State v. Rodden

• Decision Date: 25 June 1986
• Docket Number: No. 13960,13960
• Citation: 713 S.W.2d 279
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. James Edward RODDEN, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 279

713 S.W.2d 279

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. James Edward RODDEN, Appellant.

No. 13960.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Southern District,

Division Two.

June 25, 1986.

Lee M. Nation, Kansas City, for appellant.

William L. Webster, Atty. Gen., John M. Morris, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.

CROW, Judge.

A jury found James Edward Rodden ("defendant") guilty of the capital murder of Joseph Robert Arnold ("Arnold"), § 565.001, RSMo 1978, ¹ and fixed punishment at imprisonment during defendant's natural life, without eligibility for probation or parole until he has served a minimum of 50 years of his sentence. § 565.008.1, RSMo 1978. ² The trial court entered judgment and sentence accordingly.

Defendant appeals, briefing three assignments of error, the first of which is that the evidence was insufficient to support the finding of guilty. In resolving that issue, we consider the evidence and all inferences reasonably to be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the verdict, and disregard all contrary evidence and inferences. State v. Guinan, 665 S.W.2d 325, 327 (Mo. banc 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 873, 105 S.Ct. 227, 83 L.Ed.2d 156 (1984); State v. McDonald, 661 S.W.2d 497, 500 (Mo. banc 1983), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1009, 105 S.Ct. 1875, 85 L.Ed.2d 168 (1985). The test is whether the evidence, so viewed, was sufficient to make a submissible case from which rational jurors could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was guilty. State v. Bonuchi, 636 S.W.2d 338, 340 (Mo. banc 1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1211, 103 S.Ct. 1206, 75 L.Ed.2d 446 (1983); Jackson v. Virginia 443 U.S. 307, 324, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2791-92, 61 L.Ed.2d 560, 576-77 (1979).

The cause was tried June 25-28, 1984. The Executive Director of the Marshall, Missouri, Housing Authority testified that about two years earlier, Arnold had leased from the Authority a two-bedroom residential unit in a duplex. Arnold's unit, referred to as an "apartment," was situated at 24 West College Circle.

Fran Jones testified she had known defendant "a year and a half to two years," and had been his "girlfriend." Ms. Jones explained that defendant had begun residing with Arnold in the latter's apartment in August or September, 1983, and that during the time she had dated defendant, she had stayed with him some nights in the apartment. According to Ms. Jones, the southeast bedroom was occupied by Arnold, and was equipped with a water bed. Defendant occupied the southwest bedroom.

Leland Roll, proprietor of a bar in Marshall, testified that on Monday evening, December 5, 1983, Terry Trunnel, a woman whom he knew, was at his establishment, and that defendant arrived there later that night. Roll remembered Ms. Trunnel making a phone call, aided by defendant. Roll saw Ms. Trunnel and defendant leave the bar, together, about 11:45 p.m.

Fran Jones testified she phoned Arnold's apartment that night, December 5, and spoke to defendant about a trip to California that he and Arnold were planning. During the conversation, Ms. Jones heard "[t]wo other people talking." Asked about their voices, Ms. Jones said they sounded "[l]ike a man and a woman."

Ms. Jones recounted that a half hour to 45 minutes after the phone conversation, she received a phone call from defendant. This time, defendant asked Ms. Jones "if he could come over." Ms. Jones said no, but defendant replied he was coming anyway. Near the end of the conversation, according to Ms. Jones, defendant said he was "getting tired" and that he "was going to fuck the shit out of Terry." That comment terminated the conversation.

Later, Ms. Jones received another call from defendant. This time, he renewed his request to come over, and Ms. Jones again replied no. Asked what defendant said in response, Ms. Jones testified: "He told me that he wanted me to remember--everything that he did to Terry, he was really doing it to me--that it was just her body." Defendant repeated that he was coming over.

After receiving this call, Ms. Jones telephoned the police.

At 12:35 a.m., December 6, 1983, Officer Robert W. King of the Marshall police department was dispatched to Ms. Jones' residence in response to her call. Arriving there, Officer King spoke with Ms. Jones, but found no one else there.

Some time after Officer King departed, Ms. Jones heard defendant "yelling" and "knocking hard" on her door. He was demanding to be allowed inside. Ms. Jones phoned the police again, then phoned a female friend, Jan Bask, who lived nearby.

As a result of Ms. Jones' call, Officer King was again dispatched to Ms. Jones' residence, this time at 1:39 a.m. Upon arrival, Officer King saw a red, two-door Ford Maverick, bearing no license plate, backing out of Ms. Jones' driveway. King positioned his vehicle behind the Maverick, preventing it from leaving.

King identified defendant as the operator of the Maverick, and testified that he warned defendant that Ms. Jones did not want him on her property. Asked about defendant's demeanor, King testified: "At the time that I talked to him, he was quite angry and he was mad. He was using profane language." King recalled defendant stating he had been drinking; however, in King's opinion, defendant was not intoxicated.

King then spoke with Ms. Jones, who declined to sign a complaint, and stated she just wanted defendant off her property. King then asked defendant where he was living. Defendant replied that he was spending the night with a friend at 24 West College Circle.

King thereupon escorted defendant to that address, noting that there was a "white over blue Ford setting there." King knew that vehicle belonged to Arnold.

Before leaving 24 West College Circle, King ordered defendant not to return to Ms. Jones' residence. King also warned defendant that if he remained outside, he (King) would arrest defendant. At that point, defendant went inside.

Later, Ms. Jones received yet another phone call from defendant. This time, according to Ms. Jones, defendant said that he, she and Jan "wouldn't survive the night."

This prompted another call by Ms. Jones to the police, this one occurring shortly after 2:00 a.m. Officer King and two other officers went to Ms. Jones' residence. While King was conferring with Ms. Jones, the other officers searched the vicinity, but found no one. Officer King then drove by 24 West College Circle to see whether defendant was still there. Arriving about 2:30 a.m., King observed the red Maverick and Arnold's Ford parked in front, and noted that lights were on in the apartment.

Eddie Walker, residing at 21 West College Circle, "three houses down" from Arnold's apartment, was outside his home "a little after 6:00" on the morning of December 6. At that time, Walker saw defendant come out of Arnold's apartment, "staggering" toward Arnold's Ford. Defendant was carrying a "sack," which he put down beside Arnold's Ford. Defendant then opened the trunk, put something inside, got in the Ford, and departed. Walker did not report the incident to police, as he had previously seen defendant drive Arnold's vehicle.

Bert Chevalier, a construction contractor who had been hired by the Marshall Housing Authority to replace cabinets in the Authority's housing units, arrived with his crew at the West College Circle complex around 8:00 a.m., December 6, and began unloading cabinets. Chevalier was unable to gain entry to Arnold's apartment, so he contacted Bruce Garrett, a maintenance mechanic employed by the Authority. Garrett, at Chevalier's request, met Chevalier at Arnold's apartment about 8:30 a.m. Upon arriving, Garrett saw some blood on the sidewalk.

Garrett opened the apartment door, and saw blood on the floor. Garrett instructed Chevalier not to enter.

Smelling smoke, Garrett went into the kitchen and saw a box "smoldering" by the counter. Garrett "put a little water on it," then promptly called the Housing Authority on a "walkie talkie," informing the Authority of what he had discovered.

Garrett then looked down the hallway and saw more blood. Walking down the hallway, Garrett saw the body of a "girl." He returned to the living room and called the Authority's office again, reporting the presence of the body. Garrett then exited the apartment and remained outside until Officer Brad Deems of the Marshall police department arrived.

Officer Deems saw the blood on the sidewalk and, on entering Arnold's apartment, saw blood in the living room, hallway, kitchen, bedrooms, and bathroom. He found the body of a female in the southwest bedroom. Deems testified, "She was nude and had blood all over her body."

In the southeast bedroom, the one with the water bed, Deems found the nude body of a male. Deems explained: "He had numerous wounds on him that were very apparent. There was a tremendous amount of blood under him and all around in that bedroom."

Deems noticed that although the weather was cold, the apartment was "very hot." Upon examining the thermostat, he observed it was set on 90 or 95 degrees.

Deems secured the scene, awaiting other officers.

Meanwhile, about 8:15 a.m., Ferrel Lewis heard a noise outside his home at Purdin, Missouri, some 68 miles north of Marshall. Lewis looked outside and saw that a Ford automobile had "come off of Highway 5 and hit the porch and it dropped down on top of the car." Lewis went out, noting that the vehicle's motor was still running. Lewis observed defendant "passed out" in the vehicle, so Lewis opened the passenger door and reached for the ignition switch to turn off the motor. About that time, defendant "come to," and he and Lewis got the motor stopped.

After a few minutes, defendant got out and "staggered around the car." Lewis saw blood on one of defendant's hands, and asked what had happened. According to Lewis, defendant explained he "had a flat tire and the jack had fell on him."

Defendant was taken inside Lewis' home, where he sat in a chair and "passed out" again. An ambulance...