(Download) "State Missouri v. Edward v. Lawrence" by Eastern District, Division 4 Missouri Court of Appeals " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: State Missouri v. Edward v. Lawrence
- Author : Eastern District, Division 4 Missouri Court of Appeals
- Release Date : January 01, 1985
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 59 KB
Description
Defendant, Edward V. Lawrence, was found guilty by a jury of capital murder, § 565.001, RSMo (1978), and murder in the first degree, § 565.003, RSMo (1978). He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for fifty years for capital murder and to a consecutive term of life imprisonment for murder in the first degree. In this direct appeal defendant contends that the court erred in admitting certain identification testimony and in disqualifying jury panel members who stated that they would be unable to consider the death sentence. We affirm. Since defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence, we will briefly review the facts in the light most favorable to the verdicts. Defendant and two other men forced their way into the male victim's apartment. They demanded drugs or money from him. After he told them where some drugs were, they forced him and two sisters who had been visiting him at the time to lie on the floor face down. As the three men continued to search the apartment, one of them shot and killed both the man who lived in the apartment and one of the sisters. As the three intruders were leaving, they shot the surviving sister four or five times. Shortly thereafter, the victim's roommate returned. seeing the ransacked apartment and two of the victims lying on the living room floor, he hurried out of the apartment building. Once outside, he encountered an acquaintance who told him that some men had gone around to the back parking lot. The roommate got into his car and pursued an automobile that was pulling off the lot. He was able to see three men, to get a good look at defendant who was driving the car, and to record the license plate number.