The State v. Adams

• Decision Date: 20 December 1926
• Docket Number: 27481
• Citation: 289 S.W. 948,316 Mo. 157
• Parties: The State v. Everett Adams, Appellant
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

289 S.W. 948

316 Mo. 157

The State v. Everett Adams, Appellant

No. 27481

Supreme Court of Missouri

December 20, 1926

Appeal from Pettis Circuit County; Hon. Dimmitt Hoffman Judge.

Affirmed.

North T. Gentry, Attorney-General, and James A. Potter, Assistant Attorney-General, for respondent.

(1) The information is in the language of the statute and is therefore sufficient. Sec. 3230, R. S. 1919; State v Rasco, 239 Mo. 535; State v. Bacey, 267 S.W 809. The information purports to contain two counts, but they both relate to the same transaction and to the same crime, and evidence in support of count number two was admissible under count one. State v. Brown, 119 Mo. 527. (2) The verdict was general, but under the evidence and pleadings was sufficient. Where different counts are based on the same crime, involved in the same transaction, and defined in the same statute, a general verdict is sufficient. State v. Pace, 269 Mo. 681; State v. Evertz, 202 S.W. 614; State v. Bray, 246 S.W. 921. The second count in the information was wholly unnecessary, as evidence in support thereof was admissible under count one. State v. Brown, 119 Mo. 527; State v. Meyers, 99 Mo. 112; State v. Foster, 136 Mo. 653. (3) The manner of summoning the jury is relatively unimportant if the jurors summoned are competent. State v. Clinger, 46 Mo. 224; State v. Ward, 74 Mo. 253; State v. Matthews, 88 Mo. 121; State v. Wiley, 109 Mo. 439; State v. Breen, 59 Mo. 413; State v. Riddle, 179 Mo. 287. (4) Defendant made numerous objections to his trial in the circuit court, on the ground that the case should have been submitted first to the juvenile court. The evidence shows that the defendant was sixteen years of age on August 1, 1925; that he became seventeen years of age on August 10, 1925; that he was first formally charged with the crime on August 12, 1925, two days after he became seventeen years of age. The court will take judicial notice of the fact that Pettis County contains less than 50,000 inhabitants. The procedure is governed by Sections 1136, 1141 and 1136 as amended by Laws 1923, page 131. Under these sections the defendant was properly tried in the criminal division of the circuit court. Secs. 1136, 1141, R. S. 1919; Laws 1923, p. 131. (5) The written confession of defendant was admissible under the testimony of the State's witnesses. State v. Lee, 288 Mo. 41; State v. Hart, 292 Mo. 74; State v. McNeal, 237 S.W. 738; State v. Meyer, 293 Mo. 108; State v. Brown, 267 S.W. 871. (6) The testimony concerning defendant's trouble with a girl at Wilmington, Ohio, was admissible. The first statement referring to this matter came into the trial without any objection on the part of the defendant. The next reference came into the case as a part of defendant's confession. Defendant made no objection to this particular part of his confession, but objected only to the confession as a whole. The next reference to this matter came into the case in the defendant's letter written to his parents while in jail. No objection was made to the introduction of this letter. Defendant's counsel in his opening statement to the jury stated to the jury that defendant did not have any trouble with a girl in Ohio, and that the defendant would prove that to be true. The defendant put on several character witnesses who testified on this point, and in the cross-examination of these witnesses the State properly inquired as to rumors concerning the defendant's conduct at Wilmington. The court undertook to confine the evidence within legitimate channels, but defendant's counsel insisted that the court let down the barriers and permit wide latitude in the admission of evidence bearing on this question. Under these circumstances the defendant is in no position to complain of erroneous admission of testimony in this connection, and having invited the error, cannot now complain, if error was committed. State v. Jackson, 99 Mo. 60; State v. Frazier, 137 Mo. 317; State v. Sasseen, 75 Mo.App. 197; State v. Palmer, 161 Mo. 152; State v. Goddard, 162 Mo. 198; State v. Hamey, 168 Mo. 167; State v. Jones, 171 Mo. 401; State v. Woodward, 182 Mo. 391; State v. Daugherty, 287 Mo. 82; State v. Stewart, 296 Mo. 12; State v. Mahan, 267 S.W. 866.

Railey, C. Higbee, C., concurs.

OPINION

RAILEY

On August 24, 1925, the Prosecuting Attorney of Pettis County, filed in the circuit court of said county, a verified information in two counts, charging defendant in the first count with murder in the first degree in the killing of Aden R. Clawson, in Pettis County, Missouri, on the first day of August, 1925; and in the second count charging said defendant with murder in the first degree, on the above date in said county, while perpetrating a robbery from the person of said Clawson. Both counts of the information were submitted to the jury, and the latter, on October 10, 1925, returned the following verdict:

"We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree and assess his punishment at life imprisonment."

Thereafter, defendant filed his motion for a new trial, which was overruled, allocution granted, judgment rendered and sentence pronounced in conformity with said verdict.

The transcript of the evidence in this case covers about 275 pages. The appellant has filed no brief in this court. Assistant Attorney-General Potter has made a fair, clear and full statement of the facts as follows:

"The evidence, in general, shows that the defendant lives in Wilmington, Ohio, and is the son of H. S. Adams, a policeman in that city. The evidence further shows that the defendant was sixteen years of age on August 1, 1925, and that he became seventeen years of age on August 10, 1925, four days before he was formally charged with this crime. It further shows that the defendant left his home in Wilmington, Ohio on the 30th day of July, 1925, on account of some trouble with a girl in his home city; that he had between three and four dollars in money at the time he left home; that he made his way westward from Ohio, and spent the night of July 31st at Union, Missouri, where he stayed all night at a private boarding house and left without paying his room rent; that he had a dollar and forty cents when he left Union; that on the morning of August 1, 1925, he caught a ride with two strangers from Florida, who were traveling westward from Union, Missouri, in an automobile; that he rode with these strangers until he reached a point some distance west of Jefferson City, where the car broke down; that he started down the road west on foot when he was overtaken by Aden R. Clawson, the deceased, who was also traveling in a westerly direction; that the deceased stopped his car and took the defendant in with him and the two rode together until the deceased was killed between one and two o'clock of the same afternoon, in Pettis County, Missouri.

"The evidence further shows that the deceased, Aden R. Clawson, was about forty-three years of age and lived in the State of New York; that he taught school during the school year of 1924-1925 at Long Island, New York; that late in July, 1925, he purchased a Chevrolet coupe automobile and started on a journey from his home in New York to Colorado Springs, in the State of Colorado; that on the night of July 31, 1925, he stayed all night at Gerald, Missouri, where he was seen and observed by different people in his Chevrolet car; that he mailed a postal card to his sister at Tiwanda, Pennsylvania, from Gerald; that about noon on August 1, 1925, the deceased was traveling westward along highway number 12 between St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, somewhere west of Jefferson City, where he overtook the defendant.

"The deceased and defendant were seen at Dresden, in Pettis County, shortly after noon of August 1, 1925, where deceased purchased gasoline from a garage owned by one Wiseman; they were also seen at the town of LaMonte in Pettis County, some distance west of Dresden, about one o'clock in the afternoon, where the deceased purchased dinner for himself and the defendant at a restaurant operated by Mr. and Mrs. Nollen. No one saw the deceased and defendant after they left the town of LaMonte, but about the 10th of August, 1925, the body of the deceased was found in a ditch in Pettis County, some three or four miles southwest of the town of LaMonte. The body was in a badly decomposed condition. Numerous papers and documents were found on and near the body, indicating the identity of the deceased. His body was later identified by a brother-in-law, and upon its examination by the coroner and undertaker it was discovered that he had died from a bullet wound from a number .25 automatic pistol. One such bullet was found in the body of deceased and was introduced at the trial; and it was proven that it had passed through certain vital organs of the body.

"The evidence further shows that the defendant took possession of the car of the deceased and drove it from where the body was found to Pleasant Hill, Missouri, where he spent the night of August 1, 1925. He spent the night of August 2, 1925, at Hutchinson, Kansas, and was arrested at Garden City, Kansas in possession of the car on the night of August 3, 1925. He was arrested by the officers at Garden City on suspicion, and after being questioned by the officers he was lodged in jail because of his unsatisfactory and inconsistent answers to questions. He first claimed that his name was Jordan and that he lived in New York. He claimed he had the title to his car, but was unable to find it. The next day the officers searched the car and found numerous documents and papers bearing the name of Aden R. Clawson. Some clothes were also found in the car and it was discovered that they were too large for the defendant. On...