State v. Woods
| Decision Date | 03 June 1918 |
| Docket Number | No. 20689.,20689. |
| Citation | 204 S.W. 21,274 Mo. 610 |
| Parties | STATE v. WOODS. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Buchanan County; W. H. Utz, Judge.
Lee Woods was convicted of murder in the first degree, and appeals. Affirmed.
Defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree in the circuit court of Buchanan county, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He has duly perfected an appeal to this court.
The evidence upon the part of the state tends to establish the following facts:
Defendant killed his wife about 1 a. m. July 15, 1916, at 2608 Delaware street, St. Joseph, Mo. Defendant and his wife, both colored, were united in marriage in September, 1915, and separated about March, 1916, the wife at that time going to the home of Mrs. Wilson, where she resided until the time of her death. On June 29, 1916, the deceased instituted a divorce suit in the circuit court of Buchanan county.
On the night of the tragedy the deceased, in company with other members of the Wilson household, attended a church festival, returning to the Wilson home about 12:30 a. m. Shortly thereafter defendant knocked at the door of the Wilson home and asked to see his wife. She stepped out on the porch, and after conversing with defendant for a few minutes both returned into the house and continued their conversation in the front room. Mrs. Wilson and her daughter were in the dining room immediately adjoining the front room. A visiting colored minister had retired for the night in another part of the house.
Shortly after defendant and his wife came into the house scuffling was heard, and the deceased, with her hand to her throat and blood streaming therefrom, immediately rushed into the dining room in the presence of Mrs. Wilson and her daughter. Mrs. Wilson testified that defendant pursued his wife, grabbed her, threw her on the cot, and cut her throat with a knife. The daughter corroborates the testimony of her mother, except that she did not see the defendant use the knife. Defendant went back into the front room, and Mrs. Wilson's daughter accosted him, saying, "Oh, Lee! what did you do that for?" Defendant made no reply, but departed from the house leaving his hat lying under the table. The wife died in a few minutes. The coroner arrived about 1:10 a. m., and found the wife dead with a cut on her neck and throat extending from ear to ear. The cut severed the "carotid artery and the jugular vein." There was also an additional small scratch on her throat. The main wound was jagged, and had the appearance of being accomplished with one stroke of the knife.
About 5 o'clock a. m. on the morning of the tragedy a police officer, having read the account of the killing in the newspaper, immediately went to the house where defendant was rooming. Looking in at the window, the police officer saw defendant asleep, and awakened "him by rapping on the windowpane. Defendant arose and permitted the policeman to enter. In answer to the questions of the policeman the defendant admitted that he had been out to call or his wife that morning and that they had sad some trouble and he thought he had cut her on the shoulder. The blood-stained knife with which the cutting was done was lying upon a table in the room. One of defendant's hands had a slight cut across the prim which had been bandaged by the defendant. The policeman told the defendant that his wife was dead, but the defendant appeared to be unable to believe it. On direct examination the police officer testified that defendant said that the knife in question was his knife, but upon cross-examination the witness stated that he was not positive that the defendant had made that statement. The defendant was then placed under arrest and taken to the jail.
The colored minister testified that he saw the defendant sitting on a platform in front of the church where the church festival was being held about 9 p. m. on the night in question. A justice of the peace record showing one Lee Woods to have been convicted of assault and battery in the year 1914 was introduced in evidence.
The evidence upon the part of the defense tends to establish the following facts: The reputation of the deceased for "peace, quietude, and morality" was bad. The reputation of defendant as a peaceful, law-abiding citizen was good. Defendant in his own behalf testified: That after his wife went to live with Mrs. Wilson she visited his house one or two days each week. That she was vicious and quarrelsome, causing their separation. That about 10:30 on the night in question he went to the Wilson home to see his wife. That prior thereto he had agreed with his wife to either let her return to his home or to pay her expenses for a visit to her mother in Iowa. He found no one at home when he first arrived, and waited until midnight, at which time Mrs. Wilson and the members of the Wilson household, including the visiting minister and an escort of Miss Wilson, returned from the church, but his wife was not with them. He was informed by them that she had gone to the home of Mrs. Walters. Defendant, in company with Fred Barnes, walked to a nearby cigar store for cigars and procured change for a $10 bill. Defendant then went to the Walter's home and inquired for Ids wife. On learning that she had gone to the Wilson home he also returned to the Wilson home, arriving there about 12:30 a. m. As he approached the house he looked through the window and saw his wife and Conser Walters standing in the front room. He knocked on the door, asked his wife to come out, and there told her that, since she was going with Mr. Walters and not living right, he was not going to take her back or give her money to visit her mother. They then went into the house, and...
To continue reading
Request your trial