State v. Purl, 38979.
| Decision Date | 04 December 1944 |
| Docket Number | No. 38979.,38979. |
| Citation | 183 S.W.2d 903 |
| Parties | STATE v. PURL. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Morgan County; W. M. Dinwiddie, Judge.
Orville Purl was convicted of murder in the second degree, and he appeals.
Affirmed.
Joseph N. Miniace, of Kansas City, for appellant.
Roy McKittrick, Atty. Gen., and Gaylord Wilkins, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.
WESTHUES, Commissioner.
Orville Purl was convicted in the circuit court of Morgan county, Missouri, of murder in the second degree and sentenced to serve twenty years' imprisonment in the penitentiary. From this sentence he has appealed.
Only two points were briefed by appellant: First, that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the verdict, and second, that the trial court erred in refusing defendant's offer to read a transcript of the evidence given at a coroner's inquest by a witness named Kenneth Jones. The evidence introduced by the state justifies the following statement. The victim of the homicide was John O. Lundry, who lived in the city of St. Louis. Mr. Lundry, his wife and son went to Morgan county, Missouri, for the purpose of spending a few days fishing at the Lake of the Ozarks. On Saturday night, November 14, they, in company with Kenneth Jones and Topsy Pruitt, drove to Al Williams place south of Versailles, Missouri, where beer and lunches could be obtained. They reached the place about 12:00 midnight and were informed that no drinks would be served after 12:00 o'clock. Upon learning this they decided to go home. As they were leaving the building some man grabbed Topsy Pruitt by the arm and said something to her, whereupon Kenneth Jones struck him. This immediately precipitated in a general fight. Donald Lundry, son of the deceased, was struck and he and his assailant fought. The defendant and his brother Wilbert (Dick) Purl followed deceased outside. The deceased ran, at times backwards to fight off his assailants. While doing so he fell into a ditch and the two Purl boys beat him and evidently stabbed him with knives. Appellant urges that the evidence does not justify a finding that he participated in this assault and also that the evidence does not show that he stabbed the deceased. In this we think he is mistaken. A number of witnesses testified that they saw Dick Purl have a knife before the deceased fell. As to appellant's participation in the assault, a witness, Mary Frances Morris, testified that she saw Dick Purl running with a knife in his hands following someone who stumbled; that Orville ran up behind the man as he fell and when he started to get up he pushed him over and both the Purl Boys jumped on him. Mrs. John O. Lundry, wife of the deceased, testified that when she saw the fight start she locked herself in their car; that she saw her husband being assaulted; that afterwards when her husband came to the car and asked to be let in, stating he had been cut, Orville Purl was there and said to the deceased: "All right you so and so have you had enough?" She also testified that at that time Orville Purl had a knife in his hand. The deceased was taken to a doctor's office in Versailles where he died before medical aid could be...
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...The court did not err in giving Instruction 3 for the State. State v. Batson, 96 S.W.2d 384; State v. Fitzgerald, 174 S.W.2d 211; State v. Purl, 183 S.W.2d 903; State v. West, 142 S.W.2d 468; State v. Westmoreland, 126 S.W.2d 202. (5) The court did not err in giving Instruction 5 for the St......
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...and argued are abandoned. State v. Davitt, 125 S.W.2d 47; State v. Fitzgerald, 174 S.W.2d 211; State v. McCann, 47 S.W.2d 95; State v. Purl, 183 S.W.2d 903; v. West, 142 S.W.2d 468. (2) The court did not err in giving Instruction 1. Secs. 4408, 4409, R.S. 1939; State ex rel. Dutton v. Sevie......
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