State Missouri v. Samuel Norbert Reese

Defendant filed his Motion to Vacate Judgment under Criminal Rule 27.26, V.A.M.R. Following an evidentiary hearing the motion
was denied. He appeals alleging the trial court erred in its ruling on his motion for the reason the record demonstrates a
violation of Criminal Rule 25.04, V.A.M.R. By opinion of May 11, 1970, this court granted defendant the relief requested.
That opinion was withdrawn and the matter again taken under submission. Defendant was charged with the first degree murder of one Zagib while in the course of an armed robbery of a store and with
the same offense as to one Krieger while in the course of an armed robbery of the Windsor Hotel. He was also charged with
armed robbery. The record before us indicates that charge was related to one of the acts resulting in the deaths of Krieger
and Zagib. However, by referring to the original file in the armed robbery charge we have determined it arose from the alleged
robbery of one Russell. In 1952 defendant was tried for the Krieger killing, found guilty and sentenced to death. The other
two charges were then nolle prossed; his conviction was set aside (see State v. Reese, 364 Mo. 1221 (1954), 274 S.W.2d 304);
and he was returned to jail in the City of St. Louis to await retrial. The nolle prossed charges were reinstated. By his request
and with the consent of the state, retrial was assigned to the Honorable Robert L. Aronson who had presided at the first trial.
As the date for retrial approached defendant was adamant in his refusal to enter a plea of guilty. Nevertheless, defendant's
Exhibit C, a transcript of the proceedings, shows that defendant did plead guilty to all three charges.