State v. Richards

• Decision Date: 18 December 1928
• Docket Number: No. 28775.,28775.
• Citation: 11 S.W.2d 1035
• Parties: STATE v. RICHARDS.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

11 S.W.2d 1035

STATE v. RICHARDS.

No. 28775.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

December 18, 1928.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Ozark County; Fred Stewart, Judge.

Arthur Richards was convicted of burglary in the second degree, and he appeals. Affirmed.

Moore & Moore, of Ozark, for appellant.

Stratton Shartel, Atty. Gen., and Claude E. Curtis, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

WHITE, J.

In the circuit court of Douglas county, March 10, 1927, the appellant was convicted of burglary in the second degree, and his punishment assessed at imprisonment in the penitentiary for two years.

The evidence shows that one Earl Hale lived at Red Bank in Douglas county, about 3½ miles north of Roy. Defendant Richards lived about 1½ miles south of Roy. The Goodhope Church was near halfway between the homes of the two men.

Saturday night, March 27, 1926, about 7:30 in the evening, Hale saw a Chevrolet car with one headlight out pass his house. Soon afterwards he saw it again. He went to the Goodhope Church that evening and saw the same car, or what he supposed to be the same car, pass the church going towards his home. That one-eyed car was seen by a number of persons, the absence of the one light being the principal point of identification as it passed different places in the community.

When Hale reached home, returning from church, he found that his own car had been moved and a casing and tube taken off. The doors of his house, which he had left closed, he found open. Meat and a can of lard had been taken from his smokehouse. He went to a neighbor for help, and the two, with Mr. Klineline, deputy sheriff, took a car and followed the trail of the Chevrolet; it being identified along the route by its one light. It finally turned in at Arthur Richards' home. They watched Richards' house until daylight. After the defendant had eaten his breakfast, he and one Lon Morrison came out of the house and went into a field north of the house. The watchers followed them. They approached a brush pile and stopped. The deputy sheriff ordered them to put up their hands. Defendant put up his hands; Morrison started to run and was shot. Later investigation tended to show that the tracks of the one-eyed car which had been seen were the tracks of the car which led into the Richards home. The sheriff then obtained a search warrant, and, searching the brush pile where Morrison and the defendant were arrested, they found a lard can, a shotgun, some meat, and other articles. Hale identified them as his property, taken from his house. Morrison had in his possession a razor that belonged to Hale. Some canned goods, vegetables, and groceries also were found which Hale said had been taken from his house. Hale swore that the property taken from his house was worth $75 or $80.

A quantity of evidence was introduced to show that the Chevrolet car with one light burning was driven by defendant and seen by a number of people.

Defendant's evidence was an alibi. It was shown that Morrison had been convicted of the crime.

I. Only three points are properly saved in the motion for new trial. The first is that the evidence was...