State Missouri v. L. S. Amerison

Appellant, L. S. Amerison, was convicted of first-degree robbery under § 560.120 RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S., by a jury in the Hannibal Court of Common Pleas, at Hannibal, Missouri, and his punishment under the provisions of the Habitual criminal Act, § 556.280 RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S. (as amended Laws 1959, S.B. 117), was assessed at imprisonment in the custody of the State Department of Corrections for a term of twenty years. Jurisdiction was in the Hannibal Court of Common Pleas because the offense was alleged to have been committed in Mason Township, County of Marion, Missouri. Section 480.200 RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S. Following rendition of judgment and imposition of sentence an appeal was perfected to this Court. Appellant does not question the sufficiency of the evidence. However, a brief summary is in order. According to the evidence, on October 18, 1961, between 11:00 and 11:15 p.m., two men entered Foley's Drive-In Package Liquor Store, 922 Mark Twain Avenue, Hannibal, Missouri. Mrs. Loretta Wingfield, co-owner of the store, had just completed counting the day's receipts. According to Mrs. Wingfield, appellant started to use the telephone book and then shoved a gun in her stomach and ordered her into the rest room. He searched her for money in the rest room and she told him the money was in the cash register. He then left her and she could hear money being dumped into cloth. Appellant walked back to the rest room and told her to stay in there and keep still. He and his companion then left. After about a minute, Mrs. Wingfield returned to the cash register, found the money gone, except for a few pennies, and called the police. Mrs. Wingfield identified appellant in the courtroom at the trial as the man who robbed her. It is evident that the evidence was ample to sustain the conviction.