State v. Spencer
| Decision Date | 05 March 1960 |
| Docket Number | No. 41665,41665 |
| Citation | 186 Kan. 298,349 P.2d 920 |
| Parties | STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Bobby Joe SPENCER, Appellant. |
| Court | Kansas Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
In an appeal from a conviction of murder in the first degree the record is examined and considered and it is held: No error shown.
Francis J. Donnelly, Kansas City, for appellant.
Robert A. Foster, County Atty., and James P. Davis, Asst. County Atty., Kansas City, John Anderson, Jr., Atty. Gen., Robert Hoffman, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Lloyd G. Alvey, Asst. County Atty., Kansas City, on the brief, for appellee.
The defendant, Bobby Joe Spencer, was charged with and convicted of murder in the first degree in the killing of Mrs. Rubie S. Blanton. The jury, under the provisions of G.S.1949, 21-403, fixed his punishment at death. His motion for a new trail was overruled, the verdict of the jury was approved, and he was sentenced to be hanged. This court ordered a stay of execution (G.S.1949, 62-2414) pending determination of his appeal.
At the outset it should be stated that in his oral statements to the officers, in his signed question-and-answer confession, and on the witness stand, defendant admitted this brutal homicide and at no time denied it. Highly summarized, the record shows the facts to be substantially as follow:
On January 31, 1959, defendant and his companion, Gaither Eugene Crist, arrived in Kansas City, Missouri, by bus from Chicago. The deceased victim, Mrs. Blanton, was a 59-year-old widow, and lived in Kansas City, Kansas. She was employed as a 'baby sitter' and also rented rooms in her house. On a previous occasion defendant had rented a room from her. The day after their arrival defendant and Crist went over to Kansas City, Kansas, and rented two rooms from Mrs. Blanton at the rate of $10 per week, and made an initial payment of $20. They were unemployed and spent the next two or three days around the house. On the morning of February 4th Mrs. Blanton left for her regular work as a baby sitter. Defendant and Crist remained at the house. Some time during the day Crist went into Mrs. Blanton's bedroom and took a .32 revolver from a drawer. Defendant was aware of this.
About 6 o'clock in the evening Mrs. Blanton returned home from her day's work. She spoke briefly with Crist in the kitchen and then went into her bedroom and stayed a short time. She then came into the dining room and asked defendant where her revolver was. Defendant told her that he did not know. She then went to the telephone and proceeded to dial a number. Defendant went to the kitchen and was handed the revolver by Crist. Defendant then approached Mrs. Blanton who was still at the telephone. He pointed the revolver at her and told her to 'hang up.' Apparently he was of the opinion that she was calling the police. Upon her refusal to hang up defendant grabbed her and started a scuffle. He hit her on the head with the butt of the revolver four times. On each occasion the revolver fired but it is not clear whether any of the bullets entered her body. After the fourth blow Mrs. Blanton slumped to the floor.
Crist came in from the kitchen and started to close the venetian blinds in the dining and living rooms. After doing so he opened Mrs. Blanton's purse, which was on the dining-room table, and took from it $8.00 and some odd change. Crist then observed two diamond rings and a wrist watch which Mrs. Blanton was wearing. He removed them from her body. Defendant then told Crist to go upstairs and 'start packing.' Crist did so. While Crist was out of the room defendant went to the kitchen and secured a butcher knife. He returned to the dining room, where Mrs. Blanton was lying on the floor, and cut her throat from ear to ear. Crist soon came downstairs and after some discussion concerning the situation they carried Mrs. Blanton's body to a raised trap door in the rear of the house and dumped her body down the steps into the basement. They left the house hurriedly by a rear door, hailed a taxicab and directed the driver to take them to the bus station in Kansas City, Missouri. Crist purchased two one-way tickets to New Orleans, Louisiana. They boarded a bus for that destination about 9 o'clock that night and arrived in New Orleans early in the morning of February 6th. The following day Crist pawned the two diamond tings at a pawnshop and received a small amount of money and a pawn ticket in return.
At about 2:15 in the morning of February 9th officers Cronin and Hirt, of the New Orleans police department, observed defendant and Crist walking down the street. They were stopped by the officers for 'investigation.' While they were being questioned Crist had a revolver in his hand hidden by a raincoat. Defendant had a revolver inside his shirt. They were arrested and taken to the police station for further investigation. Upon learning where defendant and Crist were staying in New Orleans their room was immediately searched. The pawn ticket was found, together with a Kansas City newspaper which carried an account of Mrs. Blanton's death. Defendant and Crist, being still in custody, were then questioned further as to their part, if any, in her death. Prior to this questioning they were apprised of their rights and were told that anything they might say could and would be used against them in the event of prosecution. Both defendant and Crist then went ahead and related to the officers the facts of Mrs. Blanton's death, substantially as heretofore related.
The Kansas authorities were notified, whereupon in due course defendant and Crist were returned to Wyandotte county. Following their return each, out of the presence of the other, made a full confession of the entire affair. These were reduced to writing and signed by them, respectively. Prior to the questioning each was advised of his constitutional rights and was told that what he said could and would be used against him.
Subsequently defendant and Crist were charged jointly with murder in the first degree. Being without counsel, the district court appointed Mr. Tudor M. Nellor, a competent member of the Wyandotte county bar, to represent them. Upon Mr. Nellor's application defendant and Crist were examined by a commission of three medical specialists in the field of psychiatry as to the capacity of each to comprehend his position and to stand trial. Following an examination the commission reported that each was sane, able to comprehend his position and to make his defense. Each was 21 years of age.
No request being made for separate trials, defendant and Crist were tried jointly. Both were found guilty of murder in the first degree as charged and, as heretofore mentioned, the jury fixed defendant's punishment at death. It fixed Crist's punishment at life imprisonment. Crist is not involved in this appeal.
Included among the evidence at the trial was the testimony of the New Orleans police officers as to the statements made by defendant and Crist during the investigation at that place and the signed written confessions made by defendant and Crist to the Wyandotte county authorities, the substance of which was identical to the statements made to the New Orleans authorities. In addition, the two diamond rings (which had been redeemed by the Wyandotte county authorities from the New Orleans pawnshop) were identified by witnesses as belonging to Mrs. Blanton. The same is true with respect to identification of the revolver and wrist watch which were stolen from her.
Both Crist and defendant testified in their own behalf and from the witness stand related the facts of the killing, as heretofore set out. They admitted the theft of the revolver, the money from her purse and of the diamond rings and wrist watch from her person. Defendant admitted that it was he who had slit her throat with the butcher knife while she was lying prone on the floor. Neither Crist nor defendant contended that the statements and confessions made by them were in any sense of the word 'involuntary.' In fact, all of the evidence shows and it was admitted by both Crist and defendant, that their respective statements and confessions were made voluntarily.
Defendant's motion for a new trial was overruled, the verdict of the jury was approved by the trial court and defendant was sentenced to be hanged. His court-appointed counsel filed and served a notice of appeal and then requested permission to withdraw from the case. Such request was granted, whereupon the trial court a...
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