State v. Rice, 35767
| Decision Date | 11 February 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 35767,35767 |
| Citation | 519 S.W.2d 573 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Antonia RICE, Ddefendant-Appellant. . Louis District, Division Four |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Walter Sheata, Asst. Public Defender, 22nd Judicial Circuit, St. Louis, for defendant-appellant.
John C. Danforth, Atty. Gen. of Missouri, Donald R. Bird, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for plaintiff-respondent.
On this appeal Antonia Rice, convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, seeks reversal of the judgment on the basis of allegedly improper cross-examination of defendant and improper admission of evidence.
Antonia Rice and her husband Joel went to the home of Jeanette Johnson, Antonia's sister, to see if Antonia had left any clothes there and to pick up some phonograph records. Michael Collor, the victim of the killing, was present. He stated that one Yancey had the records and that they were broken. Joel Rice, agitated by this, said to Collor, 'Why would you do something like that?,' then to his wife Joel Rice said, 'I'm not going to let them mess over you like that.' Antonia and Joel Rice left, driving away in the latter's automobile, and proceeded to the residence of Joel Rice's Aunt Hattie. After fifteen minutes at Aunt Hattie's house the three of them drove to the west end of the city, where they picked up three men including Chester Ward, and all but Aunt Hattie drove on to the home of Jeanette Johnson. All five got out of the car. Antonia, Joel Rice and Chester Ward went to the front door and knocked. When Jeanette Johnson opened the door either Antonia or Joel Rice asked if Mr. Collor would come to the door. When Collor appeared at the door someone shouted 'Shoot him,' whereupon Chester Ward pulled a gun from his jacket and shot Collor, inflicting a mortal wound. According to the State's theory Antonia was privy to the whole affair and both she and Joel Rice shouted 'Shoot him.' According to Antonia, who took the stand in her own defense, she had no previous knowledge of any plan to shoot Collor and was entirely innocent. She testified that after the shooting she ran. On cross-examination, asked where she ran, she answered that she ran to her husband's car and that 'all five' got into the car. At that point counsel for Antonia objected 'to going beyond the scope of the direct examination.' The assistant circuit attorney claimed the right to 'go into her statement to the police which is very contrary to what she's stating now.' The court overruled the objection and the State proceeded to develop on further cross-examination that they all drove to Aunt Hattie's house; that Antonia then took a cab to Aunt Bea's house, picked up some clothes, and took a cab back to Aunt Hattie's house, where it was learned that Collor had died; that she wanted to turn herself in but Aunt Hattie and Chester Ward would not permit her to leave the Rice house; that they threatened to kill her if she told 'who did it'; that they took her down the street to another house and had her 'watched.' On redirect examination Antonia's counsel examined her with respect to the events which occurred after the shooting, eliciting that after Collor's death was reported 'they' took her to Michael Rice's house 'to make sure (she) wouldn't go nowhere,' and that she was kept there until the following Monday morning, when Hattie Rice brought Antonia to the police station. There she gave a voluntary statement as to the circumstances surrounding the shooting. On recross-examination Antonia stated that the only reason she did not go to the police earlier was that she was being held and had no way to get to a telephone. Antonia further denied that on recross-examination she had a telephone conversation with an aunt with reference to sending for some boots, in which the aunt said that there were detectives at the aunt's house. Antonia denied cautioning her aunt not to tell the detectives that she had called. At that point, in rebuttal, Officer William Jones testified that he went to Aunt Annie McGloson's house trying to locate Antonia Rice; that he had permission to search the house; that while conducting the search the telephone rang; that he picked up the receiver on an upstairs extension and heard the following conversation: ...
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