State v. Midkiff
| Decision Date | 22 December 1925 |
| Docket Number | 26190 |
| Citation | 278 S.W. 681 |
| Parties | STATE v. MIDKIFF |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
E. A Mason, of Jackson, and H. E. Alexander and W. E. Coffer, both of Cape Girardeau, for appellant.
Robert W. Otto, Atty. Gen (C. E. Curtis, of Jefferson City, of counsel), for the State.
On April 3, 1924, a jury in the circuit court of Scott county found defendant guilty of murder in the first degree, and assessed his punishment at imprisonment in the state penitentiary for life. Judgment and sentence were rendered accordingly, and he appealed.
He was charged with the murder of one John Green, a negro, who lived on a farm about five miles from Jackson. Green was 52 years of age, had been married, but at the time of his death was living alone. The evidence for the state tends to show that on August 5, 1922, Green was in Jackson, went home late in the afternoon, and some time in the night his house was discovered to be on fire. Neighbors came and found his body on the front porch, badly charred. He had been struck on the back of the head with some blunt instrument which caused his death. The evidence tends to show that he had in his possession money on that day. Much evidence was introduced showing the movements of the defendant and his statements on the day of the murder indicating a contemplated crime. One witness testified that on the day and the night of the murder defendant suggested to him that if he would stay with defendant, and had the nerve, they could go and get some easy money; that he was on the way of getting it. Another witness testified to a similar conversation. Still another testified that the defendant suggested to him that if he wanted to make some easy money he should go along with defendant; and the next day he heard defendant say he was 'killing niggers for a living.'
One Walter Houck testified that he was at Jackson on the night Green was murdered, and Frank Midkiff, the defendant, asked him to go along with him to get some money. When the witness asked him how, he said go along and find out. They then met Delbert Midkiff, brother of the defendant, and later were joined by one Wilson White and one John Biddy. The five men drove to Green's house in a car. They got out and defendant told Houck he was going to rob Green. The witness expressed his intention to go back to town, but defendant made him stay with him. Green was not at home at the time. The men waited for him. Defendant hid at the corner of the house, and when Green stepped on the corner of the porch the defendant went behind him and 'knocked him in the head with a hammer.' John Biddy then took Green's money off his person. Before the arrival of Green the men had set up sticks against the side of the house and poured kerosene on them, and after the robbery they set the house on fire. Witness was given $ 20 of the money, and the other four took $ 50 each. The pocketbooks were thrown away. One witness for the state swore that Green carried two pocketbooks. The evidence of the witness Houck was impaired by his admission on cross-+examination, that he was promised that if he told of the murder nothing would be done with him. he also admitted that he had been convicted of stealing hogs.
It was shown that a short time after the murder defendant negotiated for a Ford car, and while doing so he said, 'I have plenty of money; I have killed a nigger.' The evidence showed that he was under the influence of liquor at the time.
The defense offered an alibi. Defendant and his wife, his mother, and his father, swore to the whereabouts of the defendant during the early part of the evening of August 5th. They testified that he went up town with his wife and children, and, after returning home rather early in the evening, he remained at home all night. They saw him at 11 and 12 o'clock that night. The murder took place about 12 o'clock. They were corroborated by Delbert Midkiff and John Biddy.
A statement of the defendant, signed in the presence of the prosecuting attorney and the sheriff, contradicted the evidence offered as an alibi, did not admit any connection with the crime, and made a different explanation of his whereabouts during the early part of the evening on which the murder was committed.
The defendant produced as a witness Fred Meyers, deputy sheriff of Cape Girardeau county, who was in the business of training bloodhounds. After the killing of John Green he was called to the place with his dogs, and they took up a trail through the field and through some brush to a neighbor's barnyard. A Mr. Diamond lived at that place. A second time the dogs took up the same identical trail and went to the front porch of Diamond's house. Diamond had a wooden peg leg; Meyers testified there were tracks around the gate of Green's house, shown to have been made by a peg leg. Another witness swore to the same facts relating to the trail of the dogs to Diamond's barn and house.
In rebuttal Diamond testified that he owned the farm adjoining Green's, and that he remembered the night Green was killed but knew nothing about the fire until the next morning; he was not there during the night. He saw Fred Meyers operating his bloodhounds, but they did not pay any attention to him (the witness); that he had nothing to do with Green; he could not say whether Meyers and those with him were drinking, but he could smell liquor in the crowd.
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