State v. Goodwin

• Decision Date: 08 January 1962
• Docket Number: No. 48154,48154
• Citation: 352 S.W.2d 614
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Marcus GOODWIN, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 614

352 S.W.2d 614

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Marcus GOODWIN, Appellant.

No. 48154.

Supreme Court of Missouri, En Banc.

Jan. 8, 1962.

Lee Virtis Swinton, Leonard Hughes, Jr., Kansas City, for appellant.

Thomas F. Eagleton, Atty. Gen., George W. Draper, II, Asst. Atty. Gen., Ben Ely, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.

LEEDY, Judge.

Marcus Goodwin was convicted of murder in the first degree in having killed Mazie Lee, and he appeals from the judgment sentencing him to the extreme penalty as fixed by the verdict.

The trial was exceedingly brief, having begun and ended on the same day. That portion of the transcript embodying the evidence consists of about thirty-five pages, thus indicating the likelihood that not more than one hour was consumed in hearing the evidence. Such extreme brevity would naturally affect the error potential of the trial, and perhaps account, at least in part, for the want of more numerous assignments than the four appearing in his motion for new trial, as follows '1. Because the verdict is the result of bias and prejudice on the part of the jury.

'2. Because the State made improper arguments to the jury concerning a revolver when there was no evidence adduced from the witness concerning whether the revolver was loaded or unloaded.

'3. Because the State failed to introduce enough evidence of the corpus delicti that was independent on the extra judicial confession of the defendant.

'4. Because the attorney for the defendant was unable to get any cooperation from the defendant in preparing his defense, therefore, his trial was not one which accorded him of his constitutional rights.'

The evidence on the part of the state consisted of the testimony of three members of the Police Department of Kansas City, a deputy coroner of Jackson County, photographs of the premises in question, and the defendant's written confession, an outline of which follows:

The defendant (age 36) and Mazie, although not married, had been living together as man and wife since 1954, meanwhile becoming the parents of three children. A few weeks prior to the date of the homicide (May 30, 1959) they had 'split up,' and Mazie and the three children moved to 1612 East 26th to live. Shortly after 5 a. m., on the day in question a patrolman, Kenneth Simpson, 'had occasion to investigate a call for information' at 1612 East 26th Street. On arrival there he found the glass in the front door had been broken. He entered, and passing through several rooms, went to the rear of the house and found Mazie (clad in nightgown and panties) lying on the kitchen floor. She had been shot and stabbed but she was conscious. There was blood around her. This witness saw two wounds, but did not know whether there were more. There was blood on the floor and on the refrigerator, and also in the kitchen sink or drainboard. A revolver and a butcher knife (with blood on it) were lying on the drain of the sink. Defendant was nowhere about the premises. An ambulance was called and Mazie was sent to General Hospital where at 9:15 o'clock that morning she was pronounced dead.

At 8:40 the same morning, William Frank Linhart, a police officer assigned to the homicide bureau, was dispatched to 3025 Montgall, a converted dwelling that had been divided into several apartments, and which were occupied, one of them by defendant. On arrival the witness found that an explosion (admittedly caused by defendant) had severely damaged the structure, the south wall in that portion occupied by defendant having been completely blown out, and the premises littered with debris. He found a pool of blood next to the gas heater and also found blood on the sink and in the kitchen leading to where the gas heater was situated, indicating 'it was going from the stove to the sink * * * or from the sink to the stove, either way.' The witness then proceeded to General Hospital (to which place defendant had been removed shortly before the arrival of the witness at the scene of the explosion) where he observed defendant undergoing treatment, but because the patient was then suffering from what was diagnosed as first and second degree burns which covered about 20% of his body, only limited questioning of him by the witness was permitted. The witness testified that during the course of such questioning the defendant admitted he shot and stabbed Mazie, and thereafter attempted to take his life, first by cutting his wrists, and that being too slow, then by placing 'himself on the floor next to the gas outlet, disconnecting the heater and placing it in his mouth and covering himself with a blanket and pillow,' and finally by lighting a match, causing the explosion; that defendant also stated that had the police arrived prior to the explosion he would have done some provocative act 'or attempted something in order for a policeman to shoot him'--in other words, he wanted the police to take his life, and would have done something to make them shoot him. The witness did not know whether defendant was under sedation at the time he interrogated him at General Hospital, and did not recall whether he was bleeding.

At the time of the explosion there were other people in the apartment house--and, in particular, a man, woman and two children were in the unit adjoining defendant's in which the explosion occurred.

Various photographs of the scene of the explosion at 3025 Montgall and of the premises, interior and exterior, at 1612 East 26th Street were offered and received in evidence without objection. Those of the deceased's dead body were identified, but excluded, and not received in evidence, nor exhibited to the jury.

The third police officer witness in the case, Detective Arthur Jenkins, identified a written statement dated June 25, 1959, and signed by defendant. When offered in evidence as 'State's Exhibit 15,' defendant's counsel, after having interrogated the witness concerning the circumstances under which it was made (disclosing its voluntary nature), stated expressly that there was no objection to its admission in evidence, and it was accordingly received, and read to the jury. Omitting caption, signature, jurat, and such matters as his name, place of birth, residence, employer, and the fact that he had been advised of his constitutional rights, and other portions not relevant to the one matter (hereinafter discussed) which prompts our making such an extended outline of the facts, the statement proceeds in this way:

'Q Have you been having trouble with Mazie Lee since you have been separated?

'A Yes, one night about six weeks ago I got drunk at the Cavalier Hotel where I have been employed. I talked to Mazie Lee over the telephone and I wanted to go by and see the children and she told me no--I couldn't see them. First she told me to come on over, and when I got over to her house on 26th St. she wouldn't let me in, and I jumped through the living room window and went in anyway.

'Q Were you arrested at this time? A Yes.

'Q Were you taken to Police Court?

'A No--she told the policeman I was drunk and she wanted them to take me out of there. They took me to jail and held me over night and released me the next day.

'Q When did Mazie Lee have you arrested again?

'A I believe it was on Wednesday night, May 27th, she came down and got a warrant for me for disturbing the peace.

'Q. Were you then taken to Police Court?

'A Yes--I went to court on Friday morning, May 29th, where I was fined $25.00 for disturbing the peace. I couldn't pay the $25.00 fine, and I appealed the case to Circuit Court.

'Q Were you out on bond in this disturbing the peace case?

'A Yes.

'Q When is the next time you saw Mazie Lee?

'A I don't remember what time it was but it was sometime early Saturday morning, May 30th.

'Q Where was it you saw her that morning?

'A At her home I guess.

'Q. Do you recall what happened?

'A I don't remember what happened but things came back to me when I was going to General Hospital in an ambulance after the explosion.

'Q What explosion was this?

'A The house at 3025 Montgall where I live.

'Q Now, what do you recall happened, while you were going to the hospital?

'A While I was laying down in the ambulance, the first thing I thought about was myself. I remember cutting my two wrists and laid down on the floor at 3025 Montgall, and pulled the hose off the gas heater and turned the gas on and swallowed gas about three or four hours. I hadn't died then so I took a match and lit it and tried to blow myself up.

'Q Did an explosion occur at 3025 Montgall as the result of your lighting the match?

'A Yes--it blowed the whole wall out and blowed me out with it.

'Q When did you recall or remember being at Mazie Lee's home at 1612 E. 26th St.?

'A After I got to the hospital.

'Q Do you recall what happened?

'A Not exactly word for word, the the first thing that came to me was that I had shot my wife, Mazie Lee.

'Q Do you recall what happened?

'A Like I told you--I don't remember what time I left my house and went to her place. I don't recall how I got there. It all seemed like a dream to me while I was at the hospital.

'Q Do you remember being at 1612 E. 26th St.?

'A It all came to me after the explosion, that I had shot Mazie Lee.

'Q How did you get in the house at 1612 E. 26th St.?

'A I broke the glass out of the front door or front window, and entered.

'Q Where was Mazie Lee then?

'A She was in the kitchen.

'Q Did you have the gun with you when you broke in the door?

'A Yes.

'Q What happened after you went in the kitchen where Mazie was?

'A I must have shot her.

'Q Did you also stab her? A Yes.'

Detective James also produced the revolver and butcher knife which defendant (in the foregoing statement) had identified as the weapons with which he shot and stabbed Mazie. Both were offered and received in evidence.

The deputy coroner described five separate bullet wounds found on various parts of Mazie's body (one in the right...