Case Name: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Robert C. HOWELL, Appellant (two cases)
Court: Supreme Court of Missouri
Jurisdiction: Missouri
Decision Date: 1975-06-09
Citations: 524 S.W.2d 11
Docket Number: Nos. 58283, 58768
Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Robert C. HOWELL, Appellant (two cases).
Judges: DONNELLY, C. J., and SEILER and HENLEY, JJ., concur.
Reporter: South Western Reporter Second Series
Volume: 524
Pages: 11–27

Head Matter:
STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Robert C. HOWELL, Appellant (two cases).
Nos. 58283, 58768.
Supreme Court of Missouri, En Banc.
June 9, 1975.
John C. Danforth, Atty. Gen., David Ro-bards, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.
Harry H. Bock, New Madrid, for Appellant; Robert C. Howell, in pro. per.

Opinion:
BARDGETT, Judge.
These are appeals by Robert C. Howell from a judgment in No. 58283 convicting him of murder in the first degree of David Blankenship and sentencing him to life imprisonment, and from a judgment in No. 58768 convicting him of assault with intent to kill with malice aforethought of Randy Krebs and sentencing him to ten years. The offenses arose out of the same event, but the two cases were tried separately. The verdict in the murder case was returned on January 30, 1973, and in the assault case on March 19, 1973.
The notice of appeal in the murder case was filed March 16, 1973, with the appeal being taken directly to this court. This court has jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3, Mo. Const., V.A.M.S., as amended 1970, and order of this court of April 9, 1973, retaining jurisdiction of appeals filed prior to April 9, 1973, involving convictions for offenses punishable by life imprisonment or death.
The appeal in the assault case was properly taken to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Springfield District. Art. V, § 3, Mo.Const., as amended 1970. The court of appeals recommended transfer of the cause to this court prior to opinion pursuant to Art. V, § 10, Mo.Const., as amended 1970, and order of this court of December 18, 1973. The court, pursuant to said recommendation, ordered the appeal transferred.
The defendant does not contend that the state failed to make a submissible case against him in either case. The court has reviewed the record in both cases and finds that the state made submissible cases even when that portion of the evidence which defendant contends was obtained in an unconstitutional manner is not considered.
The evidence in both cases was essentially the same. At about 1:00 a. m. on Sunday, November 19,1972, David Blankenship's car was found parked on the levee just east of New Madrid with David Blankenship and Randy Krebs inside. Blankenship had been shot in the head behind the right ear and was dead. Krebs had been shot in the left ear but was alive and survived after an extended stay in a hospital. Defendant was charged with the murder of Blankenship and the assault on Krebs.
In both appeals defendant contends that there was no warrant or probable cause for his arrest and therefore certain items seized from him at the time of arrest, clothing items obtained from his home, and results of tests done on both groups of clothing were not admissible in evidence against him as having been obtained in violation of the search and seizure provisions of the U.S. Const., Amends. 4 and 14, and Art. I, § 15, Mo.Const. Defendant also contends in the assault case that a gun residue test and its results are inadmissible for the same reason.
About 10:00 a. m., Sunday, November 19, 1972, Deputy Sheriff Ivy arrested defendant on a street in New Madrid, Missouri, and took him to a nearby building where Mr. Ivy took a black coat and a package of cigarettes from him. These items were turned over to the Missouri Highway Patrol and certain tests were made.
About thirty minutes after defendant's arrest, Mr. Ivy went to defendant's place of residence in New Madrid which is the home of Mary Howard. Mary Howard is defendant's stepmother. Mr. Ivy asked her for defendant's clothing. Mrs. Howard went to a room or rooms in her house and brought defendant's clothing, including a pair of green pants, a green shirt, and a pair of shoes, to the door and gave them to Mr. Ivy. There was no search of Mrs. Howard's home.
The officers found vomit in the automobile in which Blankenship and Krebs were found. Analysis of the vomit revealed the presence of pear and marijuana particles. Three swatches taken from the black coat seized upon defendant's arrest revealed the presence of human blood of an inconclusive type. A fourth swatch taken from the black coat revealed a vomit stain with pear and marijuana particles contained therein. The cigarette package, which was introduced only in the murder trial, had upon it a stain of human blood of an inconclusive type.
As noted, the green shirt and green pants were obtained from Mary Howard. A sample taken from the seat of the green pants revealed a vomit stain with pear and marijuana particles contained therein.
In the assault trial, Blankenship's jacket, the one he was wearing on the night he was murdered, was introduced into evidence. The jacket contained human blood stains of an inconclusive type, particles of marijuana, and vomit residue with pear particles contained therein.
In both trials, the substance of an expert witness's testimony was that, in his opinion, the vomit specimens found on the black coat, on the green pants, and in the car, were the same due to the similarity in the pear particles and the similarity in the particular characteristics of the marijuana particles found in each of the specimens. Additionally, in the assault trial, the expert witness testified, in substance, that the marijuana particles found on Blankenship's jacket were the same as the marijuana particles found in the vomit stains on the black coat, on the green pants, and in the car; and that the vomit containing pear particles found on Blankenship's jacket was the same as the vomit stains on the black coat, on the green pants, and in the car.
About an hour or so after defendant was arrested by Deputy Ivy, there was a gun residue test done on defendant's hands at the New Madrid County jail. This involves swabbing the palms and back of the hands with a solution. Thereafter, the swabs are tested for the presence of barium and antimony materials that are present in the primer of ammunition in order to form an opinion as to whether the subject has recently fired a gun. The testimony in both cases was that the gun residue test revealed that defendant had recently fired a gun.
Prior to the first trial, the defendant filed a motion, applicable to both cases, to suppress the items of clothing seized from him at the time of his arrest, the items of clothing obtained from Mrs. Howard at defendant's residence, and any test results made on the clothing.
The basis for the motion was that the seizure of the clothing from defendant and that obtained from Mrs. Howard constituted an unconstitutional search and seizure under Art. I, § 15, Mo.Const., and Amends. 4 and 14 of the U.S.Const., and this contention is based upon the assertion that the arrest of defendant was invalid as being without warrant and without probable cause.
The motion to suppress did not attack the gun residue test. Whether or not defendant or his attorney knew that the swabbing of defendant's hands was such a test is not known. The evidence as to the gun residue test results was admitted in the murder trial without objection. In the subsequent assault trial, defendant did object and preserved the alleged error for review.
The trial court held a hearing on the motion to suppress. The defendant did not testify. Witnesses called by defendant established that no warrant for the arrest of defendant was applied for or issued prior to the arrest and that no search warrant was issued at any time. Mr. Ivy testified, but his testimony begins with the arrest of the defendant, and he gave no testimony at all as to any information he (Deputy Ivy) had which caused him to arrest the defendant. The court has reviewed the evidence given at the preliminary hearing and at the trials. Nowhere is there any evidence that Deputy Ivy had any information, prior to the arrest of defendant, with respect to defendant's involvement in the shooting of Blankenship or Krebs. It was simply not the subject of any questions asked of or of any answers given by Deputy Ivy.
The state conceded in its briefs and in oral argument that, "There is no showing in the record that there was any probable cause of the officers to make the arrest." The court has, nevertheless, examined the record and finds the concession to be accurate.
The state's position is that the burden of showing that the arrest was illegal is upon defendant and that because there was no showing that the arrest was without probable cause and therefore illegal the court did not err in overruling the motion to suppress nor in admitting the evidence over defendant's in-trial objection which continued to be premised on constitutional grounds. However, the state candidly states in its brief:
"The respondent recognizes that the legality of the method of obtaining some, if not all, of the evidence sought to be suppressed depends on the legality of appellant's arrest. Given the facts which have been stated above, it would seem that some courts in this situation would reason as follows: The presumption of regularity which attends official acts made by public officers extends to arrests made pursuant to warrants but not warrantless ones. When the legality of an arrest is contested and the arrest is shown to be warrantless, it is incumbent upon the party asserting the validity of the arrest to show that the arrest met constitutional standards of probable cause. In this case, since the appellant demonstrated that his arrest was warrantless and it was not shown that there was probable cause to make the arrest, the motion to suppress should have been sustained and the evidence suppressed. See Sexton v. Gibbs, 327 F.Supp. 134 (N.D.Tex.1970), aff'd mem., 446 F.2d 904 (5th Cir. 1971), cert. denied 404 U.S. 1062, 92 S.Ct. 733, 30 L.Ed.2d 751 (1972); Manuel v. United States, 355 F.2d 344 (5th Cir. 1966); Rogers v. United States, 330 F.2d 535 (5th Cir. 1964). Basically, this authority reasons that once an arrest is shown to be warrantless, the burden of persuasion shifts to the party asserting the legality of the arrest to show that it was made with probable cause. If this authority were to be followed by this court, the conclusion would have to be that the trial court erred in overruling the appellant's Motion to Suppress because, as previously indicated, there is nothing in the record to show that there was probable cause for appellant's arrest. . . ."
In State v. Wiley, 522 S.W.2d 281 (Mo. banc 1975), this court held, ". . . 'The lawfulness of the arrest without warrant, in turn, must be based upon probable cause, which exists "where 'the facts and circumstances within their (the officers') knowledge and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information (are) sufficient in themselves to warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that' an offense has been or is being committed." Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 175, 176, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 1311, 93 L.Ed. 1879, 1890 (1949), quoting from Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 162, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543, [555], 39 A.L.R. 790 (1925).' Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23, 34-35, 83 S.Ct. 1623, 10 L.Ed.2d 726 (1963)." And further, "Whether there was probable cause to arrest . depends on the information in the officers' possession prior to the arrest. Of course, all the information in the possession of the officers and all reasonable inferences therefrom are pertinent to determine probable cause."
In the instant case, there is simply no evidence as to what, if any, information was in the hands of the officers prior to the arrest. The state's analysis set forth supra is correct. The state had the burden of showing probable cause for this warrantless arrest and failed to do so. The court erred in overruling defendant's motion to suppress as to those items seized from defendant's person at the time of his arrest and erred in admitting those items and the test results produced in direct consequence of the seizure of those items over defendant's constitutionally-grounded objection made during the trials.
The court also overruled defendant's motion to suppress the items of clothing obtained from Mary Howard and admitted certain of those items into evidence as well as the results of certain tests done on that clothing and their contents. The trial court was correct in its rulings with respect to the items received from Mrs. Howard and the consequent test results.
The officer went to the door of Mrs. Howard's house and asked her for defendant's clothing. Mrs. Howard got the clothing and gave it to the officer. There was no search; the officer did not coerce Mrs. Howard; and the circumstances do not suggest that Mrs. Howard should be regarded as an instrument or agent of the state when she produced defendant's clothing.
A factual situation practically indentical to the instant case was presented in Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 448, Part III, B, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971). There the wife of the defendant admitted policemen into the house and voluntarily gave them her husband's clothing and guns. The court held there was no violation of the defendant's constitutional protection against unreasonable searches .and seizures. The point is overruled. See also Deckard v. State, 456 S.W.2d 35, 37 (Mo.1970).
About an hour after defendant was arrested, an officer performed the gun residue test on defendant's hands at the police station. The test results were admitted in evidence in the murder case without objection. The defendant objected to the test results in the subsequent assault trial on the ground that the test, having been done pursuant to an illegal arrest, was violative of his U.S. and state constitutional rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.
In considering the question of whether the performance of the gun residue test on defendant's hands violated his rights against unreasonable searches and seizures under Art. I, § 15, Mo.Const., and Amends. 4 and 14, U.S.Const., it must be borne in mind, (1) that the defendant was under arrest and in custody; (2) that on the present record in the trial court and here the arrest was not shown to be based on probable cause and therefore for the purpose of these appeals must be considered to be invalid; and (3) no clear waiver (or any waiver) of search and seizure rights has been shown.
Additionally, there is no question but what the performance of the test on defendant's hands and the taking of sample residue therefrom was a search and seizure. This is borne out by a number of cases. In Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721, 89 S.Ct. 1394, 22 L.Ed.2d 676 (1969), the taking of fingerprints of arrested persons was held to be a search and seizure. The fingerprints were held to be inadmissible because there was no probable cause for the arrest. In Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966), the taking of blood for testing was a search and seizure but the chemical analysis of the blood was admissible because the arrest was valid. The real issue in Schmerber was whether a search warrant was necessary even though the arrest was valid when the focus of the search was a substance which was part of the person of the defendant and highly evanescent in nature. In United State v. D'Amico, 408 F.2d 331 (2d Cir. 1969), the clipping of strands of hair from the head of an arrested defendant was a seizure, although it was upheld because D'Amico was under valid arrest. In United States v. Richardson, 388 F.2d 842 (6th Cir. 1968), the examination of defendant's hands under an ultraviolet light to test for fluorescent powder was held valid as taken prior to an arrest and with defendant's consent. Although the court said it did not regard the test in Richardson as a search and seizure within the meaning of the 4th Amend., the decision was based upon voluntary consent prior to arrest at a time when defendant was not in custody and was distinguished on that ground in United States v. Kenaan, 496 F.2d 181, 182, Fn. 1 (1st Cir. 1974).
In United States v. Kenaan, supra, government agents obtained a warrant to search defendant's apartment for cocaine. A package had previously been coated with a fluorescent powder which would appear on the hands of one handling the package under an ultraviolet light. The agents found defendant at home, conducted a search, and discovered a spoon containing some residue which later was determined to be cocaine. While the agents were in the apartment and before arresting defendant, they used the ultraviolet light on defendant's hands and it revealed traces of the fluorescent powder. Defendant was then arrested, tried, and convicted of possessing cocaine. Defendant contended the inspection of his hands violated his search and seizure rights. The court held at 496 F.2d 182:
". . . There can be little doubt that an inspection of one's hands, under an ultraviolet lamp, is the kind of governmental intrusion into one's private domain that is protected by the Fourth Amendment. Mancusi v. DeForte, 392 U.S. 364, 88 S.Ct. 2120, 20 L.Ed.2d 1154 (1968); Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 18 L.Ed.2d 782 (1967). If the reach of the Fourth Amendment extends to fingerprinting, Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721, 89 S.Ct. 1394, 22 L.Ed.2d 676 (1969), and a search of one's clothing or personal effects, United States v. Micheli, 487 F.2d 429 (1st Cir. 1973), it should certainly encompass a detailed inspection, by special instrument, of one's skin."
The court in Kenaan reversed and remanded the case for a new trial principally on instructional error, but noted that on remand the district court would have further opportunity to decide whether probable cause existed for the arrest before the inspection of appellant's hands took place. If so, then the hand inspection could become admissible at the new trial as having been done immediately after the arrest so as to be practically contemporaneous therewith, if there was probable cause to arrest before the search (hand inspection) took place.
In Cupp v. Murphy, 412 U.S. 291, 93 S.Ct. 2000, 36 L.Ed.2d 900 (1973), the taking of scrapings from under the fingernails of de fendant was a search and seizure. There, defendant heard that his wife, with whom he had not been living, had been murdered, so he voluntarily went to the police station for questioning. While he was there, an officer noticed a dark spot on defendant's finger. Suspecting that the spot was dried blood, and knowing that evidence of strangulation is often found under an assailant's fingernails, the police asked Murphy if they could take a sample of scrapings from his fingernails. He refused and under protest the police took the scrapings which proved incriminatory.
In Cupp v. Murphy, supra, the United States Supreme Court held the search of the fingernails to be constitutionally permissible in the circumstances prevailing at the time. The court said that the police had reasonable cause to believe Murphy committed the murder; the detention was but brief; and pointed out that Murphy knew he would be released from the police station and was seen by the officers attempting to remove the substance which was highly evanescent from under his fingernails. It is also significant that Murphy went to the police station of his own volition and that there was no involuntary detention at the outset at all, the court saying at 294 — 295, 93 S.Ct. at 2003: "The respondent in this case, like Davis, was briefly detained at the station house. Yet, here, there was, as three courts have found, probable cause to believe that the respondent had committed the murder. The vice of the detention in Davis is therefore absent in the case before us. Cf. United States v. Dionisio, [410 U.S. 1, 93 S.Ct. 764, 35 L.Ed.2d 67 (1973)]."
In the instant case, the defendant was taken into custody by an arrest — but without probable cause. He did not voluntarily go to the police station for questioning. There is no evidence to indicate defendant expected to be released, that he undertook to destroy any evidence, or that he was even aware of the possible presence of the residue on his hands.
The case of United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 94 S.Ct. 467, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973), is often cited in search and seizure cases as being one of the latest pronouncements by the United States Supreme Court on that subject. But Robinson concerned a search of the person only, and the question was whether or not a valid custodial arrest for operating a motor vehicle after a revocation of his operator's permit would support a full search of his person — as opposed to a pat down for weapons — so as to validate the admission into evidence of the heroin that was found on his person in the trial of a charge of possession of heroin. The court held that the noted arrest authorized a full search of the person and was not violative of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The point of difference between Robinson and the instant case is that there was a valid arrest in Robinson; in the instant case, there was no showing that the arrest was valid.
The trial court erred in admitting the gun residue test into evidence in the assault ease over defendant's constitutionally-grounded objection.
As noted supra, there was sufficient evidence upon which a jury could have found defendant guilty without considering the inadmissible evidence. The results of-the tests made of the vomit on the black coat which defendant was actually wearing when arrested was powerful evidence of his presence in the car at the time of the shootings. The gun residue test results, admitted in evidence over defendant's objection in the assault trial, were certainly persuasive evidence that he had recently fired a gun. Therefore, this court concludes that the admission of this evidence was prejudicial error requiring the convictions in both cases to be reversed and remanded for new trials.
The state requests that the question of probable cause for arrest be remanded to the circuit court for further evidence and findings by the trial judge and thereafter permit defendant to appeal if the trial court finds probable cause for the arrest. This court has remanded cases to the trial court where that court failed to make sufficient findings for this court to perform its appellate function. The instant appeals, however, are not deficient in that respect. Here, the trial court held an evidentiary hearing on the motion to suppress and both parties had the opportunity to introduce whatever evidence they had on the subject. The court overruled the motion, and it is that ruling under the evidence introduced that is erroneous. Thus, it is seen that the record here is wholly sufficient for this court to perform its appellate function. The orderly administration of justice requires that when a time and place is provided for issues and evidence to be presented and rulings to be made thereon it must be utilized; otherwise, parties and courts will be forever dealing with piecemeal appeals and with evidence given as an afterthought to support a judgment already entered.
A trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress evidence prior to trial is, in a sense, interlocutory in nature. The real damage is not done until the evidence is introduced in the trial of a case for consideration by a jury. Thus, a trial court can receive additional evidence and change its ruling prior to admitting the objected-to items in evidence before a jury.
In Bynum v. United States, 104 U.S.App.D.C. 368, 262 F.2d 465 (1959), the court reversed a conviction and remanded the case for a new trial upon finding that the arrest of defendant was not shown to be with probable cause and, therefore, fingerprint evidence obtained while under illegal detention was inadmissible as being the product of an unconstitutional search and seizure, the court saying at 469: "We conclude that appellant is entitled to a new trial with opportunity accorded the parties to develop fully the facts which will establish whether the fingerprints in dispute were the product of an illegal arrest. Of course this issue will not arise if the prosecution elects to proceed without using the fingerprints taken at the time of appellant's arrest."
It is noted that in order for a gun residue test to produce any valid results — positive or negative — it probably must be done promptly as the residue on one's hand will probably disappear in the normal course of living or by being rubbed off of the hand. We say "probably" because this is a matter about which the court is not certain. Testimony by one familiar with this test could resolve the questions concerning the temporary presence of the residue on one's hands. This observation is made because in Schmerber v. California, supra, the United States Supreme Court held a blood alcohol test admissible when done following a valid arrest and dispensed with a search warrant requirement on the basis that the presence of alcohol in the blood was temporary and would dissipate in a short time. Under those facts the court held the blood alcohol test was an appropriate incident to Schmerber's arrest. 384 U.S. at 771, 86 S.Ct. 1826. Obviously one cannot "rub" the alcohol out of his blood but it dissipates or disappears quickly in the normal course of events.
In United States v. Love and Oglesby, 482 F.2d 213 (5th Cir. 1973), the defendants were convicted of bombing a building. Oglesby was validly arrested and taken to the police station where his hands were swabbed with an acetone solution to determine whether nitrate was present on his hands. The test result was affirmative. The case did not directly involve search and seizure issues but the court made the following observation which is appropriate to the instant case, stating at 482 F.2d 218:
"The nitrate on Oglesby's hands was even more likely to vanish than the materials lodged under Murphy's [Cupp v. Murphy, supra] fingernails, or the alcohol in Schmerber's [Schmerber v. Calif., supra] blood. The first vigorous scrubbing of the hands would have destroyed Murphy's material, but merely rubbing the hands would have destroyed the nitrate oils [on Oglesby's hands]."
The foregoing quote probably accurately describes what the defendant in the instant case could have done to remove the barium and antimony from his hands and thus destroy that evidence. If so, the search here — gun residue test — falls within the exception to search warrant requirements relating to destructible evidence if the arrest was valid. Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 763, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969); Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. at 770, 86 S.Ct. 1826.
In the instant cases upon remand for new trials, the state will have the opportunity, if it so chooses, to request a further evidentia-ry hearing to develop fully the facts, if it can, to show probable cause for the arrest, or it may choose to proceed to trial without using the evidence illegally seized. The defendant will have the opportunity to seek to suppress the gun residue test — the basic constitutional admissibility of which is also dependent upon probable cause for the arrest. Additionally, the state may desire to introduce evidence as to the nature of the residue which gets onto one's hands when he fires a gun and whether that residue is subject to disappearing of its own accord or is subject to easy removal by the suspect.
Defendant contends he was entitled to a separate preliminary hearing on each of the two charges.
The record reflects that the prosecuting attorney filed separate complaints in magistrate court — one alleging the murder of Blankenship and the other alleging the assault on Krebs. Defendant was represented by counsel and was fully aware of the two separate charges. Defendant requested separate preliminary hearings which request was denied upon the prosecutor's assertion that both complaints arose out of the same event and the evidence would be the same in both cases as to defendant's probable involvement.
A preliminary hearing cannot, itself, result in conviction but is solely for the determination of probable cause. No perceivable purpose would be served by having two preliminary hearings in the circumstances presented by these cases. Defendant was afforded a preliminary hearing which encompassed both charges which arose out of the same event. The point is overruled.
Defendant complains of the magistrate court's denial of his oral motion for copies of all witnesses' statements which ruling was made at the outset of the preliminary hearing. Defendant directs us to no authorities in support of his contention that he is entitled to discovery at the preliminary hearing stage of the proceedings.
Rules 25.30 through 25.45, V.A.M.R., effective July 1, 1974, which were not in effect at the time these cases were tried, concern discovery in felony cases arising after that date. Even now, Rule 25.30 states that Rules 25.30 through 25.45 shall "apply to all felony cases and discovery may commence upon the filing of the indictment or information." (Emphasis supplied.) Defendant was not entitled to the statements he sought at the preliminary hearing stage. The point is overruled.
Defendant's points relating to an alleged outburst by a witness, which will probably not occur on retrial, and his objections to the wording of the murder instruction, and the failure to give a manslaughter instruction in the murder case, which will not recur on retrial, need not be decided. As to the required instructions in murder cases, see Notes on Use, as amended by order of January 13, 1975, effective March 1, 1975, MAI-CR 6.02, 6.06, and 6.08, and State v. Stapleton, 518 S.W.2d 292 (Mo. banc 1975).
In the assault case appeal, defendant contends the court erred in failing to instruct the jury on assault with intent to kill or do great bodily harm without malice. No such instruction was requested by the defendant.
In the past and at this time the controlling factor with respect to the submission of a lesser offense in assault cases is whether the facts in evidence are sufficient to arguably show a lack of an essential element of the higher degree of the offense.
State v. Johnson, 461 S.W.2d 724 (Mo.1971), is a case where no lesser assault instruction was required. The court analyzed the evidence and concluded that there was no evidence of self-defense, justification, or any extenuating or mitigating fact or circumstance suggestive of a lack of malice on the defendant's part in committing an unprovoked attack with a knife.
State v. Fine, 324 Mo. 194, 23 S.W.2d 7 (1929), is an example of a situation where the failure to submit an instruction on a lesser assault offense was error and the judgment was reversed and the case remanded for new trial. The court analyzed the evidence and concluded that there was sufficient evidence to submit the principal charge of assault with intent to kill with malice but also concluded that there were sufficient facts in evidence from which the jury could find that defendant did not intend to kill and also that the jury could find the assault was committed without malice. The court reversed and remanded for the failure of the trial court to give an assault-with-intent-to-kill-without-malice instruction and the failure to give a common-assault instruction.
In the instant assault case, there was no evidence of any mitigating circumstances at all. As such, it is similar to State v. Johnson, supra, and the court did not err in failing to give a lesser assault instruction under the law and presently prevailing procedure. The point is overruled.
Defendant contends that by prosecuting him twice — once for murder of Blankenship and once for assault on Krebs — and using the same evidentiary facts in both cases, the state has violated his rights against double jeopardy under the United States and Missouri constitutions.
This issue was decided against defendant's contentions in State v. Moton, 476 S.W.2d 785 (Mo.1972). The point is overruled.
The judgments in cause numbers 58283 and 58768 are reversed and both cases are remanded for new trials.
DONNELLY, C. J., and SEILER and HENLEY, JJ., concur.
FINCH, J., dissents in separate dissenting opinion filed.
MORGAN and HOLMAN, JJ., dissent and concur in separate dissenting opinion of FINCH, J.