State v. Melton

• Decision Date: 16 July 1971
• Docket Number: No. 45998,45998
• Citation: 486 P.2d 1361,207 Kan. 700
• Parties: STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Maurice MELTON, Appellant.
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

Page 1361

486 P.2d 1361

207 Kan. 700

STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Maurice MELTON, Appellant.

No. 45998.

Supreme Court of Kansas.

July 16, 1971.

Syllabus by the Court

1. In determining the admissibility of a statement of the defendant which is the result of custodial interrogation, the trial court must weigh any conflicting evidence and make its findings based on the totality of the circumstances.

2. If there is substantial competent evidence to support the trial court's findings that the defendant voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently waived his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights, such findings will not be disturbed on appellate review.

3. An accused may effectively waive the right to have counsel present during police interrogation after, as well as before, formal charges are filed against him.

4. The record in a prosecution for first degree murder examined and it is held: The evidence was sufficient to support a verdict of guilty of manslaughter in the first degree.

5. A plea of guilty freely and voluntarily entered after consultation with counsel and with knowledge of the possible consequences waives any defects in any of the prior proceedings, even if such defects are of constitutional dimensions.

6. An otherwise voluntary guilty plea is not coerced merely because it is motivated by a mistaken view of the admissibility of evidence in the state's possession, and a sentence under the habitual criminal act may properly be predicated on a prior conviction resulting from such a plea.

Frank W. Liebert, Coffeyville, argued the cause and was on the brief, for appellant

Richard A. Medley, Montgomery County Atty., argued the cause, and Vern Miller, Atty. Gen., and Monte K. Heasty, former Montgomery County Atty., Coffeyville, were with him on the brief, for appellee.

FOTH, Commissioner.

Appellant was convicted of manslaughter in the first degree (K.S.A. 21-407) in connection with the death on February 5, 1967, of Mrs. Lillie Mae Colbert of Coffeyville, Kansas. This was appellant's third trial on a charge of first degree murder. (An additional count of rape was dismissed at the preliminary hearing.) The first trial ended in a mistrial when a juror died, and the second when the jury was unable to agree on a verdict. After appellant's motion for a new trial was overruled the state, pursuant to previous notice, introduced evidence of three prior felony convictions. Appellant was thereupon sentenced to life imprisonment under K.S.A. 21-107a. He subsequently filed a motion for resentencing, contending that the prior convictions relied upon in imposing sentence under the habitual criminal act were invalid. This motion was overruled and he thereafter perfected this appeal.

The evidence indicates that on Saturday night, February 4, 1967, the appellant, the deceased, and four friends engaged in various social activities in the city of Coffeyville, involving dining, drinking, dancing and driving around. In due course they determined to go to Independence where dancing was available at an institution aptly named the 24 Hour Club, and proceeded there in appellant's automobile, arriving at about 11:30 p. m. The passengers, in addition to the deceased, were Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Martin, and Mr. and Mrs. Leonard White.

During their stay in Independence appellant, according to his testimony, attempted to keep a date with a married woman he had been going with in Independence. When she was not at the club he drove to her house and observed her watching television with her husband. She waved him on, so he went back to the club and waited. When she failed to appear within half an hour he went to her house again and found the couple still engaged in the same Saturday night pastime. A third visit found the house dark, and appellant gave up for the night. At about 4:30 a. m. on Sunday, February 5, the original six embarked in appellant's automobile for Coffeyville. As they left Independence they passed over a rough railroad crossing which apparently knocked one of two mufflers off of appellant's car. The party nevertheless proceeded to Coffeyville with the car making abnormally loud noises.

All the testimony indicates that the first stop on returning to Coffeyville was to let the Whites out at their residence and that the second stop was to let the Artins out at theirs. The subsequent events of those early morning hours are the subject of conflicting stories but it would appear that that was the last time the deceased was seen alive by anyone other than the immediate participants in the ensuing tragedy.

The deceased, although married, had been separated from her husband for approximately two years prior to her death. During this period she had been carrying on an active affair with Herbert Martin, clandestine only to the extent that apparently Mrs. Martin was not aware of it. A sister of the deceased, the appellant, and various friends were privy to the affair, some to the extent of providing transportation to and accommodations for numerous trysts.

Martin testified that shortly after going to bed on the fatal Sunday morning he awoke and wanted a cigarette. Finding none in his house he drove to the Y. W. C. a. and bought a pack. After doing so, he proceeded to the house of one Phyllis Lee, which had been a regular place of assignation, to see if the deceased might be there. Not finding her, he phoned her house and got no response. At the deceased's home his knocking on the door was likewise fruitless. He then proceeded to the house of Rose Lloyd, deceased's sister, and found she was not there either. At this point he gave up his amorous quest and returned home. Both Rose Lloyd and Phyllis Lee testified to Martin's arrival at their respective houses before dawn.

The activities of the appellant from approximately 5:00 a. m. until 8:00 a. m. can be ascertained only from the various accounts given by him on different occasions. At the latter time, however, he was observed entering his house by Allen Flowers, a detective in the Coffeyville police department, who was acquainted with him. Flowers was particularly conscious of the time because he was late to work and had left his home at about 7:30 a. m. He noticed that the appellant had dirt on his clothes, and particularly his sport jacket, a fact that impressed him because appellant was known as a natty dresser.

When the deceased failed to appear at her home on Sunday, her family and friends met that evening to discuss the situation. At that time appellant stated that, after droppint the Martins off he had driven away with the deceased but returned shortly thereafter and let her off at the Martin house. The last he saw of her, he said, was when she was on the porch of the Martin residence.

Upon being notified of the fact the Coffeyville police department commenced an investigation of the disappearance of the deceased. In the course of this investigation two detectives, including Flowers, met with the appellant on February 17, in Independence, where he worked at a dry cleaning establishment. They interrogated him as to his activities on the night and morning of the disappearance and received from him substantially the same story he had previously told the deceased's family and friends.

He added that on first returning to the Marin residence Herb's car was gone and they spent some time driving around looking for him. They returned at the insistence of the deceased to get some money from Mrs. Martin which belonged to appellant. Again, the last he saw of her was when she went up the Martin's steps. The money, he said, could wait until the next day-when all parties intended to go to church.

His explanation for the dirt on his clothes was that he had gotten down on the ground to look under his car in an effort to locate the source of the noise. He further related that after changing clothes on Sunday morning, he had returned to Independence to look for his missing muffler. His search was unsuccessful and while driving around in Independence he fell asleep at the wheel and had a collision with a parked car. At the time this statement was given, appellant was living in Independence, since his car was disabled and he no longer had transportation from Coffeyville to his job.

About a week later, on February 25, 1967, the body of the deceased was discovered accidentally in a dry creek bed in a wooded area approximately seven miles southwest of Coffeyville by a passerby who was searching for water for his overheated truck. He reported his find to the authorities and the Montgomery County sheriff and other officers proceeded to the scene. The deceased's body was largely covered by brush, dirt and leaves, with only the legs exposed to view. A wig, identified as the deceased's, was discovered coveree by leaves approximately twenty to twenty-five feet from the body.

A pathologist examined the body at the scene and later performed an autopsy which revealed approximately twenty-one stab wounds, together with subarachnoid and subdural hemorrhages, consistent with her head having hit a solid or fixed object. Death was attributed to a combination of the head wounds and loss of blood from the stab wounds, although no one of the injuries would have caused death by itself, and in his opinion she might well have survived had she received immediate medical attention. His examination also revealed that she had had sexual intercourse, probably within twenty-four hours and certainly no more than seventy-two hours prior to her death.

The body of the deceased was fully clothed except for shoes. A handbag which witnesses had seen her carrying earlier was never found nor was any weapon.

One further significant item of evidence appeared on March 7, 1967. Prior to the discovery of the body the owner of the land on which it was found had observed a man's plaid shirt lying on the ground. Thinking it belonged to a neighbor, he had picked it up and had hung it in his barn, giving it no further...