People v. Foote

GIBSON, C. J.

After a jury trial, defendants Foote, Johnson and Curtis were found guilty of robbery in the first degree and of conspiracy to commit robbery. Each defendant appeals separately from the judgment of conviction and from the order denying his motion for a new trial.

On July 31, 1955, near 10 p. m., two men, whose faces were masked by silk stoeldngs, threatened the cashier of a drive-in movie theater with guns and took about $800 from him. About 15 minutes afterwards, and some three miles from the theater, two police officers who had heard of the robbery stopped a 1950 Mercury automobile which contained three men. The owner, Foote, stepped out of the car and walked over to the officers, who ordered the other two men to step out with their hands in view. Instead the car was put in gear and sped away. The officers fired several shots at the automobile and, after getting Foote into their car, attempted pursuit. They were unable to overtake the Mercury automobile, but they found it unoccupied a few minutes later near Foote’s home. Several rolls of coin had been left in the car, and one of them was marked “St. Brigid’s Church,” the same marking as that on some of the rolls taken from the theater.

Several hours before commission of the crime, the three defendants were together at the Foote residence. Foote’s mother testified that her son left about 9 p. m. but that she did not lmow if anyone left with him. Later that evening, she heard a car door slam and a man’s voice, which seemed to come from the car, call something like “Terry, hurry up or I am going to leave you,” and she saw Johnson come into the entry hall and then leave. A few minutes afterward the police officers arrived with her son.

Johnson was apprehended on August 29, 1955. At first he denied that he had any part in the robbery but later, 'during lengthy questioning by police officers, he confessed, saying that he and Foote held up the cashier while Curtis,

[22]

who was “part of the operation,’’ waited in the ear. The purpose of the robbery, according to Johnson, was to obtain money to finance the smuggling of narcotics from Mexico. He admitted being with the other defendants in the automobile when it was stopped by the police officers and said that, after escaping from the officers, he and Curtis went to the Foote residence where he hid the two guns used in the robbery.