State v. Thompson
| Decision Date | 10 June 1968 |
| Docket Number | No. 53404,No. 1,53404,1 |
| Citation | 428 S.W.2d 742 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Tommie Lee THOMPSON, Appellant |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Norman H. Anderson, Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, Harry J. Mitchell, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Palmyra, for respondent.
James E. Moore III, Sikeston, for appellant.
Tommie Lee Thompson was charged with and convicted of burglary, second degree, and stealing. A jury assessed his punishment at four years' imprisonment for the burglary and two years for stealing. Judgment was entered sentencing him in accordance with the verdict, the sentences to run concurrently. He appeals. We reverse.
The state relies solely on circumstantial evidence, contending that the articles found in defendant's possession at the time of his arrest connect him with the stealing and, therefore, with the burglary. Defendant offered no evidence and stood on his motion for directed verdict filed at the close of the state's case. The one decisive point raised by defendant on this appeal is that the state failed to make a submissible case, that the evidence is not sufficient to sustain the verdict. More specifically, his point is that the state, by its evidence, failed to identify the articles found in his possession as those allegedly stolen.
The evidence shows that on the evening of February 17, 1965, sometime between 6:30 and 9:00 o'clock, the residence of Daris Burgess in Sikeston, Missouri, was broken into and entered and certain personal articles stolen while the Burgess family was attending church. The articles stolen were, among others, one new brown leather man's wallet, bearing the name 'Swank'; one new pair of men's black leather gloves, bearing the legend 'made in Japan'; and eighteen hundred pennies. On February 20, 1965, three days after the burglary, defendant was arrested on suspicion of burglaries. At the time of his arrest he had on his person one brown leather man's wallet, bearing the name 'Swank'; one pair of men's black leather gloves, bearing the legend 'made in Japan'; ninety-four pennies, and other articles.
Daris Burgess testified that the gloves and wallet found on defendant's person were cexactly like' those taken from his home; that he had not worn the gloves or used the wallet; that the gloves fit him like those taken from his home; that the wallet, and a key chain he (Burgess) carried, were of a set given him Christmas, 1964; that both bore the name 'Swank,' and fit the box in which they came. He further testified, on cross-examination, that his gloves and those found on defendant were not, so far as he could tell, different from any other pair of black leather gloves made in Japan; that he had stated previously that his gloves had a black lining, whereas those found on defendant had a white lining; that he could not now remember the color of the lining in his gloves; that the most he could say about the wallet found on defendant was that it was 'similar' to his; that he could not identify the wallet as being his or 'exactly like' his. He stated, of course, that he could not identify the pennies found on defendant's person.
In State v. Murphy, 356 Mo. 110, 201 S.W.2d 280, 282, the court said:
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State v. Stevens
...cites State v. Irby, Mo., 423 S.W.2d 800, a case in which it was held that the evidence did not support the verdict, and State v. Thompson, Mo., 428 S.W.2d 742, and State v. Aguilar, Mo., 429 S.W.2d 754. The Aguilar case was wholly circumstantial as to the identity of the defendant as the o......
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...favorable to the verdict must be indulged.' State v. Murphy, 356 Mo. 110, 201 S.W.2d 280, 282 (Banc 1947). See also State v. Thompson, 428 S.W.2d 742, 744 (Mo.1968). The state presented evidence from which the jury could reasonably find that the Schwartz Brand Tilt Bed was stolen and therea......
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...633 (Mo.App.1977). Defendant relies on, and emphasizes, two cases, State v. Hampton, 275 S.W.2d 356 (Mo.banc 1955), and State v. Thompson, 428 S.W.2d 742 (Mo.1968), which, while closely in point, may be distinguished from the case at bar. In Hampton, the property allegedly stolen consisted ......
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