State v. Trent

• Citation: 278 S.W. 676
• Decision Date: 22 December 1925
• Docket Number: 26440
• Parties: STATE v. TRENT
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Missouri

278 S.W. 676

STATE v. TRENT

No. 26440

Supreme Court of Missouri, Second Division

December 22, 1925

Walter W. Calvin, Clarence Wofford, and Bert S. Kimbrell, all of Kansas City, for appellant.

Robert W. Otto, Atty. Gen., and Harry L. Thomas, Sp. Asst. Atty Gen., for the State.

OPINION

WALKER, P.J.

The appellant was, on February 28, 1924, indicted by the grand jury of Jackson county for murder in the first degree in having, on December 3, 1923, assaulted and killed one James Wall. Upon a trial to a jury in March, 1924, the appellant was convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to five years' imprisonment in the penitentiary. From this judgment he appeals.

At about 8 o'clock, p. m., December 3, 1923, the deceased entered a lunchroom in Kansas City, Mo., known as the 'Dixie Barbecue Stand.' The room was divided into booths or separate places for dining. Deceased took a seat in one of these places. He had been there about a half an hour when he was joined by a girl named Sorrels, who seated herself by his side. They remained there perhaps a half an hour longer, whether to partake of a meal or simply to engage in conversation is not shown, when the appellant entered and took a seat in a booth adjacent to that occupied by Wall and the girl. He talked a short time to the couple who were in the booth he entered, and upon their departure he accompanied them a short distance on Thirteenth street, on which the stand was located, and stopped near where the street is intersected by an alley. A short time thereafter Wall and the girl left the lunch stand and walked west on Thirteenth street. They had gone but a short distance when, in the language of a Mrs. Thurman, who was sitting in a car near the scene --

'a man ran up behind this little or shorter man and hit him, and he kind of wheeled around, and I ran after Mr. Thurman, my husband, who had gone into the lunch stand for a sandwich. The man who struck the blow was a young, heavy set man. I did not know him at the time, but I have learned his name is Tony Trent. The man he struck was a small slim man. He was lying on the street as I got into the car, after calling my husband.'

The husband of this witness, who was a police officer, testified in effect as follows:

'I was in the lunch stand getting a sandwich when my wife came to the door, called me, and said there was some trouble outside. When I went out, I found a man lying on the street. I asked him who hit him, and Trent (the appellant) spoke up, and said he had hit him. So I put Trent under arrest. Two officers, who were on duty, came up, and I turned Trent over to them. The only think I noticed about the man lying on the street was that his mouth and nose were bleeding a little. Being off duty and accompanied by my wife, and having turned the prisoner over to the other officers, I went away.'

A Dr. Honomichl, also an eyewitness, testified that he was at Thirteenth and Grand avenue on the evening of December 3, 1923, about 9 o'clock, accompanied by his five year old son and Dr. Walker; that he was standing in the doorway of the main entrance to the Jenkins building having a farewell conversation with Dr. Walker, and heard a noise, which sounded like a blow had been struck. His attention having thus been attracted, he looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a girl running up the sidewalk and a man staggering back a little. The man who had been struck raised his elbow slightly, and said, 'Don't, don't,' and about that time the other man, whom he afterwards identified as the defendant, Trent, hit him again, and the man, afterwards identified as James Wall, reeled toward the edge of the sidewalk. As Wall got to the edge of the sidewalk, Trent hit him again and knocked him out onto the pavement. The witness said Wall's head apparently hit the pavement first, and, in describing the matter, said:

'The blow must have been an awful hard one; it made a very hard sound. It sounded like a hard blow when his head hit the pavement.'

The witness further testified that Wall was raised up by some man, carried back to the sidewalk, and laid in the doorway of a dining room, and that he was later put in an automobile and taken away; that the man who struck the blow was larger than the man that was struck.

A Dr. Walker, whose office was in the northwest corner of the Jenkins building, Thirteenth and Grand avenue, was talking with Dr. Honomichl about 9 o'clock, p. m., of December 3, 1923. Dr. Walker saw a man, who later told him his name was Tony Trent, catch a man, whom he later learned was James Wall, by the shoulder with his right hand. Trent had his overcoat on his arm, and, after some words had been exchanged between them, Trent hit Wall twice with his left hand, and then, when Wall had turned or staggered toward the south, Trent struck him with his right hand, and knocked him clear out into the street. Dr. Walker said that, when Wall's head hit the street, 'it sounded like a hammer hitting a beef.' He heard Wall say, 'Don't, don't'; that Wall when struck, 'staggered to the left and forward like.' When the altercation started, a girl who was with Wall 'just screamed, and threw up her hands, and ran the other way.' As they were putting Wall in the car, Dr. Walker said to the defendant, 'You are the man that did that. I saw you. What is your name?' And the defendant said. 'Trent; Tony Trent.' As Wall was assisted to the car, his head was hanging down, and two men were assisting him. The witness further testified that, when the defendant knocked Wall out into the street, he had something in his hand.

Wall was taken to the police station soon after the assault, given a superficial treatment, and discharged. Early the next morning he was found to be in a stupor or dazed condition and was taken to the emergency hospital, where he died on the succeeding day. An autopsy disclosed a fracture of the skull and much cerebral hemorrhage caused by splintered portions of the skull penetrating the...