State v. Phillips, 54560
| Decision Date | 13 April 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 2,No. 54560,54560,2 |
| Citation | 452 S.W.2d 187 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Raymond H. PHILLIPS, Appellant |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
John C. Danforth, Atty. Gen., Dale L. Rollings, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.
James L. Sivils, Jr., springfield, for appellant.
STOCKARD, Commissioner.
Raymond H. Phillips was charged under the Second Offender Act with burglary, second degree, and found guilty by a jury. He was then sentenced by the court to imprisonment for a term of ten years, and he has appealed. The only contention is that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain a judgment of conviction, and the real basis of this contention is that the evidence was not sufficient to authorize a finding that defendant participated in the burglary.
There is no question but that early in the morning of June 21, 1968, the IGA Foodliner, located in the Northview Shopping Center at the intersection of Commercial and National Streets in the City of Springfield was burglarized. At least one and possibly two outer doors were forced open, entrance was made by several persons, and a safe was moved from the front of the store to the rear near some doors. The arrival of the police caused the participants in the burglary to flee, two of whom were captured by the police. It is the contention of the State that defendant, who was apprehended by the police nearby, was also one of the participants. We need set forth in detail only the evidence pertaining to the identification of the defendant as one of the participants in the burglary.
Mrs. Capitola Reeves lived at 1115 East Thoman. The front of her house faced south and from it she looked directly onto the area at the back of the stores, including the IGA Foodliner, located in the Northview Shopping Center which was about 400 to 500 feet from her house. About 1:30 o'clock of the morning of June 21, Mrs. Reeves was sitting on her front porch and saw five men run along the lighted rear of the shopping center, break open a door to the IGA Foodliner, and then close the door after entering the building. 'In a minute or less' she saw two more men run to the same door. One of them broke out the electric light over the door, and one of these men was wearing a red shirt. Mrs. Reeves telephoned the police, who arrived in 'a minute or so.' When the police arrived, all seven of the men who had entered the building ran out of the building, including the man with the red shirt, an ran northward. Police officers Woods and Stieb of the Springfield police department were nearby in a police car when they received a radio message to go to the IGA Foodliner. When they arrived, they observed 'six or seven, several, subjects run from the vicinity of the back door' of the IGA Foodliner. They scattered but ran generally northward where railroad tracks were located. Both police officers gave chase. Officer Woods captured one of the fleeing men. Officer Stieb started chasing two of the fleeing men, one of whom was wearing a red shirt. The one with the red shirt ran northeasterly across the railroad where there was a 'train overpass,' and he ran down the northwest side of the embankment and disappeared. Officer Stieb then chased and caught the other fleeing man. After he returned the captured man to the area of the store, he 'went over to see if (he) could catch any more,' and went 'over to the bank' and looked down and saw that Officer Coday had a man in custody who was wearing a red shirt. Officer Coday was nearby when he was directed, apparently by radio, to go to the IGA Foodliner. When he arrived at the corner of National and Commercial Streets, adjoining the Northview Shopping Center on the east, he drove underneath the viaduct which was a 'short distance north and east' from the shopping center, and observed a man wearing a red shirt 'coming off the bank just north of the viaduct there and run across the street' eastwardly but a 'little bit to the south, southeast.' The man ran up the embankment on the east side of National Street and north of the viaduct and 'went up underneath some shrubs and bushes.' When Officer Coday called to him to come down the man 'stopped crawling and squatted down underneath this one bush' and sat there, but when another officer came with a dog, the man 'started sliding down the bank.' That person was the defendant, and Officer Coday placed him under arrest and returned him...
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