State Missouri v. Marvin E. Miller Book Reviews

State Missouri v. Marvin E. Miller by Missouri Court of Appeals St. Louis District Book Summary

Marvin E. Miller, convicted by a jury of burglary, second degree, and stealing, and sentenced to concurrent periods of two years for each offense, has appealed on the ground that there was no evidence placing appellant at or near the scene of the crimes at or near the time of the crimes, or that appellant had possession of, dominion over, knowledge of, or profited from, the stolen property. We reverse the judgment of conviction for insufficienty of the State's evidence, which follows: Sometime during the afternoon of December 4, 1973 appellant took several coonskins to the place of business owned and operated by Willard Magee in Eolia, Pike County for the purpose of selling them. In addition to the fur business Magee bought and sold ginseng root. The root business occupied the front part of the building. The fur operation was conducted in the rear. To get to the fur area it was necessary to pass through the root area. When appellant went through the root area on his way to the rear large quantities of ginseng root were open to view. Appellant walked near where the ginseng was. Mrs. Magee was sorting the various kinds of ginseng roots. Some of the roots were enclosed in clear plastic bags; some in cloth bags; some were lying on the floor in bulk. Next morning, between 7 and 7:30, one of Magee's employees discovered that a window of the room housing the ginseng root had been broken. The screen was cut, torn and hanging down. A door next to the window was standing open. At least 205 pounds of ginseng root, worth $66 to $72 per pound, were missing. Magee notified other dealers in the area of the theft. On Monday, December 10, Magee received a telephone call from one Bauer, a ginseng root dealer at Smithboro, Illinois, who stated that they had been at his place on Sunday and sold him some ginseng roots; that they had come back on December 10 and sold him some more. Bauer called Magee again on December 11, reporting further sales. On these occasions they sold Bauer small quantities of roots, 2-1/2 or 4-1/2 pounds each time. Magee called local Sheriff Willeford, who went to Bauer Fur Company and insepcted the 1967 Chevrolet van in which the sellers had arrived. Looking through a window of the van the sheriff saw plastic bags with ginseng roots in them. The sheriff talked to appellant, who answered Yes to the question whether he had come to Bauer Fur Company with the other people in the van. The others were Charles, Abel, and Eddy Miller, brothers of appellant, and four girls. The van, recently purchased, was the property either of Charles, Charles' wife, or both of them. Charles was the driver of the van. All eight were arrested by Sheriff Willeford. Charles Miller signed a waiver of search warrant. The sheriff searched the van, seized the bags of ginseng roots and later turned them over to Sheriff Jenkins of Pike County. Fern Burks positively identified three unbleached muslin sacks (seized during the search) containing ginseng roots as sacks made by her on her Singer sewing machine at the request of her husband, a dealer in ginseng roots. Burks had sold these sacks of roots to Magee during the fall of 1973. These three sacks and several other sacks introduced in evidence were among thsoe missing following the theft at Magee's place of business. Smithboro, Illinois is located 100-120 miles from Eolia, Missouri.

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