State v. Stockdale, 52494

• Citation: 415 S.W.2d 769
• Decision Date: 12 June 1967
• Docket Number: No. 52494,No. 1,52494,1
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Larry Chucky STOCKDALE, Appellant
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 769

415 S.W.2d 769

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Larry Chucky STOCKDALE, Appellant.

No. 52494.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

June 12, 1967.

Norman H. Anderson, Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, Glen C. Schomburg, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Kirkwood, for respondent.

J. Whitfield Moody, J. Arnot Hill, Kansas City, for appellant.

HOUSER, Commissioner.

Larry Chucky Stockdale was charged with stealing.$7.00 from the person of Gerald L. Spaulding. Section 560.156, subsection 2; § 560.161, subsection 1(2); subsection 2, V.A.M.S. Convicted by a trial jury and sentenced to 5 years in the custody of the department of corrections, he has appealed from the judgment of conviction. Defendant was represented throughout the trial by appointed counsel and in this court by representatives of The Legal Aid & Defender Society of Greater Kansas City.

The only point relied on in appellant's brief and oral argument on appeal is that the court erred in submitting the case to the jury because the defendant was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction having been challenged, we will review the evidence in detail. In this determination we consider as true the evidence favorable to the State and the favorable inferences reasonably to be drawn therefrom and reject evidence to the contrary. State v. Reagan, Mo.Sup., 328 S.W.2d 26; State v. Thomas, Mo.Sup., 309 S.W.2d 607, 609, and cases cited.

Viewed in this light the jury could have found the following facts: On February 18, 1966 Gerald L. Spaulding, a 23-year-old white man, was walking south on the sidewalk on the west side of Troost Avenue, between 31st Street and Linwood Boulevard in Kansas City. Two young negro males approached Spaulding from the south. They were the defendant and another who was unnamed in the testimony, but whom we will now christen 'No. 2' for purposes of identification. The two negroes did not turn aside but walked right into Spaulding--bumped into him. One of the negroes called Spaulding a 'white bastard.' The negroes then walked Spaulding backwards into the breezeway entrance to an adjacent business house, behind a glass showcase. No. 2 stuck Spaulding in the face, said he had a gun, put his hand in his pocket, and asked Spaulding for his money. Spaulding handed his billfold to No. 2, who removed the money and threw the billfold on the ground. Spaulding then struck back, whereupon No. 2 struck Spaulding's nose was blows in the face. Spaulding's nose was cut, his glasses bent and damaged, his right eye was blackened and he became 'kind of blurry of fuzzy.' While these events transpired defendant was standing 3 or 4 feet from Spaulding and next to No. 2. About this time another white man, 30-year-old Buddy Dean Newman, who had been walking south, following Spaulding at a distance of some 35--40 feet behind him, and who had seen the encounter, came up to the entrance to the store and started to walk by on the street side of the sidewalk. Defendant, who was then standing on the sidewalk in front of the door, came out toward Newman, saying something which Newman did not understand. According to another witness, there were three negro youths in the store entrance, and one of them, referring to Newman, said 'Let's get him,' and defendant said to Newman as he approached him, 'Hey, you white punk.' Newman paused, turned and looked at defendant, who turned as though he was backing off. Newman turned around to go on. After Newman had taken about two steps defendant came up on Newman's side and took a swing at him, trying to strike him in the face. Newman blocked the blow by raising his right arm, and was hit on the arm. Newman stood there, facing defendant, who darted back over to No. 2. Newman looked back into the area between the showcase and the front door of the store, saw Spaulding and noticed that he was bleeding from the nose. Newman proceeded on south, until he heard defendant say 'Hey, you bitch.' Defendant was directing this language to Sharon Gilmore, a young white woman who was walking south at the place in question, behind Newman. Defendant approached Miss Gilmore, pulled her scarf 'clear down,' grabbed her by the hair on the back of her head, called her a 'white bitch,' and evidently tried to stop her. She screamed, swung around, and ran south to a corner drug store. Newman accompanied her to the drug store, where they called the police. Newman returned to the scene to find the 'other boy they beat up' because he knew that he was bleeding from the nose. Spaulding was struck again in the face and then the negroes fled the scene. Two negroes were seen running north on Troost by a police officer who had been attracted to the scene by hearing a loud curse word and noises. One of the negroes dropped his hat, ran back and grabbed it, picked it up and started running again. The officer, unable to apprehend the fleeing negroes, received a call to go to the scene of the crime. There he talked to a man and a woman, got a description of the negroes which corresponded with his own description. He put the description on the radio, by way of car-to-car communication. Another officer in the area who had picked this up on his radio observed two negroes running east on Linwood Boulevard. They tried to get into a cab which was stopped for a traffic light. Refused entry into the cab, they walked on east. Arrested, they were later observed by the first police officer, who identified defendant as the one who lost and retrieved his hat while fleeing from the scene of the crime. A $5 bill and two $1 bills were found wadded up in a handkerchief in the pocket of the suspect...