State v. Randolph

• Decision Date: 19 June 1973
• Docket Number: No. 55699,55699
• Citation: 496 S.W.2d 257
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Lonnie RANDOLPH, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 257

496 S.W.2d 257

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Lonnie RANDOLPH, Appellant.

No. 55699.

Supreme Court of Missouri, En Banc.

June 19, 1973.

John C. Danforth, Atty. Gen., G. Michael O'Neal, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.

Robert R. Young, Barksdale, Abbott, Adams, Chorlins & Young, Clayton, for appellant.

HIGGINS, Commissioner.

Lonnie Randolph, charged with murder, second degree, was convicted by a jury which assessed his punishment at forty-five years' imprisonment. Sentence and judgment were rendered accordingly, §§ 559.020, 559.030, V.A.M.S. (Appeal taken prior to January 1, 1972.)

Appellant contends (Point II) that the evidence, all of which adduced by the State, was insufficient to sustain his conviction of murder, second degree.

On New Year's Eve, December 31, 1968, around 6:00 p.m., Freddie Holmes followed a woman, Madge Lee Robinson, and her 11-year-old grandson, Bobby, out of Kroger's Store on Lafayette Street, St. Louis, Missouri. He approached her from the rear, 'snatched' her purse, ran to the corner of Ohio and Lafayette, turned and ran back, then down an alley and out on Eads where he saw some friends of his, among whom was Lonnie Randolph. Freddie shouted that a man, Raymond Sansoucie, was chasing him, and continued renning. He last saw his pursuer at the corner of Eads and Ohio. He did not see any shooting but did hear two or three shots fired. Freddie told police he took a five-dollar bill from the purse, cashed it at Funsch's Drug Store, and gave Lonnie four onedollar bills because he 'was scared.'

Ruth Sansoucie, her husband, Raymond, and four children were in an automobile on New Year's Eve 1968, and, at approximately 5:30 p.m., had last stopped at a drugstore at Jefferson and Eads and were driving on Lafayette when a 'colored boy' was seen to take Mrs. Robinson's purse. Mr. Sansoucie said, 'He's not getting away with that,' and got out of the car to go after the thief.

Carmel C. Johnson of 2707--1/2 Eads Street was driving his automobile at 6:00 p.m., December 31, 1968, on Ohio Street near the corner of Eads. As he approached the corner, he saw seven or eight colored 'guys' running after a white man. He heard one shout, 'Don't let the S.O.B. get away. Shoot him.' He also hear four or five shots fired but did not see anyone shot. He saw one youth with what appeared to be a gun in his hand but could not identify defendant, nor did he see any struggle between defendant and the man who was ultimately a victim of the shooting. He described the white man being pursued as tall, six feet, possibly six feet, three inches.

Richard Faulkner lived at 1629 Texas on December 31, 1968. He was watching the 6:00 p.m. news on his television when a man, Raymond Sansoucie, knocked on his door, asked for 'Bill,' and fell to the floor. His upstairs neighbor, Mary Sweeney, heard five or six shots at about this same time and later saw Mr. Sansoucie lying on the lower hall floor.

Madge Robinson was the victim of the purse-snatching sometime around 6:00 p.m., December 31, 1968. She saw her assailant run down Lafayette, double back, and then run down Texas. Her son, Lindell Robinson, upon learing of the pursesnatching, also gave chase following Mr. Sansoucie whom he described as five feet ten inches tall.

Officer William Meinhardt went to 1629 Texas and helped remove Mr. Sansoucie to City Hospital and ultimately to the city morgue. Dr. Enrique Cubillo pronounced Mr. Sansoucie dead on arrival at 6:30 p.m., December 31, 1968, at City Hospital. Dr. James Criscione performed an autopsy on Mr. Sansoucie on January 1, 1969. He found a gunshot entrance wound in the left back at the level of the eleventh intercostal space. The projectile traversed both lobes of the left lung and exited from the body at the apex of the left shoulder. In his opinion, Mr. Sansoucie died of the described gunshot wound.

Lieutenant Ernest Troupe and Detective Richard Hummert arrested defendant at his home on February 17, 1969, and took him to police headquarters where he made statements as follows:

'* * * first thing Lonnie Randolph said, he said 'I been looking for it a long time. I might as well get it over. I'll tell you what happened.' He said 'Me and my friends were at a party on Eads.' And he said 'After the party we came downstairs and my friend was adjusting his pants, and he took a pistol out of his pants, and he handed it, he said 'Hold this until I fix my pants."

'And he said about this time a youth came running around the corner. And he said 'Chief, that dude is after me.' And so about this time he said the white fellow showed up. And just as he walked to the corner, he and the white fellow collided; so he grabbed ahold of the white fellow, and the white fellow grabbed him. He said 'What is this' or 'What are you doing' or something to that effect. And this time they became in a struggle. He said the white fellow began to fight back at him, and he thought he was going into his pocket to get some kind of a weapon, and at this time he reached in his belt and pulled out a gun, and the white fellow struck him, and as he was falling back he said his gun went off twice. He said he struck his head against the wall where he was standing. And I said 'What did you do after that?' He said 'About this time I looked up the street. The other boys was way up the street. I ran up the street and caught up with the two other fellows that I was with, gave the fellow back the gun, and I went home.' Q. Did he say which way he ran up the street and which street? A He went west. This was west on Eads to California, and then he met two other fellows, and he gave Cordell Lacey and a fellow he said he knows as Reginald, he gave the gun to Reginald, and he said he departed and went on. Q Did he say where on Eads this New Year's Eve party was? A He pointed out the house to us at 2704 Eads. * * *

'Q Now, after this statement was made to you and Detective Hummert, did you take him anywhere? A Yes, sir; we did. Q Where did you take him? A Back to the scene. Q When you say 'the scene,' where do you mean? A Ohio and Eads. * * *

'He said he understood, and he pointed to the detective with me, Detective Hummert, and he had Detective Hummert come over to him, and he told him, he said 'You stand like this,' and he grabbed ahold of Detective Hummert and showed him the exact spot where he and Mr. Sansoucie encountered one another, first at the corner, and then he said they scuffled from the corner back about ten or fifteen feet from the corner. And this is supposed to be the place where he said the shooting was done. Q And how did he say the shooting was done? How did he describe it? * * * Tell us what he either did or said there at the intersection of Ohio and Eads.

'A He said 'At first, I was standing here on the corner,' and he said 'Just as I was talking to my friend,' he said 'a youth came running around the corner and he passed me and he said 'Chief, tht dude is after me. " I said 'Well, who was this made this statement?' He said 'A kid as I recognized lived out in the Peabody and Darst Apartments.' And I said 'Then what happened?' He said 'By the time that I could get around the corner where I could fully see, I ran into Mr. Sansoucie, the white fellow, and I grabbed him, and he grabbed me, and we tussled, and he said 'What are you doing' or 'What you got to do with it" something to this effect. And he said 'We started to wrestle and wrestled from the corner, sbout ten feet from the corner, and I though the man was getting a weapon out of his pocket.'

And he said 'I pulled the revolver out of the waistband of my pants and I pointed it at him, and at this, Mr. Sansoucie struck me. I fell backwards, my head hit the wall, and the pistol went off accidentally twice.' I said 'A pistol went off accidentally twice?', and he said 'yes, sir.' Q Did he demonstrate this physically? A He did. * * * He said as he and Sansoucie tussled around the corner, he grabbed Sansoucie like this. And his coat was open like this. And in turn Sansoucie had ahold of him, and they were fighting each other trying to get away like this. He said finally he broke loose, and Sansoucie reached for something; and at this time he reached into his waistband and pulled--* * * Q You're playing the part of--A Randolph. And you're Sansoucie. And I said they were wrestling like this. He grabbed ahold of Sansoucie. Sansoucie grabbed ahold of him. Sansoucie struck him and he fell back. Q He fell back this way? A He grabbed his pistol out like this, and he said Sansoucie hit at him again, and his head went back and hit the wall, and the gun went off as he was falling.

'* * * Now, when you fall against the wall, tell us how he re-enacted the firing of the gun. A He said he had the gun in his hand, and as he fell back just like this, the gun went off twice.'

Appellant argues 'the only evidence indicating the circumstances under which the deceased was shot was the statement of defendant introduced by the state. It shows beyond question that the shooting was accidental. * * * There is no evidence from which 'malice,' 'malice aforethought,' 'feloniously,' 'premeditatedly' or the other requisites of murder second degree can be inferred or implied.'

In order for the State to make its case of second degree murder, it must show the killing was willful, premediated, and with malice aforethought. State v. Bruton, Mo., 383 S.W.2d 525, 528; State v. Ayers, Mo., 470 S.W.2d 534, 537. See also State v. Whited, 360 Mo. 956, 231 S.W.2d 618, 621.

The jury reasonable could find that; Mr. Sansoucie, a white man, was intercepted in his pursuit of a purse snatcher; a group of seven or eight youths were seen pursuing a white man at the time Mr. Sansoucie was shot, one with gun in hand, and one shouting not to let him get away and to shoot him, after which four or five shots were fired; defendant admitted shooting deceased at the time of these incidents; Mr. Sansoucie was shot in the...