Steel v. State

• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: HARRIS
• Citation: Steel v. State, 246 Ark. 75, 436 S.W.2d 800 (Ark. 1969)
• Decision Date: 10 February 1969
• Docket Number: No. 5386,5386
• Parties: Carson STEEL, Ronald Steel, and Mrs. Ronald Steel, Appellants, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.

Page 800

436 S.W.2d 800

246 Ark. 75

Carson STEEL, Ronald Steel, and Mrs. Ronald Steel, Appellants, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.

No. 5386.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

Feb. 10, 1969.

John B. Hainen, DeQueen, for appellants.

Joe Purcell, Atty. Gen., Don Langston, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.

HARRIS, Chief Justice.

This appeal concerns a bank robbery. On the morning of September 27, 1967, a little after 10:00 o'clock, the Bank of Lockesburg, Lockesburg, Arkansas, was robbed by a lone gunman. As he entered the bank, this man pulled a ladies' stocking over his face, directed bank employees and customers to lie down on the floor, and told R. C. Norwood, president of the bank, to open the safe. Mrs. R. C. Norwood, also a bank employee, asked if she would be permitted, rather than her husband, to open the safe, and upon receiving a reply in the affirmative, opened it, and, together with the robber, took money, which he placed in a sack having the appearance of a large pillow case. The amount taken was $12,814.00. Thereupon, the gunman ran out of the bank, and drove off in a 1966 blue Ford sedan in a northerly direction. Officers in the area were alerted, and road blocks and other measures were effected in an effort to secure the capture of the robber. In less than an hour, Ronald Steel, his wife, Doris Steel, brother, Carson Steel, Jr., and Doyce McCary were arrested in connection with the holdup. All were subsequently charged with robbery, ¹ and on trial appellants were found guilty by a jury. The two brothers were given 15 years imprisonment, and Doris Steel was given 5 years imprisonment. From the judgment so entered, appellants bring this appeal. Several points are urged for reversal, and we proceed to discuss these contentions, though not necessarily in the order listed.

First, the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the convictions is questioned. In chronological order, the facts developed were as follows:

Bobby Friday operated an Esso service station at Lockesburg, the station being located across the street from the bank. Mrs. Bessie Dowdle, who had apparently left her automobile at the station while she went to the bank, returned and told Friday that the bank was being robbed. ² As she was telling Friday of the occurrence, he heard the squeal of tires, looked up, and saw a 1965 of 1966 light blue Ford being driven away. Friday endeavor to get the license number, and testified that the car sped away heading north on Highway 71. ³ The witness only observed that someone was driving the car, and he saw no one else standing around the bank.

Louis Hilton, Sheriff of Sevier County, on September 26 received a report that a 1966 Ford with Sevier County tag No. 56--2321 had been stolen from the rubber plant in DeQueen. About 10:15 or 10:20 AM on the 27th he received the report of the bank robbery, and also information about the blue 1966 Ford. The sheriff started for Lockesburg in his automobile, and Carroll Page of the Arkansas State Police left at the same time as the sheriff in a separate automobile. While traveling Highway 71, between DeQueen and Lockesburg, Hilton observed a tan 1965 Pontiac automobile parked on a crossroad on the west side of 71, about 100 yards from the highway. The sheriff drove over to the car, stopped, and inquired of the occupant, a young woman, if she needed help. She said that she did not, and when asked what she was doing there, replied that she was waiting on her husband. The woman gave her name as Doris Steel, and stated that her husband had told her to wait there and he would be back in a few minutes; she did not know where he had gone, but said he was in a pickup truck, and would be back shortly. According to the sheriff, Mrs. Steel was dressed in blue jean shorts, a blue jacket with the word, 'Alaska,' written on it, and was barefooted.

Louis Graves, publisher and editor of the newspaper at Nashville, Arkansas, drove up to where the sheriff and Mrs. Steel were talking. It developed that Page also, while traveling on the highway, had observed the Pontiac parked on the side road, and the state officer had requested Graves (upon meeting the latter on the highway), to 'check it out' for him. While talking, they heard a vehicle approaching. From the sheriff's testimony:

'* * * As I was talking to Mrs. Steel, there was a pickup truck started down this same road, and I heard the pickup truck's brakes, when he applied his brakes. There was some loose gravel on this part of the pavement. I heard that and I looked up and saw the pickup was headed in the direction of where we were at, and it immediately backed up and turned around and headed north.'

He said that he could tell that three people were in the pickup, and he immediately started in pursuit, asking Graves if he would remain there with Mrs. Steel until he returned. Describing events, the sheriff continued:

'Well, I was in pursuit. The car went on north on 71 until it came to a dead-end road, which goes up to Mr. Bradshaw's residence. The pickup turned up that road. * * *

'After I got on to 71, I saw the pickup, and then the pickup dropped out of sight for, oh, I'd say a few seconds. * * *

'* * * After I got to the point where I had seen the pickup last, I could see on this straight stretch for possibly a mile or a mile and a half, and it wasn't there. I knew about this road, and as I got to this road I felt like it had turned up that way, and when I looked up the road, I saw the pickup on the Bradshaw road.'

When the officer turned up the road, the pickup 'took off real fast.' The sheriff continued behind, blowing his horn, endeavoring to persuade the driver of the truck to stop, and then held his rifle out the window and fired into the air. The truck then stopped, approximately 150 yards from a private drive leading to the home of William Henry Bradshaw. The sheriff directed the occupants of the pickup to get out of the truck with their hands up, and further directed them to lie on the ground face down. About that time, Bradshaw, having heard the shot, came to the scene, and the sheriff had Bradshaw hold the gun while he (the sheriff) searched the three occupants of the truck. No comprehensive search of the vehicle was made at that time, though Hilton testified that he looked in the bed of the pickup, saw two pistols lying in a cardboard box, reached in and got the weapons, and found that they were loaded. He subsequently obtained a search warrant for the the pickup, and also a search warrant for the Pontiac automobile occupied by Mrs. Steel. The three men in the pickup were appellants, Ronald and Carson Steel, Jr., and Doyce McCary. When the sheriff walked a short distance down the road, looking over the area in furtherance of his investigation, Bradshaw heard Ronald Steel say, 'Now that they've got us, what are we going to do?' McCary told Steel to keep his mouth shut. The three were driven back to Lockesburg by Bradshaw in the pickup, with the sheriff following. Upon arriving there, they were taken to the bank. In the meantime, Graves had brought Mrs. Steel to the bank.

There, Mrs. Norwood, and some others who were in the bank at the time of the robbery, were present. Mrs. Norwood testified that she was not asked to make an identification, and she did not volunteer an identification. No one identified the man who had held them at gunpoint when the robbery took place. ⁴ Statements were taken from the two Steel brothers about 11:15 AM after they had signed waivers and acknowledged that they had been advised of their constitutional rights. Both steadfastly maintained that they were not guilty of robbing the bank. Later on in the day, Ralph Rawlings, a special agent with the F.B.I. interviewed Ronald and Carson Steel at the County Jail in Nashville, and talked with Mrs. Steel at the sheriff's office in DeQueen. The officer testified that he explained to each appellant his or her rights, and further presented each with a written statement of rights, and a waiver form, which he also explained. The special agent testified that all voluntarily signed the waiver. Rawlings said that all stated they could read, and, before signing, they were advised that they were being investigated for the robbery of the bank. None of the appellants signed any statement as to his or her activities, and none asked for the services of a lawyer, but they did orally answer questions. Ronald Steel related that he and his wife, on September 26, were at his mother's home near Broken Bow, Oklahoma; that they went to the home of Doyce McCary at Wright City, Oklahoma, finding Carson Steel, McCary's wife, and another woman there. After staying a while, Ronald and his wife returned to Broken Bow, remaining at the mother's during the night; the next morning, Carson Steel and McCary came to the home in McCary's pickup truck. All four then left in two vehicles, Ronald and Doris being together in the Pontiac, and McCary and Carson Steel traveling in the Ford pickup. Ronald said that the reason for the trip was to go deer hunting. The officer called attention to the fact that it was not deer season, and that appellant did not have a rifle or shotgun, but Ronald replied that he was going to shoot deer with his pistol (a snub-nose). According to this appellant, the purpose in turning down the road (where the appellants were apprehended by the sheriff) was to ask a man about purchasing a dog.

Carson Steel related that he had spent the night of September 26 at the home of McCary and Mrs. McCary, but said (contrary to Ronald) that they had no visitors. He stated that he and McCary drove the next morning to Broken Bow, stopped at his mother's home, and there joined Ronald and Doris. According to this brother, he and Doyce left first in the pickup truck; the purpose in going to Lockesburg was to find some coon dogs. They met Ronald and his wife about 9:30 AM, and the brother got into the truck with them, leaving the wife where they...