett's condition, and had asked Paul Hill to call the police because he had no money; no blood was observed on defendant's clothing and the witnesses disagreed as to whether he seemed nervous or excited. Appellant was then wearing jeans and a rather long, dark jacket.

An employee at 'Ross-Frazier's' testified that defendant came there after the ambulance left, wanted his car pushed and, when he heard them discussing Puckett's injury, said, 'I hit him on the head,' and repeating,--'I hit the old s. o. b. in the head'; also, that defendant's eyes were glassy, and that he had a blank stare. A customer there at the time repeated defendant's statement as,--'I am the guy that killed him.' Both hearers were somewhat shocked, and the employee testified that he reported it to his boss, to the detectives who came there, and later to 'juvenile authorities.' It seems apparent that when defendant finally got the Linder car pushed and started he went back to the Linder house where he stayed a while; at about 11:30 he went to the home of a friend, Gary Proctor, in St. Joseph, still using the Linder car. From this point we take up Gary Proctor's testimony as to the events of that day. Gary was 19 years old and worked nights. He testified that defendant asked him if he knew Mr. Puckett who had been hit in the head, but Gary did not. They went to defendant's home in Kansas, where Gary waited in the car about fifteen minutes; defendant came out with a small pocketbook, some one dollar bills and four or five dollars in change; thence they proceeded to a filling station where defendant bought one dollar's worth of gas; thereafter they went to the 'Tin Barn' where Gary made a $10 payment on his car. The crux of Gary's testimony, however, was that enroute to Kansas and on the bridge defendant 'pulled a dark leather billfold out of his left hand coat pocket and threw it out of the car window' by throwing it up over the top of the car 'to the north'; that it 'hit that side railing and glanced off and landed on the bridge.' Gary asked defendant 'why' he did this, and defendant said that it was 'just an old billfold he found.' When they got back to Gary's home they ate lunch, then went to a filling station in an effort to get a hoist to repair the car; being unsuccessful, they went to the Methodist Hospital where defendant went in to see his mother; he came out in 10-15 minutes, saying that 'the old man was dead.' Gary left defendant and went to work about 4:00 p. m. He positively identified the billfold produced in evidence as the one he saw defendant have in the car. There was much impeaching testimony to the effect that (among other things) Gary had testified in his deposition that defendant only bought forty-six cents worth of gas with pennies; that it only 'looked like' he had thrown something out of the window of the car, and that the police had intimidated him. We note here that the verity of Gary's trial testimony was solely a matter for the jury; and, incidentally, he testified at the trial that defendant's counsel had made him 'afraid of him' at and just prior to the taking of his deposition. He further testified at the trial that he first went to the police 'of my own free will' to tell about the billfold. He later confronted defendant on November 6, when the latter was being questioned by the police. Defense counsel have filed here an affidavit of Gary Proctor supposedly repudiating his trial testimony; this was executed in July, 1963, long after the judgment and sentence; it was never presented to the trial court, and it is of no relevancy whatever here. It is wholly unnecessary to relate all the controversies shown in this voluminous record concerning Gary's testimony.

The...