State v. Hancock
| Citation | 104 S.W.2d 241,340 Mo. 918 |
| Decision Date | 21 April 1937 |
| Docket Number | 35122 |
| Parties | The State v. Joseph C. Hancock, Appellant |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Missouri |
Appeal from Greene Circuit Court; Hon. Ray Watson, Judge.
Reversed and remanded.
Charles Farrington and Fred Stewart for appellant.
Roy McKittrick, Attorney General, Wm. Orr Sawyers Assistant Attorney General, and Aubrey R. Hammett for respondent.
(1) The court properly admitted in evidence statements made by appellant on the day he was arrested. Such statements were voluntarily made. State v. Prunty, 208 S.W. 96. (2) The court properly overruled the motion by appellant to force the prosecuting attorney to give appellant statements made by appellant during an investigation by the State. State ex rel. Mo. Pac. Railroad Co. v. Hall, 325 Mo. 105, 27 S.W.2d 1027. (3) The court did not err in giving Instruction 3 for the reason that such instruction has been approved by this court on circumstantial evidence. Sec. 3681, R. S. 1929; State ex rel. v. Trimble, 18 S.W.2d 21.
Bohling C. Cooley and Westhues, CC., concur.
Joseph C. Hancock appeals from a judgment imposing a sentence of life imprisonment for the murder of Irene Hancock, his wife, at Springfield, Missouri.
Defendant has filed no brief. His motion for new trial contains assignments of alleged error in sixteen paragraphs. We proceed with the briefing of these assignments on behalf of defendant and their determination.
The testimony covering defendant's criminal agency is wholly circumstantial. Its sufficiency is questioned.
The evidence stands uncontradicted that deceased died from strychnine poisoning. It also established that a $ 5000 life insurance policy was carried on the life of deceased providing for double indemnity in case of death by accident, with the daughter of deceased (a child of approximately three years) named as beneficiary; that defendant desired the policy changed so as to substitute himself or himself and daughter as beneficiary; that immediately after the death of deceased, the beneficiary not having been changed, defendant desired the proceeds of the policy placed in his custody for the purpose, stated by defendant, of creating a trust fund for his daughter and for use by himself in a business venture; and that defendant had become infatuated with Mary Adams, cousin of deceased, and was also associating with another woman at times.
A number of witnesses testified to statements made by defendant concerning his wife's death. Their testimony was to the effect defendant stated he arrived home from work about 5:15 P. M. Monday, March 4, 1935, went into the house, saw his wife on the couch having convulsions, didn't go to her but ran out of the house to have a doctor called; that he told Miss June Miles, who worked at a nearby lunch stand, to call Dr. Beatie; that he returned to his home, saw Miss Bessie Huff, a next door neighbor, and had her call Dr. Beatie. Miss Miles testified she was late to work on the day in question; that as she was going to work defendant called to her to "call Dr. Beatie right away;" "tell him to hurry;" that the electric clock in the lunch stand was 6:14 P. M. when she went in to call the doctor. Miss Huff testified she quit work at 6 P. M. and went directly home; that when she was at the door of her garage defendant asked her to call Dr. Beatie quickly, saying "Irene was dying" and asked her to come over; that she called Dr. Beatie and went over to defendant's home; that deceased was having convulsions when she arrived and died about thirty minutes later; that the only words uttered by deceased were "I can't move" and, in response to witness' admonition to be quiet, she was better: "no" and "I am warm," making no statement as to how her condition came about; that defendant told witness "she took a dose of salts and threw up her hands and went to screaming." Dr. Beatie testified that he received two telephone calls and, upon arriving at the Hancock home, found Mrs. Hancock unconscious, having convulsions; that she died as he was preparing to give her a hypodermic; that defendant stated he and his wife had been getting along fine, "she hadn't taken anything only some salts;" that he called for the salts and defendant brought him a paper bag labeled "Epsom salts;" "that he tasted the contents and it was salts." That evening defendant picked a glass, which had a whitish sediment in it, up from the cabinet and said to a Mrs. Elliott: "Say, Elsie, she has taken a dose of salts today," and turned on the faucet and rinsed the glass. This glass is not mentioned in the testimony of Dr. Beatie or Dr. George, the coroner, who made an investigation that evening; but defendant stated to another witness that Dr. Beatie and he had looked at the glass and decided it contained salts. Defendant made statements to witnesses that either Mr. or Mrs. Lewis Adams, parents of deceased, who had been living at defendant's home, had been taking strychnine tablets for heart trouble; that the tablets had been left in the house upon their departure; that deceased had been taking reducing tablets but he had prevailed upon her to discontinue the tablets and take salts instead; and that the strychnine tablets were small, flat shaped, round, white tablets and the reducing tablets were round and larger, brown tablets. Dr. George, in company with defendant, made a search of the place but found no strychnine.
Mary Adams testified she was a cousin of deceased; that she lived with deceased and defendant from October, 1934, until some time in February, 1935; that Mr. and Mrs. Adams were living at defendant's home when she came (and we gather from other testimony that the parents went to Florida prior to the death of their daughter); that defendant and deceased had frequent and sometimes violent quarrels; that defendant made fun of the parents, their religion and deceased's religion, told deceased he "thought lots of" a Helen Lewis and was seeing her, wanted and urged deceased to secure a divorce; that deceased did not want a divorce; that, answering defendant during one of the quarrels, deceased said: "Well, if you will get the poison I will take it," but, to witness' knowledge, never made any reference to suicide but the one time and that when witness departed both defendant and deceased wanted her to remain.
There was evidence that on two occasions deceased sought refuge in the home of Miss Huff and, a short time before her death, consulted Dr. Beatie concerning the actions of her husband.
George Stewart, who sometimes sold automobiles, testified that in a conversation with defendant about two or three weeks prior to his wife's death, defendant stated Upon being asked what he was going to do with his wife, defendant said: "I am going to send her to Florida to her people and let them do whatever they want to." Shortly thereafter defendant, while looking at some cars at the motor company's place of business, remarked to Stewart: "I can't buy now but I will see you in about thirty days."
Mrs. W. L. Duncan, a neighbor, testified that deceased informed her defendant was going to Kansas City and she stayed with deceased the Saturday night preceding her death; that about 10:00 A. M. Sunday defendant came in, appeared very nervous, stated he had not gone to Kansas City but had gone to Bronaugh, the home of Miss Adams. Miss Adams testified defendant came to her home on the Saturday in question, stating he had been to Kansas City, and that Bronaugh was off the direct Springfield-Kansas City route.
Defendant shipped his wife's body to Florida, accompanying it.
Among other statements attributed to defendant were statements to the effect he had been looking for the insurance policy but had not found it; that he did not want the body removed from the home; that he was going to seal the vault; that the doctors had told him nobody could blame him for what happened; that they had the insurance policy in Florida and would not let him have it; and, when accused by deceased's father that he had murdered his daughter, "Well, you can't prove it."
Upon defendant's return to Springfield, he was held for investigation. We shall not detail the statements made by defendant to the officers. They were to the following effect That defendant and his wife had been getting along as well as any married couple could; that he had not been out of town for three weeks prior to his wife's death; that when he arrived home at 5:15 P. M. March 4, 1935, he heard his daughter crying, stepped in the room, saw his daughter standing by his wife, who was on the couch in convulsions; that he ran out to have the doctor called, saw Miss Huff was not home, went to the lunch stand and told Miss Miles to call Dr. Beatie; returned and Miss Huff had arrived home; that they went into the house and his wife was still unconscious; that he asked her if she had taken anything and "she said, salts;" that he found a glass by the sink with about an inch of something in it; that he drank it but upon being questioned changed the statement to the effect he merely tasted it, and it was salts; that he had been unable to find the insurance policy; that his wife's health was good and he couldn't be made to believe she committed suicide; that his wife may have taken strychnine tablets by mistake for the reducing tablets, or that possibly some poison could have gotten in the salts she took. When defendant was confronted with the discrepancy in time between his statement and the time given by Miss Huff, he became very nervous, and said "I just can't explain it," and walked the floor. Several hours later defendant...
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