State v. Simpson, 35864
| Decision Date | 16 September 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 35864,35864 |
| Citation | 529 S.W.2d 19 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Percy Lee SIMPSON, Defendant-Appellant. . Louis District, Division Two |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Christopher T. Hexter, Legal Aid Society, St. Louis, for defendant-appellant.
John C. Danforth, Atty. Gen., Preston Dean, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, Brendan Ryan, Circuit Atty., Richard L. Poehling, Asst. Circuit Atty., St. Louis, for plaintiff-respondent.
Percy Lee Simpson appeals from his conviction of burglary in the Second Degree, § 560.045, RSMo 1969. After a hearing out of the presence of the jury, the trial court also made a finding that the defendant had previously been convicted of a felony, to-wit: Stealing from a Dwelling House, §§ 560.156 and 560.161 2(1), RSMo 1969, that the evidence satisfied the requirements of § 556.280 RSMo 1969, the Second Offender Act, and, after the finding of guilty by the jury, imposed a sentence of five years in the custody of the Missouri Department of Corrections. This appeal followed.
Defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury verdict. Therefore, a brief statement of the State's evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to the verdict arrived at by the jury, is sufficient.
On June 18, 1973, at about 2:45 p.m., the Reverend Arthur Althoff, a Catholic priest, was seated in his bedroom on the second floor of the rectory of St. Barbara's Cathlic Church, located at 1371 Hamilton Avenue in the City of St. Louis, when the door to the rectory study, located adjacent to the bedroom in which Father Althoff was sitting, was opened and he saw a 'strange face' peering into the room. The door was immediately closed and he heard footsteps running away from the door. He got up and pursued the fleeing person to the first floor of the rectory where he apprehended a man, later identified as this defendant, as the man was attempting to exit through a window of the rectory office. While he pursued the fleeing man Father Althoff observed that the man was carrying a radio, Father Althoff's personal property, which had previously been on a desk in the second floor office of the rectory. The man dropped the radio he was carrying on the floor of the rectory office as he was attempting to flee through the window. After the priest apprehended the defendant he called his housekeeper who called the police and notified them of the burglary. Father Althoff observed a tear or rip or cut in the screen or window in the first floor rectory office through which the defendant attempted to flee. He further testified that the only access to the rectory was through the front door and that all of the doors and windows, except for the window in the rectory office, had been closed. He had been in the rectory office until noon on that morning and at that time, although the window was open, the interior screen was in perfect condition. There was also testimony from a police officer attached to the Identification Division of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department who testified as a fingerprint expert that he was able to classify a fingerprint found on a cigar box taken from the counting room of the rectory as a fingerprint of the defendant's right ring finger.
Defendant presents to this court two Points--that the trial court erred.
1. in overruling his challenge to one of the veniremen for cause after the juror stated that he would give more credence to the testimony of a priest than that of other witnesses simply because he was a priest, and
2. in giving Instruction No. 3 and in refusing his Instruction No. A, both burden of proof instructions.
We have considered both Points...
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...not indicate whether Juror Pohlman served on the jury. On oral argument, defense counsel argued that our recent decision, State v. Simpson, 529 S.W.2d 19 (Mo.App.1975), was erroneous and conflicts with other decisions. There the record revealed that the juror in question did not serve, but ......
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State v. Goree, KCD
...brief. This alone is enough to deny the contention. State v. Londe, 345 Mo. 185, 132 S.W.2d 501 (1939); and see State v. Simpson, 529 S.W.2d 19 (Mo.App.1975). Appellant more than somewhat obscurely contends in argument that not only was Venireman Kelley the prior victim of a crime, but he w......
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State v. Ray, s. 38570
...the rankest kind of judicial speculation and conjecture." State v. Hatten, 561 S.W.2d 706, 713 (Mo.App.1978). See also State v. Simpson, 529 S.W.2d 19, 21 (Mo.App.1975). Inasmuch as the transcript provides no basis whatsoever upon which we can review the point, it is ruled against In his se......
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State v. Morrison
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