State v. Hall, 61796
| Decision Date | 09 March 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 61796,No. 1,61796,1 |
| Citation | 612 S.W.2d 782 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. James L. HALL, Appellant |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Gary L. Gardner, Asst. Public Defender, Kansas City, for appellant.
Nancy D. Kelley, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.
WELBORN, Commissioner.
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Jackson County where a jury found James L. Hall guilty of capital murder and he was sentenced to life imprisonment without probation or parole for fifty years.
On April 25, 1978, Gayetta Mazzeri and James Miller resided in Kansas City at 7500 South Park in a home owned by Gayetta and her husband, Joe. Joe, who was then incarcerated in the penitentiary, had invited Miller to reside in an upstairs room while he was in the penitentiary. That evening Miller and Larry Barnes returned from a fishing trip and Miller, Barnes and Gayetta cleaned and cooked the fish, drank beer, smoked marijuana and watched television. A man whom Miller and Gayetta knew as "Paco" and whom they identified at trial as James Hall, knocked at the door, was allowed to enter, and joined the others around the television. There was conversation about Joe being imprisoned and about a gun Hall wanted to sell for $50 which he took out of his pocket and showed around and then returned to his pocket. Some ten to forty minutes later Gayetta and Miller heard the sound of a gun shot and saw that Barnes, still sitting on the couch, had been shot and that Hall was holding a gun on Miller. Hall ordered Miller to the bedroom, told Gayetta to undress and threatened to kill her, hit Miller on the back of the head with the gun, took a knife from his pocket and began slashing and stabbing Miller. Miller fought back and during the fight Gayetta escaped to a neighbor's and phoned the police. Miller too ran to a neighbor's. While in the bedroom Gayetta had asked Hall why he shot Barnes. Hall's reply was, according to Miller, "Because Larry burned a buddy of mine for $10,000," or, according to Gayetta, "Larry ________ a friend of mine, and they paid me $10,000 to do that."
At trial letters dated before April 25 from Joe to Gayetta, and which Joe testified he had written, were introduced. In these letters Joe threatened to kill Miller if Gayetta had anything to do with him and he stated that he heard from a little bird that she was having sexual relations with Miller. On April 25, Miller was not aware of these letters. Later another letter was shown Miller in which Joe had written in a postscript "Tell Jimmy I'm sorry Paco didn't get him, but I will." Joe testified that he had had no contact with Hall since he had been incarcerated.
At trial the defense testimony came primarily from police officers who testified that Hall told them that, on April 25, he went to several bars and spent the night at a girl friend's house whose address and location he had forgotten.
Appellant's first point is an allegation of error on the part of the trial court in failing to sustain his challenge for cause of venire person Patsy Pruitt.
Voir dire by the prosecutor revealed that Mrs. Pruitt had worked for four years as a secretary in the police department. That employment had terminated two years prior to the trial. She had, of course, come into contact with police officers in that job.
In response to a question by defense counsel in voir dire, Mrs. Pruitt stated that her husband was a police department detective, in the Crimes Against Property Unit.
Appellant's challenge to Mrs. Pruitt went as follows:
Appellant's point states that the trial court erred in failing to exercise its discretion and make an independent factual determination of Pruitt's fairness and...
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