State v. Maddox

• Decision Date: 23 January 1900
• Citation: 55 S.W. 72,153 Mo. 471
• Parties: STATE v. MADDOX.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

55 S.W. 72

153 Mo. 471

STATE v. MADDOX.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

January 23, 1900.

CRIMINAL LAW — APPEAL — MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL.

1. A motion for new trial, filed more than four days after the return of a verdict of guilty, is a nullity, under Rev. St. 1889, § 4270, requiring such motions to be filed within four days after the verdict.

2. A record of conviction cannot be reviewed in the absence of a motion for a new trial.

Appeal from circuit court, Ralls county; John Megowan, Special Judge.

J. Morgan Maddox, convicted of robbery, appeals. Affirmed.

M. L. Farres, for appellant. Edward C. Crow, Atty. Gen., and Sam B. Jeffries, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

GANTT, P. J.

At the August term, 1897, of the circuit court of Ralls county the defendant was indicted for robbing Jacob Castator. He was duly arraigned, tried, convicted, and sentenced to the penitentiary for 22 years. He appeals to this court.

The indictment is sufficient, and the record proper without error. The facts are about as follows: Jacob Castator lived at Salt River toll gate, in Spencer township, Ralls county, Mo. He was toll-gate keeper at that place for the Hannibal & New London Gravel-Road Company. His dwelling house was situated about 120 yards from Salt River, on the road of said company, about 1½ miles north from New London. The house was on the east side of the road and the south side of the river. His family consisted of himself and wife. They were at home on the night of July 14, 1897. The house stood about 6 feet from the road and about 10 feet from the chain post on the east. On that night he and his wife occupied the southwest room, next to the road. The door to the house was about 15 feet from the post to which the chain hanging across the road was attached. About 11 o'clock on the night in question he was called from his bed by some one, whom he afterwards found to be on horseback. He got up and opened the screen door, when he saw the man on a horse, facing the chain. Thinking he wanted to pay toll, and pass in upon the gravel road, he called to him to wait a few minutes, and he would get up and let him through. On stepping out of the house, two men jumped from behind the post, and demanded that he throw up his hands. They exhibited revolvers, and he complied with their request. Defendant, Maddox, was recognized as one of the robbers. The three men bound his hands behind him, led him into the house, where they tied his feet together and threw him across the foot of the bed. They then bound the wife in like manner, and demanded the keys to the lock which fastened the chain across the road and the drawers to the bureau and trunks in his house. Defendant, Maddox, took them from Castator's hands, unlocked the chain across the...