State v. Goodwin

• Decision Date: 12 December 1927
• Docket Number: No. 27914.,27914.
• Citation: 300 S.W. 723
• Parties: STATE v. GOODWIN et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

300 S.W. 723

STATE v. GOODWIN et al.

No. 27914.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

December 12, 1927.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Dunklin County; W. S. C. Walker, Judge.

Bill Goodwin and O. J. Abney were convicted of first degree robbery, and they appeal. Affirmed.

North T. Gentry, Atty. Gen., and David P. Janes, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

HENWOOD, C.

Appellants were jointly charged with first degree robbery in the circuit court of Dunklin county. They were tried together, and the jury found both of them guilty, and assessed the punishment of each of them at imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of 5 years. They were sentenced accordingly, and, after moving for a new trial without avail, they appealed.

The state's evidence showed that the alleged robbery occurred in the home of Luther Cross. He lived on the west side of state highway No. 25, about ¾ of a mile south of the town of Holcomb, in Dunklin county. Cross testified that on Saturday afternoon, October 3, 1925, he took "a piece of a load of cotton" to Holcomb and sold it for a little over $40. He put $15 in a bank, made a payment on a store account, paid $6.50 for a pair of pants for his son, Leonard, bought some groceries, and returned home with $2.35 of this money, which was in his pants pocket. His family, consisting of his wife, three girls, and three boys, retired early that evening, soon after 7 o'clock. He and his wife slept together in the north room, and his three boys slept together in another bed in the same room. The girls slept in the adjoining room on the south. When Cross undressed to go to bed, he hung his pants on a nail in the wall near the boys' bed. The $2.35 was in one of the pockets of the pants. About 3 o'clock Sunday morning, October 4, 1925, he was aroused by a rattle at the door, and about that time the door was opened and two men entered the room. The man in front wore a dark brown coat, and the man behind was low and heavy set and wore a "light shirt." The man in front carried a flashlight, which he flashed about the room. Neither of them were masked nor otherwise disguised. Cross, sitting up in bed, in quick succession inquired of the men "Who are you?" and "What do you want?" The man in the "light shirt" said, "Be still, or you will get hurt," in response to both inquiries. Cross' wife then said, "That's a holdup." The man in the dark brown coat, who was carrying the flashlight, then asked, "Where are your pants?" and Cross replied, "They are hanging up there on a nail." This man walked between the two beds and towards the nail in the wall, and Cross thought he got the pants, but he said they were not there. He asked Cross again where the pants were, and Cross told him they were on the library table, if not on the nail. He said they were not there and Cross answered that they were on the floor at the foot of his bed, if they were not on the library table. About this time both robbers left the house as suddenly as they entered. They got into an automobile standing on the highway about "fifty or sixty steps" north of the house and drove north in the direction of Holcomb. It was immediately discovered that Cross' pants and the $2.35 had been taken. The Cross family had known the appellant Bill Goodwin for several years, but did not know the appellant O. J. Abney. Cross testified that he saw the face of the man in the dark brown coat, and that he was Bill Goodwin, but he did not recognize him by his voice. His wife, Fannie Cross, testified that, as the robbers left the house, she said to her husband, "Luther, that's Bill Goodwin"; and he said, "I know it is." She further testified that she recognized Bill Goodwin by his voice. One of the boys, Ruey Cross, 12 years old, testified that he was awake and recognized Bill Goodwin, and saw him reach up and take the pants off of the nail. Both Mrs. Cross and Ruey said that the other man wore a "light shirt." Luther Cross further testified that his pants were worth about $1, and that his pants and the $2.35 were taken against his will; that he was afraid of being hurt and had no way to protect himself; that immediately after the robbery he started to Holcomb, in company with one of his neighbors, to look for Bill Goodwin, and found his pants along the road, but the $2.35 was gone; that he went to the home of J. R. Edwards, in Holcomb, where Bill Goodwin and his wife lived, and learned that the Goodwins were not there; that, among others, he reported the robbery to a justice of the peace; and that four days later he made the affidavit which started this prosecution against the appellant Bill Goodwin ; that about a month after Goodwin was arrested he met Goodwin on the highway south of Holcomb, and, after commenting on the weather, Goodwin said, "Have you seen the Abney boys yet?" and he replied, "I'll talk to you some other time"; that Goodwin then said, "I just want to give you a little advice," and he crossed the highway and left Goodwin, without waiting to get the advice so offered. On cross-examination, he denied that he stated or intimated, in conversations with other persons named, that he did not know who either of the robbers were.

It further appears from the state's evidence that on the afternoon before the robbery Abney and his wife came to the Edwards house, and that Goodwin and his wife left the house with the Abneys in an automobile that Goodwin and Abney returned to the house on some mission about 8:30 that evening, but were there no more until both couples came back in an automobile about 11 o'clock the next morning. Mrs. Lela Edwards testified that Abney had on a "light shirt" when at her house with Goodwin in the evening before the robbery and also when he came back the next morning. Her husband, J. R. Edwards, testified that he saw Goodwin, "by himself," on the street in Holcomb about 9:30 in the evening before the robbery, and that Abney was wearing a "light shirt" when Abney came to his house with Mrs. Abney and the Goodwins the next morning. It was further shown that the Goodwins and Abneys exchanged frequent visits and that Goodwin and Abney were brothers-in-law and frequent companions for some time prior to the robbery. Two other witnesses for the state, Blaine and Hogue, testified concerning some shoe tracks found along the side of the road in front of Cross' house a few hours after the robbery. Both of these witnesses were experienced in handling and selling shoes. Blaine said the tracks were made by shoes about 7 or 7½ in size, according to the measurements made of the tracks. Hogue said the tracks were made by shoes from 6½ to 7½ in size. Blaine, while on the stand, was questioned as to the size of the shoes which appellants were wearing at the trial. He estimated Goodwin's shoes at size 8 and Abney's at size 6½.

Both of the appellants took the stand in their own behalf, and, in substance, their testimony was to the same effect. They said that about 3 o'clock in the afternoon before the robbery they, together with their wives, left the Edwards house in Abney's car and drove...