State v. McMillin, 10711
| Decision Date | 14 May 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 10711,10711 |
| Citation | 581 S.W.2d 612 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, Division One v. Michael Ami McMILLIN, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
John D. Ashcroft, Atty. Gen., John M. Morris, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.
Donald L. Clough, Springfield, for appellant.
Tried under the habitual criminal law, defendant was charged with burglary of and stealing rifles from Grant Hardware situate at the northwest corner of the intersection of east-west College Avenue and north-south Warren Street in Springfield near 10 p. m. November 24, 1976. The jury found defendant guilty of burglary and innocent of stealing. Defendant's motion for a new trial was denied, he was sentenced by the court to imprisonment for a term of seven years and duly appealed.
In recasting the matter following a guilty verdict, we bear in mind (1) the evidence is to be reviewed in the light most favorable to the state, (2) the state is to be afforded the benefit of all reasonable evidentiary inferences (State v. Wiley, 522 S.W.2d 281, 292(19) (Mo. banc 1975)) and (3) the jury had leave to believe or disbelieve all, part or none of the testimony of any witness, including the testimony of alibi witnesses. State v. Davis, 556 S.W.2d 745, 747(2) (Mo.App.1977).
On the occasion in question, Springfield detectives Lloyd (driver) and Coday (passenger) were traveling eastward on College Avenue in an unmarked police car when they espied two men standing on a sidewalk adjacent to a parked Chevrolet automobile headed south on Warren Street immediately east of Grant Hardware. The police vehicle circled the block east of the store and, with lights extinguished, stopped some distance back of the Chevrolet. Shortly after beginning their vigil, the detectives saw the two men previously seen walk around the corner to the front of the store. Moments thereafter, the detectives heard the breaking of glass. With gun drawn, Coday left the police car and ran toward the corner. Lloyd drove the police car south to the immediate rear of the Chevrolet.
Just as Coday reached the southeast corner of the hardware store he met defendant, with stolen guns in his arms, rounding the corner in the direction of the Chevrolet. Upon encountering Coday, whom he knew from high school days, defendant exclaimed, "God Damn, Coday." Detective Lloyd arrived and took charge of defendant while Coday went to the front of the store and arrested defendant's companion, John Pippin, who was then inside the establishment with a tire tool which apparently had been used to break a window to permit entry. Subsequently, defendant said to Coday: "You ain't going to believe that I was waiting on a bus." Obviously the jury didn't believe it either.
Before the just recited events, defendant pictured himself at the Downbeat Club possessed of a desire to go home but without the necessary transportation. He acquired the wanted accommodations from Pippin and they started the intended journey in Pippin's Chevrolet. However, as they neared Grant Hardware, Pippin parked his car in the previously described position with the avowed intent of committing burglary of the store. When defendant's protests proved unavailing, he crossed the street to an outside pay telephone which he used to call his friend LeRoy at the Downbeat and received assurances of a ride home. Just as defendant recrossed the street, he met Pippin laden with guns which were deposited at defendant's feet before Pippin returned to the store for additional loot. At this unfortunate moment, according to defendant, the detectives arrived and arrested him despite his self-proclaimed innocence and denial that he ever had any guns in his arms.
LeRoy corroborated defendant's claim of the telephone call to him at the Downbeat Club. But LeRoy said that when he arrived at the hardware store and saw police present, he decided it was no place for him. Therefore, he departed without making his presence known to the authorities.
Linda White, a witness for the defense, testified she was in the Shamrock Motel visiting with her brother on the night of the charged crimes. The motel was "caddy-cornered (sic) across the street" from Grant Hardware and her attention was directed thereto upon hearing "some kind of trouble or scuffle going on outside" involving a large man and "a little bitty guy." After watching the men for several minutes, Linda saw the larger man throw "up his hands and walk across the street to the phone booth." When the telephone call ostensibly had been completed, the caller returned to the hardware store just as the smaller man came from in front of the store and threw down what he was carrying "by the car." Just as the "little one . . . went back" into the store the detectives arrived, "they were really on the spot." On cross-examination Linda asserted that she was not acquainted with defendant, but added Also, when asked if defendant would "be the big man or the small man" Linda had seen at the hardware store, Linda answered that "(h)e would be the bigger one." Linda was additionally questioned concerning a report she had once made to the police concerning a Doberman pinscher taking from her a purse which contained her "$800.00 wedding rings." Although Linda admitted that she later retracted the story, she denied having asked the investigating officers if they knew defendant "and the Gardners and the Swearengin boys."
Two Springfield detectives testified that in early April 1976 they had interrogated Linda White concerning her report that a dog had stolen her purse. The detectives recounted that Linda subsequently said she had lied about the Doberman pinscher but they recalled that in their conversations with her, she had inquired of their knowledge concerning defendant, the Gardners and the Swearengin boys.
Defendant took the stand to state that at the time Linda's purse was allegedly stolen he was incarcerated in the penitentiary.
By agreement of the parties, the court advised the jury that it was stipulated, in effect, the defendant was in custody of the Division of Corrections on the date Linda's rings and purse were reportedly stolen.
OpinionDefendant's penultimate and last points relied on read:
As to II: Wherein and...
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